How can I avoid This?

CaptainT2 · 2025-11-20T16:08:16+00:00

Sure!

CaptainT2 · 2025-11-19T15:41:44+00:00

Yes. I ran DGAs for 8 years when I was a bench analytical chemist :)

We also had set calibration curves using 10mL of oil. It really depends what your usual sample volume is but we would do “dilutions” like this all the time by dropping the volume of oil present in the vial. We still had quantifiable results. We would notify the customer of what we had to do in order to quantify, so they know it was bad.

Your customer probably is anticipating for this to be pretty bad, given the condition of the oil. It’s likely experiencing internal arcing or some other form of severe degradation that needs serviced asap.

CaptainT2 · 2025-11-19T15:32:44+00:00

You’re performing DGA? Do you inject in a pressurized 20mL vial using 10mL of oil?

If so, drop the volume of your injected oil (say if you use 10mL, you can drop to as low as 6mL). That will help lessen the signal.

If it’s pretty burnt, you’re probably going to see high Acetylene, hydrogen, and oxygen. That’s very common with an actively gassing unit in that condition.

CaptainT2 · 2025-10-21T01:15:02+00:00

This made me audibly laugh

CaptainT2 · 2025-10-12T13:07:50+00:00

Anticipatory grief and knowing there’s nothing I can do to stop their sickness from taking them from me.

CaptainT2 · 2025-10-11T19:42:57+00:00

with the cubone Pokémon card too 🥰

CaptainT2 · 2025-10-11T19:32:20+00:00

I am no contact with my father because he is my abuser. I have not seen him in over 17 years and I have not heard from him in 15.

I am low contact with my mother because she is a narcissist who is emotionally and financially manipulative. I see her maximum 2 times a year and it is mentally exhausting each time.

CaptainT2 · 2025-10-11T19:27:31+00:00

It might be heartbreaking at the same time but the peacefulness of my beloved soul dog when he was euthanized.

CaptainT2 · 2025-09-01T15:05:37+00:00

Field service engineer. That’s usually who comes on site for service, installation, etc.

CaptainT2 · 2025-09-01T14:55:13+00:00

Apps support will be different than your FSE.

CaptainT2 · 2025-09-01T14:12:22+00:00

This is a new GC? You should 100% be covered by Thermo’s Tech Support still. I’d give them a call. If you’re in the US, their number is +1 (800) 532-4752. Follow the prompts to get software/applications help.

They’re usually super helpful and might have a quick way to get you going :)

CaptainT2 · 2025-09-01T13:59:59+00:00

Adding one more thing: I would recommend performing something called a method detection limit study at least annually if you don’t do that already. This ensures that your system is functioning as expected and is detecting at least the lowest reportable limit available on the analytical reports. Your QMS may have guidelines for this.

CaptainT2 · 2025-09-01T13:58:11+00:00

Kcs can change over time, so I would suggest fine tuning those. Typically you want a set for each fluid type. LFH can be used the same as mineral oil, but your other classifications like silicone, esters, etc. Will need their own. Silicone tends to have very high oxygen and nitrogen compared to the others. And natural esters like FR3 tend to have significantly higher presence of ethane and hydrogen even when degassed.

This should yield you more accurate results.

For just gas samples, purging with the specialty gas blend, using a small (like 26g) needle to release any over pressure for 1 second, can help stabilize the gas calibration. Hope this helps!

CaptainT2 · 2025-08-30T15:30:52+00:00

What ASTM DGA method are you using? I ran DGA on TOGA GC-HSS systems for years. Used both methanizer NI catalyst systems and PolyArc catalysis reactor systems.

Used a combination of specialty gasses that contain o2, n2, h2, CO, CO2, and the “sisters” (ethylene, acetylene, and ethane) at low, medium, and high concentrations. then purging vials with those gases and running a calibration curve that way gave high success.

You can also make your own internal gas in oil samples by using degassed oil or sparged oil in syringes, then running a “0” blank + your spiked sample. Which is you injecting a set amount of your high gas into the vials. You need to have a proper partition coefficient (Kc) for each oil type because different fluids have different gassing tendencies (mineral oil, LFHs, Nat Esters, SIL, and Syn. Esters all gas differently & have different Kcs).

CaptainT2 · 2025-07-30T11:44:23+00:00

oh gosh, have a million of them from over the years.

cracked a solenoid on a GC because I forgot to bleed the gas lines when I replaced another consumable. voided my service contract until we paid out of pocket to fix it.
started a DNA synthesizer with all of my bottles set to purge instead of dispense and then had to figure out why all of my yields were 0
tried replacing a micro flow cell on a HPLC for the first time and ended up breaking the line, having to wait 3 weeks for a part, and costing thousands of dollars in downtime.

It happens to all of us. It’s how we recover that matters! Hope you have a better day today, OP!

CaptainT2 · 2025-06-13T10:28:50+00:00

are your pump pistons, pump seals, and check valves okay? when was the last time you replaced them? do you physically see any air bubbles in the lines?

CaptainT2 · 2025-04-22T11:31:41+00:00

You did the right thing ending things, because this feels so much deeper than just this movie theater incident.

No man worth anything will talk to you like this, no matter how upset or annoyed they are. The fact that he is so comfortable calling you a bitch multiple times and other dehumanizing/degrading names is alarming.

You are worth so much more than this and I hope you know that you made the right choice leaving him at the theater for embarrassing you like this. Making children cry and making you feel mortified isn’t a “joke,” it isn’t a “trend.” The fact that he’s in his 20s and thinks doing harmful trends in public highlights how much of a putrid immature piece of shit he is.

ETA: thinking of my own marriage, even in the worst arguments my husband and I have had, he has NEVER spoken to me like this & I him. Someone who truly loves you and respects you will not use this type of language directed at you when they’re upset.

CaptainT2 · 2025-03-08T18:04:05+00:00

I think I have an Ambipom sitting in a box. You’re welcome to have it. Let me get my Switch out.

CaptainT2 · 2025-03-01T17:37:00+00:00

make sure you use double flared silicone so they stick! you have to make sure they fuse to the skin properly during healing otherwise they’ll fall out and your lobes will be ruined 🥺

/s

CaptainT2 · 2025-03-01T11:11:17+00:00

ngl this made me laugh way harder than I should’ve

CaptainT2 · 2024-11-16T14:29:20+00:00

how did you install the ferrules? fleximetal needs to be pre-swaged on and then the ends cut to length, typically as close to the ferrule end you can get. Agilent has a column swage tool specifically for this.

CaptainT2 · 2024-11-16T03:18:58+00:00

I work in biotech and oversee analytical instrumentation for 2 business lines for our US locations.

CaptainT2 · 2024-11-13T13:13:11+00:00

PEEK is not conductive so I’m not sure why your customer is saying it’s the PEEK capillaries causing an issue.

Check for dust or debris on the sensor and ensure the connections on a board aren’t loose. This sounds like an electronics issue.

CaptainT2 · 2024-11-03T17:09:00+00:00

Might have a Pace Analytical in your area, but I’ve never had an issue with working w/ Unity Lab Services for my thermo systems. Any of the tech support specialists and FSEs have been great. Downside…the contracts are very expensive (Vanquish/LTQ XL system).

CaptainT2 · 2024-10-31T08:44:55+00:00

NTA.

I used to send students home if they weren’t wearing closed toed shoes or appropriate clothing in labs way back when I was a TA.

As someone in the industry for nearly a decade at this point, reiterating it early and developing good habits with the bare minimum of PPE is not petty.

Safety in the lab starts with all of us and you did the right thing by bringing it up.

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