Australia's Science Forum

does anyone have any clever ways of washing pipettes (other than spending $3-400 on a proper pipette washer)? I could put them in a measuring cylinder and change the water a few times, but I worry this will not do the job well enough . What does everyone else do?

I soak them diagonally in a tote tray with napisan overnight and then rinse them thoroughly the next day. I have a bottle / testube drying rack that I prop them up against to dry. Seems to work OK.

Hope this idea helps.

Lorrae

I give the eye washing thingo a go. Hose them all out with that, and stand up right to dry. Or perhaps you have a hand held shower?

Fluffy pipe cleaners are good if all else fails, but napisan is the way to go!

J

Hi Cosmo,

I bought a length of 160mm diam water pipe and 4 end caps to fit. I cut it into 2 lengths to suit our burettes and pipettes, then glued a cap on one end and use the second cap to seal off the other end whilst soaking the glassware. I soak in Napisan or glassware soaker for a couple of days, then rinse with hot water. For burettes, I towel dry the outside then wrap a piece of paper towel around a long length of glass rod/thin dowel and push it in as far as it will go. It's alot of mucking around but the glassware looks really clean. I also use good quality towel so there isn't fluff left inside but students should be rinsing their glassware before use anyway. For the pipettes, I rinse in hot water and shake them really well then stand them in the dish drainer over the weekend. The long, furry pipe cleaners help remove droplets from the thin tube too. Once full, the soaking tubes are very heavy so pick a spot to fill them where they won't be in the way for a few days. Total cost for both tubes was less than $80.

Cheers,
Fran

For Burettes you can buy burette brush, like test tube brush with extra long handle then for final rinse, I jamb in end of hose, the hose is one of those showerhead handle on hose unscrew shower bit and pipettes fit snuggly in rubber washer. Put in till water spurts out top remove it drains put in again, 3 rinse's its clean

I di what Fran did, and made myself some soaking tubes out of PVC piping and caps. Napisan works well. I just make a fresh batch when kids are using burettes or pipettes and leave a unit in the lab. Then they can pop their glassware straight in. All good.

Hi All,

Just to reiterate what most people are saying, PVC pipe with end caps with a tube inlet tap to allow for water washing.

Great piece of Equipment.

Cheers,

Robb.....

to rinse pipettes, I use a syringe to squirt the water in. I find it really hard to use a tap or jug because they tend to get air blocks when you try to get the water in and it just goes all outside instead. We have the burette brushes which I send out with the burettes but they haven't once been used by anyone other than me yet!! I asked one of our maintenance guys to make up a pipe thing like the others have mentioned but I never got it... Maybe I should just do it myself!

I have a PVC pipe with a cap on the end about 1 meter long which I soak the burettes and pipettes in
(put in a end of lesson)
I then use a water suction pump.
I have a beaker of soapy water and then one of really hot water and just suck it thru the pipettes or burettes.

Makes cleaning them really quick and easy

Years ago someone told me about the PVC pipe idea (sorry, can't remember who, but am eternally grateful, thankyou!), and the GA made one up for me. Brilliant for the pipettes and burettes, and the rest of the year made an easy storage spot for keeping long springs (threaded onto curtain rods).
My co-labbie at my new school's son is a plumber, so he has very kindly made them in different sizes for storage and cleaning, from offcuts.
Pipe-cleaners are great for the tips.

Liz

I have a set of wires - tiny ones of various dimensions and use these to unblock the points of pipettes and burettes..
The old PVC pipe is a good one, but I soak them all in Detcon
.........Oh for the days of Chromic acid...sigh...
[showing my age here and background in Industrial Chemistry]

Using a wash bottle, as the students do in Chemistry classes is the best way to rinse out ..

Most pipette cleaning problems are a simple one of washing out the solutions - and if done immediately after classes use them , they should be fine [NOTE: Students should be taught to do this by teacher!]

It is the greasy type problem that needs soaking only...