-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Hi Yvonne, I don't know what to suggest about removing the rust without further compromising the surface, unless you wanted to re-enamel over the surface after rust removal? There will be commercial products for this sort of thing, most likely targeted towards oven repair.
I can imagine how Rust would increase the chances of contamination, both by providing a ready source of Iron (often limiting to biofilms) and by providing a rough surface to protect contaminants from exposure to sprays etc.. I can also imagine this being a common problem; I used to work in a lab that sprayed everything with strong bleaching agents, which (I am lead to understand) can lead to pitting of stainless steel over time, making rust more and more likely. They also used copper sulphate as a biocide in the water tray of the incubators, which was a good idea, but the tray was also steel. I'm not sure why it didn't ruin the tray, but copper sulphate will usually react very quickly with iron-containing surfaces, which would pit them even faster. If someone had the "bright idea" of using copper biocides to spray the inside of your incubator, that would help explain the extreme corrosion. Best, Cathal On 03/11/2013 08:07 PM, Yvonne Couch wrote: > Hi all, So I am in the process of moving into a new lab. As > everyone does I come in with pre-conceived ideas about how to do > things and obviously everyone does things differently but I am > genuinely concerned about their CO2 incubator. It is almost > ENTIRELY rust on the inside. Its very smooth so there's no flaking > but I'm concerned that it's so rusty. My questions are as follows: > a) is rust bad in a cell culture incubator? I assume yes but I've > genuinely never seen it before so I couldn't really say... b) how > would you get rid of it without making the incubator permanently > toxic? There is no second incubator running with the same gases at > the moment so the rust would have to be cleaned a shelf at a time > so anything that lingered on the shelves might affect the cells. > Any thoughts? Y. > > _______________________________________________ Methods mailing > list [email protected] > http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods > - -- Please note my new email: [email protected] PGP Key: 988B9099 Bitmessage: BM-opSmZfNZHSzGDwdD5KzTnuKbzevSEDNXL Twitter: @onetruecathal Code: https://gitorious.org/~cathalgarvey Blog: http://www.indiebiotech.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iQIcBAEBCAAGBQJRP0J/AAoJEL0iNgSYi5CZSyAP/RysjiAz5D6V7jw6r8yMNxIe 8KkOl+k/e1id8Y6Xa8SgJVyAToUkX9Z7TWRH3ATIrsBTUa6OK+f7sjK5ceMoDu60 ++DC43kJ9NSsdtTrJONHMaNhpGXA6tveEq2SEu07kEnzBO+AgD+vHI55i2zjyLCH xjtTXsBjOIBKViy/FE1DHcl17JnjfWa8HFRpSb7aU8lcmJJsT1AiDVinM+O/Zq7i +/ExsYkvRdomYhMyxRdS/+BcyStEMKd13VIw3bQ4wJ1N5uzU9DvweHeDYMYG4y8E JWCKtj4oa17GAYUbsxG7dQ2VLSNs0F0IVjUJLpcWfy57sn8D/DTZ+a0QR5ir498C RgXeCQysAOT8spOnr/NrHO2QHaAWZ8v9gbYt6I9WxhEJjmll68d26xOawso20jMj MbO13M8bmMzm2B8pKi0JWUIK1of07YBR1kHE/JZmua3Bc+IAuuiLT6ngwTlRE8Rm DlpC+DIfkm1Jd8ZpOQWBJbHKfYYfqrVMB7vGRl0HMFnJu0aR9sdikIdc4A7olxRY 0NrgnOeLi4jU70zimKZK9V3Qh16iZNJalMa539yFWVMIyE/W7xmrgZR0eI4lAmtg L9VW2uGVqfO3clnO0Ptvf0ye/Fi6F9yB9KHjUeZ7yRZsY8osx4rsyV2O3aqgzkeb lVosuyjf68eOpUnpj5n7 =AC/Z -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Methods mailing list [email protected] http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/methods
