Explosive Autoclaves

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BlistexWorks

BlistexWorks

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One of the clinics I work for has an ancient-looking autoclave, and I swear one day it is going to explode in my face. The knobs are sooooo sensitive...a tiny turn in either direction has huge effects on the pressure and temperature. It is not uncommon to see both values past the "red zone" for a few moments which makes me want to be in reception or kennel for the next 45 minutes.

Bottom line: any evidence for these machines (especially the ones resembling artifacts from history) 😱:boom:😱 in people's faces?
 
muahaha. good luck.

nah, i've worked with several, and i think it'd be like putting a little bomb in a safe. those things are mini tanks... they aint going anywhere. just uh, let it cool off after it self-detonates 😉
 
Yeah, ours is super old, too. Luckily, it's in the laundry room, so if it ever seemed like it was about to blow, we could always shut the door and run for cover! 🙄 I hear it make bad noises once in a while, and sometimes I close the door just in case.

On a semi-related topic... who else hates the autoclave smell? It seriously makes me nauseous. Smells like rotten hot dogs to me. *shudder*
 
I love love love autoclave smell!!! Maybe I'm just a nerd and I've been around them too long. But I have several friends who love it, too, so I know I'm not the only one! 😳
 
BlistexWorks said:
Bottom line: any evidence for these machines (especially the ones resembling artifacts from history) in people's faces?
Click to expand...

Yes, they do blow. http://www2.umdnj.edu/eohssweb/aiha/accidents/autoclave.htm

I have heard that one door design fails more frequently, and that design is one that doesn't have redundant locks. I would say explosive failure is rare and has more to do with metal fatigue on the hinges than with the locking mechanism failing.

More commonly, people are scalded by jets of escaping steam or opening an autoclave whose gages are messed up, letting steam explosively escape.
 
Some Novartis reps came to speak to us, and blew up their own centrifuge twice. Never seen that happen before. The chick had no idea how to balance what she was spinning. We told her she wasn't doing it right, but she assured us that it did not matter.
:idea:
 
A lot of old autoclaves are good machines. It's these autoclaves that scare me:
Autoclave_stove_top.jpg
 
Ah, those ones would scare the crap out of me too ..... plus, does anyone else think that they look a bit like crock-pots? I've never seen one like that ....
 
Never had one blow up but it's always fun in the middle of the day when everything is relatively quiet, people are out to lunch, everyone is getting ready for the afternoon rush, and you're just sitting there restocking a drawer or figuring out how best to manage the afternoon schedule or calculating a dose and suddenly the surgery tech comes flying through the room going '**** **** **** **** **** **** ****...' because she forgot her timer went off for the autoclave.

Good times. Some day we might buy one with a built in timer...
 
HopefulAg said:
Never had one blow up but it's always fun in the middle of the day when everything is relatively quiet, people are out to lunch, everyone is getting ready for the afternoon rush, and you're just sitting there restocking a drawer or figuring out how best to manage the afternoon schedule or calculating a dose and suddenly the surgery tech comes flying through the room going '**** **** **** **** **** **** ****...' because she forgot her timer went off for the autoclave.

Good times. Some day we might buy one with a built in timer...
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Our surgery tech usually leaves for the day right after she puts the autoclave on, and tells me when the timer will be done so I can vent it. The problem is, I ALWAYS forget. Everything else I can remember to do, but that I forget. Probably has to do with my deep-seated fear and slight hatred of autoclaves. Anyway, luckily she caught on quickly that I always forget and she tells everyone else now, too, and writes it on the dry-erase board. But it's funny, because I'll remember when we're closing up at 7 pm that the autoclave was done at 4, and I'll say, "oh crap, the autocl-" until my coworker jumps in and says she took care of it. I'm such a ditz. 😛
 
Those things have always scared me! I usually squint my eyes, turn my head sideways, and pray those things don't blow up whenever I open one. I've always heard the urban legend about how "it'll lock and won't let you open it too early." That's not true! It's especially scary when you open it a little too early and steam shoots out. I don't know what's worse; the 1972 Brady Bunch one in the clinic I worked in, or those industrial sized ones in research labs. The feeling of opening an autoclave must be similar to the feeling bomb squad guys get when they're defusing a bomb. :boom:
 
I was rather trusting of the autoclave in our lab. It had a nice timer and digital read out that would warn you if something was amiss. Usually nothing was really wrong, and the technician would open the door and I would feel stupid.🙄 My big fear was spilling the liquids* we autoclaved and scalding myself beyond recognition. Luckily I never did. Being a klutz I was super careful and would always look like a big dork when I took each beaker out one by one.

*I worked in a Microbiology lab so we had to autoclave big beakers filled with liquid media before we could pour it into the plates.

I think the funniest thing we ever had happen was when we got a new, automatic plate pourer. It grabs a plate, squirts in the media and pops the lid on. Well one of the first times we used it one of the plates got stuck, but the machine kept right on pouring. So every 7 seconds the machine would squirt the media out on the counter. When we came back to the lab we caught the machine "peeing" on the floor. 😀 After that we always stayed with it in case it decided to be bad again.
 
clawsbeatskin said:
I love love love autoclave smell!!! Maybe I'm just a nerd and I've been around them too long. But I have several friends who love it, too, so I know I'm not the only one! 😳
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Most of the time I was autoclaving media, like kat above me, or biohazard trash that was full of used plates. While the smell of media isn't really that bad, I definitely wasn't like, "Mmm! Autoclave smell!" So I guess it could smell okay if it was just glassware or utensils all the time. Kind of like after you run the dishwasher and open it when it's still hot?
 
Does anyone use chamber-brite to clean their autoclave? The last 2 times I've used it I end up with smoke and charred gunk on the bottom of the autoclave after the cycle (the directions say not to exhaust the autoclave). Just curious because I set off the fire alarm on both occasions and when the fire department came I looked like a big a**hole because a) it's happened twice now and b)I volunteer at the same department so I know all the guys. Anybody have any thoughts?
 
at the SPCA where i did my preclinical work, the autoclave DID explode and with devastating results...it blew off the windows in the operating theater but thankfully no one was hurt

u dun wanna hang around these ticking time bombs...
 
Dude...I think you just made everyone's worst nightmares come true.
 
theunraveler said:
at the SPCA where i did my preclinical work, the autoclave DID explode and with devastating results...it blew off the windows in the operating theater but thankfully no one was hurt

u dun wanna hang around these ticking time bombs...
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It actually happens? Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!! That's terrible news! 👎 :scared::boom:
 
im not bull****ting, although i dun have the before pics...i have a pic of the OR after they refurnish a new autoclave and fix the windows

notice the ticking timebomb seating innocously by the windows
 

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theunraveler said:
im not bull****ting, although i dun have the before pics...i have a pic of the OR after they refurnish a new autoclave and fix the windows

notice the ticking timebomb seating innocously by the windows
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Hahah...you guys have got that little monster practically halfway out the window already!!
 
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