Milwaukee MW102 - Leak/crystals

[botigol]

Hi everybody,

I just received a Milwaukee MW102, but upon opening I found a layer of crystals along the body of the ph probe. Seems pretty obvious that the storage solution for the probe has leaked and dried there. The bottle covering the probe end is about half full of liquid. While laying on it's side (the position that it would be in while in it's box) the end may not be covered in liquid.

Obviously I could just return it, but if it's still viable, I would like to keep the current one. However, even if it were to still calibrate correctly, may the life of the probe have been compromised?

I sent an email to the manufacturer, since that seems to be their only method of communication, but would like to also hear your thoughts on how to handle this unit.

Thanks

 

[GreginND]

If there was liquid still in the cap, i would think it should work just fine. The probe would not have dried out. I would go ahead and rinse it, calibrate it and see if it works. I would not return it if it works.

The storage solution is just potassium chloride. So, the crystals you see are just KCl salt. Rinse it off with water.

 

[ibglowin]

Is it a sealed probe or does it have a port up top? (usually covered with a sliding rubber band of sorts to expose the port hole)

 

[botigol]

The probe is sealed and then the end with the sensor bulb sits inside of a small plastic bottle via a hole in the lid with a rubber gasket.

 

[ibglowin]

I bet it is fine. The storage solution could have leaked out of the container and dried up on the probe during shipping. Its just salt thus the dried white crystal/powder. Give it ago like greg said and see if it calibrates OK and has a stable reading.

 

[botigol]

On top of the outward appearance, part of my worry came from reading a several places that the bulb electrode/sensor should stay moist. Good news! I decided to browse the manual and it reads, "If the electrode has been left dry, soak the tip (bottom 2.5 cm) in rinse solution (M10000B) for a few minutes to reactivate it." Done...and it looks like we are in business! It does take longer than I would have expected (expectation based on nothing) to reach a stable value, but it gets there.

Thank-you gentlemen!

 

[ibglowin]

Good to hear!