Keep your lab equipment up and running

Lab equipment is expensive and often fragile. Proper maintenance is essential for commercial laboratories, higher education institutions, and research facilities alike to keep their equipment functioning optimally for as long as possible. Properly maintained lab equipment provides more reliable data and ensures accuracy in research outcomes, positively impacting your lab’s productivity while reducing downtime.

Research laboratory equipment can be challenging to maintain without proper training. Hiring qualified professionals to keep your laboratory equipment working correctly is essential to your facility’s quality assurance procedures for lab maintenance. Unfortunately, mistakes in laboratory equipment maintenance, such as the improper calibration or repair of any piece of equipment could affect safety or lead to expensive repairs.

Lab personnel can take steps to ensure regular care for everyday laboratory maintenance tasks in laboratory equipment management. General care and maintenance considerations follow to preserve well-maintained lab equipment and prevent costly repairs.

Equipment Maintenance Documentation

Record-keeping is vitally essential for laboratory maintenance and management. The detailed collection of all laboratory maintenance information about each piece of equipment helps you maintain well-documented records for laboratory safety, calibration requirements, and operational reliability. For each piece of lab equipment, the maintenance log and other detailed records should include:

  • Equipment name
  • Model number
  • Manufacturer
  • Purchase date and location
  • Warranty information
  • Location in the lab
  • Date of repair work
  • Type of repairs performed
  • Parts replaced
  • Any tests or adjustments performed

Keep your lab equipment maintenance documentation digitally with secure backup protocols. Easy access to safety data sheets and equipment manuals enables smoother operations for lab managers. This documentation will assist research facilities in avoiding unnecessary repairs and increasing equipment longevity. Your organization may allow cloud-based storage as part of your disaster recovery plan.

It also allows you to collect data such as repair costs, material durability, and optimal performance records that will inform better future equipment purchases. Frequent wear and tear may also indicate the need for lab personnel to retrain on properly operating lab equipment.

Cleaning

Ensuring your laboratory equipment is cleaned regularly helps it perform optimally and minimizes contamination risks, which could interfere with data accuracy. Lab equipment should be subjected to regular cleaning and properly stored after every use. When regularly cleaning equipment, ensure that:

  • Cleaning reagents are specifically formulated for use in a laboratory. Lab washer-disinfectors can remove hazardous materials, sharp edges, or dangerous chemicals while ensuring your equipment is stored correctly for safety. 
  • Follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully, as specialized cleaning tools, solvents, and drying procedures may be required.
  • Cleaning increases the proper maintenance of filtration systems and biosafety cabinets and may prevent unnecessary strain on devices.
  • Machines are disassembled when necessary for in-depth cleaning of hard-to-reach parts.

Lab managers should develop a detailed cleaning schedule that is easily accessible to all staff members. Cleaning reagents should align with standard operating procedures to avoid electrical reactions or equipment damage. Maintaining lab equipment includes sweeping floors daily, regularly rotating lab tools, and cleaning emergency stations like shower stations and fire extinguishers to ensure safety.

Calibration

Calibration is an important part of laboratory equipment maintenance to ensure reliable data. Regular calibration ensures that your lab’s processing equipment continuously delivers accurate measurements and reliable results by comparing them against standard measurement units. Ensuring equipment is regularly calibrated is essential for reducing biases and ensuring lab safety. Equipment calibration should be performed when: 

  • The manufacturer’s recommended time elapses
  • The equipment is dropped, hit, or sustains any type of force
  • You notice abnormal sounds, vibrations, or patterns during use
  • Measurements are significantly outside the normal range
  • The data to be measured is of high importance relating to your experiment

Many labs rely on certified calibration services to ensure compliance with requirements and safety regulations. Documenting proper calibration maintains the accuracy of lab measurements and prevents invalid data from interfering with research integrity. Proper training on regular calibration can ensure the delivery of consistent results.

Repairs

Lab equipment is expensive, and equipment cannot always last with regular maintenance as they are exposed to wear and tear. For higher education institutions with budget constraints, it’s critical to extend the life of equipment through preventive maintenance, repairs, and refurbishments to avoid replacing or purchasing new equipment. While performing preventative maintenance, sharp attention to detail helps avoid costly repairs. Consider the following when assessing the need for services:

  • Whether repairs can be handled in-house by trained personnel or require outside professionals
  • Whether the equipment poses a hazard to staff members due to damage
  • Whether refurbishment can extend the equipment’s lifespan through routine polishing, lubricating, and replacing small parts

If repair services or replacements are required, purchasing new equipment from reputable suppliers ensures you source high-quality products with strong technical support. Well-chosen equipment offering long-term reliability will not only minimize lab maintenance costs but also ensure that labs have access to properly functioning emergency stations, hearing conservation equipment, and more.

The Takeaway

Laboratory management is a complicated job. Proactive care and thoughtful maintenance reduce repair costs and ensure all laboratory tools and assets stay in great shape. Developing a comprehensive preventative maintenance plan that includes regular inspections, proper calibration, and record-keeping enables labs to avoid hazardous chemicals, injuries, and risks from improper operation.

Effective laboratory management often involves juggling the logistical challenges of space, budgeting, equipment calibration, fire extinguishers, and safety. Due to these challenges, maintenance is often the last thing on the list. Preventive maintenance, however, directly contributes to lab equipment’s overall safety, efficiency, and optimal condition.

Streamline your equipment care and maintenance plan with a Remi Managed Service Agreement. Consolidating your lab equipment maintenance through Remi means that you will receive outstanding customer support, fast response times and access to a national network of over 5,000 qualified technicians.

To find out more about Remi’s full-service maintenance solution, contact us via our online contact form or request a quote by calling (866)-296-4847 and let us help you manage a successful lab.

Also of Interest