Water Bath; Purpose
The tenacity of this SOP is to define the operation, calibration & cleaning of Water Bath
Water Bath; Scope
This procedure is applicable for Water Bath installed in Microbiology section at XX Pharmaceuticals Limited.
Definitions/Abbreviations
LED: Light Emitting Diode
Responsibilities:
The roles and responsibility are as follows
Executive/Senior Executive, Microbiology
- To confirm that the instructions of this procedure are properly followed.
- To maintain the record correctly as per SOP.
- To confirm cleaning of shaking water bath maintaining safety guidelines.
Assistant Manager, Microbiology
- To confirm that this process is kept up to date.
- To ensure that the SOP is technically sound & reflects required working practices.
- To arrange training on the SOP to all concerned personnel & to ensure implementation of the SOP after training.
- Schedule calibration of the instrument at the defined intervals.
Procedure
Instructions
- Laboratory coat, hand gloves & safety glasses must be worn while handling instrument.
- Never touch the liquid within the bath as it may be very hot.
- Each time use the display or a thermometer to check the temperature.
- Never block ventilation slots during operation.
- Each time disconnect bath from electricity supply before cleaning.
- Allow the liquid in bath to cool down to 40°C before draining.
- Use only purified water, never operate water bath without water.
- Fill the it prior to connection to power supply.
- It should be covered with a lid or polypropylene spheres to achieve optimum performance.
- Always use the stainless steel flat lid with concentric rings when the instrument is not in use to avoid contaminants landing in the bath liquid.
- Don’t touch any electrical contacts or open any closure panel that may be risk of electrical shock when above 60˚C or below room temperature,
Operating Procedure
- Check the calibration date of the instrument before each time use. If the calibration is out of date, calibrate it and then use.
- Check water level, If require adjust the water bath to an appropriate level with purified water.
- Switch on the power from the main.
- Using the switch “I” ON, “O” OFF button located at the rear side of it, Switch on the Water bath When ON (I) the switch is illuminated & unit performs a self-test where all segments of the 3 digit LED display & indicators illuminated.
- To display “SP1” to set temperature, press & hold down key for more than 1.5 seconds. “SP1” will show blinking.
- To select required temperature, use up or down arrow keys.
- Heater indicator will illuminate. Wait until the display flashes between “SP1” & set temperature and will revert to show actual liquid temperature.
- When the bath temperature is either 4°C above or below set temperature, LED indicator will illuminate.
- Open concentric ring & place beaker or suitable container with sample on sphere of it.
- After completion of work, switch off bath by using “I” ON, “O” OFF switch, located at rear side of back of it.
Calibration Procedure
- Calibrate Water bath once in a year.
- Fill purified water in water bath to an suitable level.
- Switch on the bath using “I” ON, “O” OFF switch, located at the rear side of back of the Water bath.
- Set desired temperature against calibrated standard thermometer at 35⁰C, 45⁰C, 65⁰C.
- Wait 30 minutes to equilibrate.
- Verify temperature using a calibrated standard thermometer & record the temperature in the Calibration information sheet for Water bath (as per Annexure-I).
Cleaning Procedure
- When water becomes dirty, clean instrument otherwise clean once in a week.
- Switch ‘OFF’ the instrument.
- Disconnect main power supply.
- Open stainless steel flat lids with concentric rings of the water bath.
- Use purified water to wash the stainless steel flat lids and concentric rings.
- To reduce potential biological contamination, remove the water from water bath.
- Wash it with soapy water & then purified water.
- Mop with clean dry cotton cloth.
- To remove any deposits, use 10% nitric acid on a cloth (wear suitable gloves).
- Gently heat to 50°C for an hour after adding 1 liter of vinegar to water in the stainless steel tank, empty and brush the lime away for descaling then rinse thoroughly afterwards.
- Fill with purified water up to desired level .
- Close the stainless steel flat lids with concentric rings.
Download Annexure Here
Annexure I Calibration Information Sheet for Water Bath