Hi everybody,
We have three Bruker cryoprobes that range from two to four years old. The
two older helium compressors have each died after around three years of
operation. The first one needed its capsule replaced, and I suspect the
second one will also (it just died so I don't know yet). This repair is
quite expensive - in the ballpark of $10,000. Of course there are many
other things that can go wrong and most of them are not quite so
expensive.
In talking to several people I have gotten the idea that these compressors
usually run for around three years before breaking down. It would be very
useful to have a realistic estimate of their average annual maintenance
cost. The annual maintenance cost of cryoprobes is quite high because of
the mandatory annual service. I'm starting to wonder if the cost of
maintaining the compressors, after the first three years, is of the same
order of magnitude as the annual service.
I would like to tap into the collective experience of the group to get an
estimate of how often they break down, how much is the average repair
cost, and what is their average lifespan. Thanks in advance. I'll post a
summary of the responses.
-Robert
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Robert Peterson, Ph.D.
Facility Manager
MBI-DOE Biomolecular NMR Facility
UCLA Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
phone: (310)825-1816
fax: (310)825-0982
peterson_at_mbi.ucla.edu
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Received on Fri Nov 17 2006 - 11:24:25 MST