Hello Monika,
I second all the comments above, especially the one about the "Helium
tower" which we also call "Christmas tree". We have a lot of trouble
getting those to seal properly. A handheld helium detector is invaluable to
find those leaks, or any leak. We have a Restec Leak Detector, which has
become indispensable.
Good luck,
Ulli
On Mon, Apr 6, 2026 at 10:45 AM Mike Lumsden via groups.io wrote:
> Luke - in case you find it interesting, another approach to address the
> important question "Am I losing Helium" is to take a total helium inventory
> on, say, a weekly schedule. Putting this data into a spreadsheet and
> plotting over time can be quite informative!
>
> What I mean by taking an inventory is you sum all sources of liquid in
> your system and all sources of gas (in liquid equivalents). For an ideal
> system without any loss, the total inventory is constant until you purchase
> liquid. If you are only recovering gas, for off-site liquefaction, this is
> straight-forward with magnets the only source of liquid and gas in
> storage. Don't forget you also have gas in the magnets with gas volume
> ( total volume minus liquid volume). If you are also liquefying, then of
> course you must add in your production dewar and your mobile dewar(s) to
> the total inventory (with each dewar also being a source of gas). If you
> are recovering via a bag (as I do), my feeling is its best to manually pull
> the bag down before taking your inventory.
>
> Of course, as you point out, this all breaks down in the absence of
> accurate measurements of liquid volumes and those differential pressure
> meters seem to me to be quite coarse.
>
> I welcome all thoughts, concerns, ideas for improvement on this approach!
>
> Mike
>
--
Dr. Ulrike Werner-Zwanziger
Adjunct Professor
Department of Chemistry, NMR-3,
Dalhousie University
6245 Castine Way
PO BOX 15000
Halifax, NS B3H 4R2
e-mail: Ulli.Zwanziger_at_Dal.ca
Tel. 1 902 494 8085
FAX: 1 902 494 1310
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Received on Mon Apr 06 2026 - 07:01:10 MST