What might cause Radnoti's Oxygenating Chamber (working heart) to fill with fluid and drip out of the lid?

The Oxygenating Chamber is designed to be used to gas solutions. The internal silicone tubing is highly permeable to O2 and CO2 which permits rapid equilibration of solutions with most gas mixtures.

 
There are two possible reasons why the oxygenating chamber may fill with fluid and leak while priming the system:
1. The ports on the lid may be connected incorrectly (see attached PDF diagram). The four ports include:
(1) Incoming perfusate port from peristaltic pump
(2) Out-going perfusate port to bubble trap
(3) Incoming gas port
(4) Out-going gas vent (which remains open to air)
      *Check that these are connected correctly
2. The silicon tubing might have come off the connection port inside the lid. To check this:
  • Turn off the peristaltic pump. 
  • Open the lid and remove the part with the tubing from the glass chamber. 
  • Reconnect the tubing to the correct port. 
  • Before placing tubing back into the chamber, make sure the tubing sits tight on the port by switching on the pump. 
  • If the tubing comes off again, cut away about a centimeter of the tubing and connect to the port again (you might need to uncoil the tubing a bit). 
  • Insert into the chamber.
Note: If the chamber fills with perfusate, the chamber and tubing will need to be cleaned according to Radnot's cleaning instructions (see attached PDF).
 

For further technical assistance with this or any other issue, please contact ADInstruments Technical Support by clicking HERE.