Pressure Decay Test for GC

Description 

Leaks are one of the most common issues with gas chromatography and they can cause poor results and impact instrument performance. Finding and eliminating leaks is a critical skill to keeping your instrument running at its best. Pressure decay tests are an age-old tool for identifying the presence of a leak and we’ll tell you how to do one in this video.  

Additional Resources

• Leak Checking Your GC
• Why Leak Check Your GC System

Restek Recommended Tools & Parts

• Electronic Leak Detector

Transcript

Hi and welcome to this Restek Tip where we’ll talk about pressure decay tests for your gas chromatograph. So what is a pressure decay test anyway? It's a test where you close off all of the means of egress out of an inlet in your GC and you pressurize it. And then you turn the pressure off. And what you're looking for is, while you monitor the pressurized system, you don't want to see that pressure drop because if it's a truly leak-free system all of that pressure you created in there will have nowhere to go. And in some instruments you actually will see the pressure climb just a little bit. But if, on the other hand, you see the pressure begin to drop, well that means you've got a leak somewhere. So, the pressure decay test is a great way of not just trouble shooting a suspected leak, but also if you've done maintenance somewhere on your inlet or on the gas lines and you want to just reassure yourself that all of those points of connection are leak free then you can conduct a pressure decay test.

Like I said, the pressure decay test is a great way for determining whether or not you have a leak. But, it won't find the leak for you. That's where having an electronic leak detector will really come in handy. Isolating where that leak is if it's present at all. Now, to do an actual pressure decay test for your particular instrument you will want to consult your instrument manufacturer's literature. This is a little known but very useful technique for ensuring that you have a leak-free gas chromatograph.

So, thanks for joining us for this Restek Tip.