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Preventive Maintenance For Your Lab Equipment

scientist working in research lab

We all grew up hearing the saying, “a stitch in time will save you nine.” The idea is a simple one; taking care of an issue while it’s small will save you headaches in the future. The concept is true in nearly every situation from routine car maintenance to lab equipment preventive maintenance. 

Why is preventive maintenance for lab equipment recommended? Let’s take a look.

1. Missing Your Lab Equipment Preventive Maintenance Tasks Could Void Warranties

Ignoring routine preventive maintenance for your car, such as oil changes, can ultimately lead to a failed claim against the car’s warranty. Warranties are very specific as to what actions are required to keep the warranty valid. It’s the same for all warranties, including your expensive lab equipment. Planned preventive maintenance tasks should be performed as specified within your equipment’s warranty, and the tasks will need to be tracked and logged.

Preventive maintenance for lab equipment will make it far easier to repair or replace items covered under warranty.

2. Preventive Maintenance Plans Keep Repair Costs Low

Addressing small issues as they arise will save a lot of money in the long run. Equipment already takes up the largest part of your laboratory budget, and no lab manager wants to think about replacing or repairing it. Keeping equipment well-maintained means catching a small problem and fixing it before it escalates into a costly repair or replacement.

As a side note, keeping your equipment well-maintained also means you will get top dollar on it if you trade it in or sell it.

3. Maintain Consistency, Safety, and Accuracy

Laboratory equipment that isn’t properly maintained can become unreliable, providing data that is inconsistent and inaccurate. Additionally, improperly maintained equipment can be hazardous for your teams to use, resulting in injury or accidental exposure to hazardous materials. Maintaining equipment is an important part of a complete quality control plan.

4. Preventive Maintenance Helps Your Lab Stay Compliant

Your lab equipment is covered under several regulations. Starting with ISO/IEC 17025, these regulations are highly specific regarding how to calibrate, test, and maintain laboratory equipment. Failure to follow regulations can lead to costly violations and possible suspension of your laboratory’s licence.

5. Downtime Will Ruin Your Day

Your lab equipment never chooses a good time to fail. It’s unpredictable, and a failure can ruin your test results and samples. Planned preventive maintenance will help mitigate the risk of a catastrophic failure that can adversely affect your team’s hard work.

Leave it to the Pros

BaneBio recommends routine preventive maintenance on all your critical instruments and equipment to help make sure your equipment is running optimally. To find out how our qualified used laboratory equipment technicians can stop problems before they start, contact us for a free consultation today.