Autoclave recommendation (Siltex practika).

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Hello Pods,

I'm in the market for a new autoclave after my old girl has turned up her toes. Poor thing. I've just had Siltex over for a demo of the new Practika S20. Seemed pretty good and I have always been impressed by Siltex's after sales service. Does anyone have concerns regarding this model? Especially as this company no longer manufactures in Australia and imports it's units from Italy. Be good to know of any common problems before I hand over 7.5k. Thanks.

Chris Williams
(Vic - Australia)

 

We had a discussion about autoclaves the other day.

Paul Bowels and I both have a Melag which I understand you can Buy and service in OZ. Its a great machine to consider as another option mine is coming up on 4 years not a blinking light to be seen.

 

Melag is great and easy to use. Just slurps a LOT of water, so be prepared for buying bucket loads of distilled water. (Not sure if Siltex uses a lot of water, but my old Mediclave didn't)

 

Hi Jos I notice your comment re your Melag using lots of water .
Most likely,your unit is switched to the one way cycle,which does not reuse the water only stores the dirty water in the left side tank.As such,each cycle uses clean water this ensures clean instruments with no spotting.All internal components are kept clean particularly solenoids which operate many of the functions.Your instruction manual will advise how to change to a circle water system which uses the water over and over until the PH levels indicate to the computer internally that the water is too dirty and the screen indicates "dirty water"and the unit will not operate again untill a water change ,therefore clean water = clean autoclave=clean instruments.Your old autoclave had no such function and continued to use dirty water over and over.Dirty water=dirty autoclave=dirty instruments Solution---purchase a benchtop water distiller for about $350 .00. Regards Alan

 

Thanks alan, but I did ask about the bench top distiller and was advised against it for my Melag (from memory, I rang select medical) who said that it would not provide clean enough water..........so I just buy the big drums now and use those!

 

I've been very happy with my 23S which is set on the one way water cycle, water is cheap compared to a clagged up machine from recycling the water all the time, which does not really save you much, it is a nice big chamber that holds up to 4kg in up to 20 bags....so bigger than most. I did have a problem with the thermostats in it whiich cost me about $1400 all up, but I think that was mostly due to moving it and not having it set on the preheat setting, has not missed a cycle since we set it up that way and have not moved it since.
regards Phill Carter

 

im also on the lookout for a backup autoclave,wondering which model is the best