Contamination - Agilent Technologies 7250 Troubleshooting And Maintenance Manual

2 General Troubleshooting

Contamination

Contamination is usually identified by excessive background in the mass
spectra. It can come from the GC or from the MS. The source of the
contamination can sometimes be determined by identifying the contaminants.
Some contaminants are much more likely to originate in the GC. Others are more
likely to originate in the MS.
Contamination originating in the GC typically comes from one of these sources:
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Contamination originating in the MS typically comes from one of the following
sources:
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Table
contaminants, the ions characteristic of those contaminants, and the likely
sources of those contaminants.
46
Column or septum bleed
Dirty GC inlet
GC inlet liner
Contaminated syringe
Poor quality carrier gas
Dirty carrier gas tubing
Fingerprints (improper handling of clean parts)
Air leak
Cleaning solvents and materials
Rotary foreline pump oil
IDP foreline pump tip seal
Fingerprints (improper handling of clean parts)
3, "Common contaminants," on page 47 lists some of the more common
7250 Accurate-Mass Q-TOF Troubleshooting and Maintenance Manual