{"id":51669,"date":"2017-08-17T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/uncategorized\/dont-forget-about-your-labs-moisture-trapsfilters-especially-when-its-summer\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:52:11","slug":"dont-forget-about-your-labs-moisture-trapsfilters-especially-when-its-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/blogs\/gnbl4651\/dont-forget-about-your-labs-moisture-trapsfilters-especially-when-its-summer","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t forget about your lab\u2019s moisture traps\/filters, especially when it\u2019s summer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the common issues which arise in laboratories during the summer is moisture in the gas lines. Although I never quite understood how this would happen when using gas cylinders, it does, especially when a manifold system is used, or if the length of tubing from the gas source to the instrument is longer than several feet\/meters.  Common observations when this happens are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unstable instrument detectors (especially TCDs, HIDs, ECDs and mass specs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than ideal chromatography (shifting retention times, unusual peak shapes, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unusual activity issues in the injection port and\/or ghost peaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 So what is an inexpensive way to minimize these issues, especially in the summer when many locations experience hot and humid conditions? Install an indicating moisture trap\/filter on all gas lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how would you know which trap filter would be best for you laboratory? Ask yourself the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q1. What is the gas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q2. Is the gas line tubing copper or stainless steel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q3. What is the maximum gas flow rate the trap\/filter may be subjected to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q4. What is the maximum gas pressure the trap\/filter may be subjected to?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are my suggestions to aid in trap\/filter selection based upon the questions listed above:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S1. Generally speaking, the traps\/filters we sell are for use with laboratory grade (high purity) inert gases.  If you plan to use a Restek trap\/filter with a corrosive, flammable or reactive gas, email technical service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S2. Most use traps\/filters containing brass end-fittings with copper tubing and stainless steel end-fittings with stainless steel tubing.\u00a0 For additional information on the topic, I suggest you review the post “I need a fitting, but which one?<\/a>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S3. Published flow rates can vary among manufacturers, so make sure you are aware of exactly what a published value represents.  For example, is the published flow rate the maximum flow rate the trap\/filter can handle, or is it the maximum flow rate in which the trap\/filter can effectively clean (scrub) the gas?  In the context of this post, what is the maximum gas flow rate through the trap\/filter that can effectively remove much of the moisture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S4. For obvious safety reasons, make sure the published maximum trap\/filter pressure is not exceeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several of the popular indicating moisture filters are shown below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indicating Moisture Traps (Inline)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Restek Super Clean Ultra-High Capacity Moisture Filter (needs baseplate)<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"a<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Single position baseplate<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"decorative\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Of course, we also sell a wide variety of other filters including non-indicating moisture filters, and others for the removal of oxygen and\/or hydrocarbons.  You have plenty of choices from Restek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the common issues which arise in laboratories during the summer is moisture in the gas lines. Although I never quite understood how this would happen when using gas cylinders, it does, especially when a manifold system is used,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"industries-application":[],"post-badge":[],"resource-type":[],"product-library":[],"resource-technique":[2294],"ppma_author":[582],"class_list":["post-51669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs","resource-technique-gas-chromatography-gc"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":9,"label":"Blogs"}],"resource-technique":[{"value":2294,"label":"Gas Chromatography (GC)"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":{"display_name":"Brenda Cogan","author_link":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/author\/brenda-coganrestek-com\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":9,"name":"Blogs","slug":"blogs","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":438,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":9,"category_count":438,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Blogs","category_nicename":"blogs","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"authors":[{"term_id":582,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"alan-sensue","display_name":"Alan Sensue","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51669"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85287,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51669\/revisions\/85287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"industries-application","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industries-application?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"post-badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-badge?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"resource-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-type?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"product-library","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product-library?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"resource-technique","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-technique?post=51669"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discover.restek.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=51669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}