GC Accessory Articles

Supplies for Agilent Instrument Injection Ports

EZ Twist Top™ Split/Splitless Port for Agilent GCs

by Donna Lidgett, GC Accessories Product Manager

No kinked or broken gas lines.
Change inlet liners faster, easier, and eliminate touching hot surfaces.
Excellent for Agilent 5890/6890/6850 GCs; especially advantageous with Agilent GCs equipped with autosamplers.

Injection port maintenance should be performed prior to installing any capillary column, and on a routine basis, based on the number of injections made and the cleanliness of the samples. For optimum system performance, the injection port liner must be free of sample residue, septum particles, and ferrule fragments, so proper maintenance includes replacing the injection port liner, critical seals, and septum. Peak shape degradation, poor reproducibility, sample decomposition, and ghost peaks all are associated with using a dirty liner. Frequent septum replacement prevents fragmentation and leaks. Multiple injections and continuous exposure to hot injection port surfaces will decompose the septum and can create particles that can fall into the injection port liner, where they become a potential source of ghost peaks, loss of inertness, and occluded carrier gas flow. Therefore, changing the septum and inlet liner frequently is essential to maintaining optimum system performance.

Using Restek’s unique EZ Twist Top™ Injection Port, and Restek Cool Tools (Septum Nut Removal Tool, cat. # 24918, and Inlet Liner Removal Tool, cat. # 20181—order separately), you can reduce maintenance time and frustration, and eliminate tangled gas lines and damage that leads to leaks, while avoiding direct contact with hot metal and glass surfaces.

The gas lines are attached to the EZ Twist Top™ Shell Weldment (bottom) instead of to the weldment (top). Once the injection port is installed the gas lines are under the GC cover and do not interfere with routine injection port maintenance, as shown in Figure 1. To remove the weldment and access the liner, simply slip the Weldment Removal Tool (included in the complete injection port kit) over the weldment (Figure 2), twist, and remove the weldment. For speed and efficiency, the weldment stays secured in the tool until you are ready to reattach it. Changing inlet liners in original equipment injection ports was complicated by the gas lines and sampling tray. Our injection port makes changing the liner a quick and simple task.

Not available in Germany or Japan.

Figure 1		Figure 2


The old way: gas lines can be damaged during routine injection port maintenance.	The better way: with the EZ Twist Top™ Injection Port, the gas lines are under the GC cover and are not disturbed during maintenance.	Simply slip the Weldment Removal Tool over the weldment, then twist and remove the weldment. For speed and efficiency, the weldment stays secured in the Weldment Removal Tool until you reattach it.