Hello again,

Just to clarify the situation we have had with our Pathcentre.  I think I was more than a little harsh to say "nothing but problems"!  We have in fact only had two major problems and one ongoing problem with the machine in the five years we have had it.  The major ones seemed to be somewhat related, in that the bottles had trouble filling and/or emptying - seemed to be due to a blockage in the pipes (possibly due to user error in retrospect).  Please note: the total downtime for this unit has been *one* night only.  Pretty impressive.  We have had to spend quite a bit of money on it recently - this was to upgrade it - effectively it is now in line with the new machines coming off the line.  Money well worth it in the long run.  The one thing that has annoyed me about the machine is an ongoing (air?) leakage problem that results in fluid precipitating in the vapour trap rather faster than it should.  Our local service guy has done a heap of work on it trying to trace this (most of this work at no cost to us), to no avail.  We are about to replace the seals on all the bottles - so I will let you know how this goes!  This has been a relatively minor problem, but it's longevity has been a bit frustrating (about six months) - this was probably foremost in my mind when I wrote the original email.  Sylvia, I *would* recommend this unit to you (even for all my whining), as we give ours one hell of a hammering, and it still smiles at us politely when we ask it to go another round.  I fully expect to get at least another ten years from this machine before we even consider replacing it.  To the guys at Shandon and Medic Corp: my apologies for a hasty, poorly worded email.  Thankyou both for all the work you have done for us.

Yours,
Aidan Schurr.


__

aidan schurr  b.m.l.sc
section head, histology
hutt valley health
lower hutt
new zealand

aidan.schurr@hvh.co.nz
++64 4 570 9173

>>> "Showers, Doug" <DShowers@ameripath.com> 2:50:59 a.m. Saturday, 28 April 2001 >>>
I have bought six pathcentres over the past 4 years and have been using them
each 2 to 3 times per day. I would highly recommend them to anyone!   

Doug Showers, MS, HT
Histology Manager
Unipath, A Division of Ameripath
Dallas, Texas

-----Original Message-----
From: Aidan Schurr [mailto:Aidan.Schurr@hvh.co.nz] 
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2001 4:35 PM
To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu; spoulos@saa.ars.usda.gov 
Subject: Re: Tissue Processor Adivce


Hi Sylvia,

I don't know if other people have found the same, but we own a Pathcentre
and have had nothing but trouble with it.  Our sister lab in a close-by city
has had similar experiences (and is about to replace it with a VIP - I wish
I had the $$ to do the same!).  Shandon, for their part, have done their
best to fix the problems, but in my view there has just been far too many of
them.

Best of luck!

Aidan


__

aidan schurr  b.m.l.sc
section head, histology
hutt valley health
lower hutt
new zealand

aidan.schurr@hvh.co.nz 
++64 4 570 9173

>>> Sylvia Poulos <spoulos@saa.ars.usda.gov> 7:25:46 a.m. Friday, 27 April
2001 >>>
Hi everyone, 
I'd like to hear your views on tissue processors as I'm about to purchase a
new one.  I've been using a Hacker Flex3000 and am considering the Shandon's
Pathcenter, and Hacker's LX120.  I only process samples monthly and only
have about 50 to run each time so speed isn't a huge concern of mine.
Thanks for your thoughts! 
Sylvia Poulos
USDA-ARS- Animal Physiology Research Unit