Yep, it is baffling.  Can there be something going on with the faucet that you
have hooked up to the stainer.  There may be some impurities in the pipes that
can be causing the variation.  Water from the tap can have a lot of variables
and cause alot of variables.

Would you try an experiment? Unhook the water hose to the automated stainer.
Use the same water for the manual staining dishes.  Let's see what happens.

Rande




"Skelton, Michelle" <mskelton@anthc.org> on 09/28/99 03:45:43 PM

To:   Rande Kline/EMI/Merck@EMI, "Skelton, Michelle" <mskelton@anthc.org>
cc:
Subject:  RE: H&E help



Answers to your questions

*Yes,  we use tap water on both.
*They are both in the same room (we monitor air temp) and are both under the
same type of fume hood.
*Yes, we get the stains from the same jugs and usually change the stains on
Mondays.

Baffling isn't it?

Michelle

> -----Original Message-----
> From:   rkline@emindustries.com [SMTP:rkline@emindustries.com]
> Sent:   Tuesday, September 28, 1999 6:08 AM
> To:     Skelton, Michelle
> Subject:     Re: H&E help
>
> Michelle,
>
> I have a couple of questions.
>
> Are you using the same type of water on the stainer and in the manual
> set-up?
>
> Are both manual and automated systems in the same room?
>
> Are both set-ups using the same lots of stains?
>
> I would like to talk to you further, please call me at 1-800-222-0342x443.
>
> Rande Kline, HT (ASCP)
> Technical Services
> EM Science
>
>
>
>
> "Skelton, Michelle" <mskelton@anthc.org> on 09/27/99 07:44:48 PM
>
> To:   "'histonet@pathology.swmed.edu'" <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
> cc:    (bcc: Rande Kline/EMI/Merck)
> Subject:  H&E help
>
>
>
>    We are having a problem with our H&E being inconsistent (sometimes from
> day to day, sometimes from batch to batch).  We have an automated stainer
> (Tissue-Tek) and purchase the hematoxylin and eosin from Surgipath.  We do
> not change program times or reagents, yet sometimes our stain is light and
> sometimes it is dark (preferred).
>    We had experimented with the times and thought that we had found one
> that
> was "perfect"....then something happened and we have had problems ever
> since.  The stain seems to be especially light after changing the alcohols
> and xylenes.  We have not changed any processes, vendors, or
> manufacturers.
> But our stain is continually changing. Some days it is great and other
> days
> it is too light.  The same hematoxylin, eosin, alcohol, and xylene are on
> our manual stain line.  We stain those following the same times as on the
> auto stainer and they come out perfect every time. Has anybody else had
> this
> problem and does anybody know what to do about it?
>   We have tried everything that we can possibly think of and are at our
> wits
> end. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Michelle Skelton
> Alaska Native Medical Center
>
>
>
>