Michelle, recently Gary Gill made the comment that he had never had problems
with water affecting the H&E stain.  I have had the experience of tap water
doing exactly what you are experiencing.  We moved to a new facility in a
different town.  Two weeks after moving, the stain began being highly
inconsistent.  We went through the process of changing out one variable at a
time including changing mfg. of hematoxylin and eosin.  We foundthe Richard
Allan 7211 hematoxylin and eosin w/phloxine tended to provide some
consistency.  However, we put in resin beds for the water which helped some.
Hematoxylin would still be washed out.  We placed a charcoal filter for the
chlorine problem.  This has helped some.  Upon checking , we were told this
city has the worst water of any around.  There is high silica content and
the chlorine is inconsistent. When the rainy season occures, there is no
consistency or when water supply is changed, ie. wells or reservoir.  To
ensure consistent staining, the Fisher Protocol stainers are on order for
installation.  Yes, unfortunately, there can be problems with the tap water.
We did not wish to put in a Barnstead type system due to expense and what
maintenance would occur.  The Protocol seems to be a good solution for
consistency, speed and cost.  sharon osborn
-----Original Message-----
From: Skelton, Michelle <mskelton@anthc.org>
To: 'histonet@pathology.swmed.edu' <histonet@pathology.swmed.edu>
Date: Monday, September 27, 1999 7:13 PM
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
>
>