As the semester winds down, now is a good time to begin assessing your lab’s autoclave. Taking a few minutes now to check in with instructors, staff, and students will help you focus in on what your facility and staff need, making it that much easier to chose the right autoclave when it comes time to upgrade.

The Priorclave team has crafted a list of questions to ask yourself, your teaching staff, and your students as you move into next term:

Are you currently using the right autoclave?

• Designed for research? Medical sterilizers are the most common autoclaves sold in the US, but rarely a good fit for a teaching facility.
• Too many bells and whistles? Unnecessary complexity drives up price and complicates maintenance.
• Inflexible programming? Staff often find themselves bending over backward to make their autoclave perform daily tasks.
• A quality device? There’s no reason that a smaller unit should be made to lesser standards.

How comfortable are you with students safely operating your current autoclave?

• Can instructors quickly and confidently train students?
• Can students then operate the sterilizer safely on their own, or do you need to restrict access to a select few?
• Does your autoclave manufacturer offer training programs that meet your needs?

Are you unnecessarily wasting energy and water—and in turn wasting university dollars?

• Does your autoclave use water 24/7, even if no cycles have been run that day?
• Does your autoclave “idle hot”?

Do you receive adequate customer support?

• 24/7 live support 365 days of the year?
• A dedicated service team familiar with your autoclave, facility, and sterilization tasks, ready to answer your questions?
• Lifetime free technical support and consulting to optimize your sterilizer for your tasks?

As a university lab professional, you have a lot to think about when making any purchasing decision. These blog posts and white papers cover the most important features of a good research-grade autoclave:

• Autoclave water savings on college campuses
• Water consumption
• Energy Savings
• Research-Optimized Autoclave Control Systems