The Role of Autoclave Water in Disinfecting Medical and Laboratory Apparatuses

The applications of pure water seem endless and ininstruments in distilled water, this only part of the
many cases tap water is out of the question.purpose. Stains in laboratory instruments affect
Laboratories follow strict regulations when it comesresults during testing and analysis. Chemists and
to maintenance of sterility in the facility and of itslaboratory scientists avoid this trouble by making sure
apparatuses. The common malpractice is washing thehigh quality water is used in washing the apparatuses.
materials using ordinary water. In hospitals, theIn microbiology, biotechnology labs and in hospitals,
consideration of sanitation is even more compelling. Itpure distilled water must be used in sterilization
has been a wide practice to use a special type ofpurposes. Bacteria in ordinary water could harm
water for autoclave sterilizers, which would becomeculture and contaminate materials, making them
less efficient with continued use of tap water.inappropriate for scientific use.
Ordinary water can never be used in tissue cultureIn medicine, equipment and materials are sterilized
purposes, for instance. This is because of its impurethrough autoclaving. An autoclave is a special device
nature, rendering it limited for typical use. While itthat uses high temperature and high pressure steam
may be all right to water your vegetable gardento destroy microorganisms. This equipment is widely
using water coming from deep wells and taps, it isseen in medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, and
never recommended to use it inside controlled labs.microbiology. Notice that these fields rely much on
You should not even use it to rinse your glass waressanitation and microbe-free environment.
if you were to keep them polished clean.It may sound similar to boiling but ordinary boiling
Just what is in typical water that renders itraises water temperature to 100 degrees Celsius, a
ineffective for scientific purposes?temperature hot enough to kill most pathogenic
Water exists in nature as an effective solvent that itmicrobes but not hot enough to kill certain bacteria
dissolves a lot of substances. No wonder anspecies. An autoclave produces steam at
extremely huge percentage of water on earthtemperatures 121 degrees or more.
comes as the salty seawater that is neither safe forAutoclave water is not any kind of water and
drinking nor good for laundering. What about watercertainly not the kind that comes out of the tap.
from our taps? Tap water has undergone someMany laboratories utilize deionized or distilled water in
series of filtration to remove too much minerals andthe autoclave. The relatively high mineral content of
microorganisms. However, these methods do notordinary water would lower the efficiency and life
eliminate all the impurities and in most cases this kindspan of the autoclave device due to deposition of
of water still has dissolved salts and microorganisms.stains on the inner surfaces of the sterilizing chamber.
To remove these remaining impurities, furtherMoreover, tap water would leave stains onto
intensive methods are used.surfaces of instruments placed in the autoclave.
In laboratories, use of tap water to cleanDeionized autoclave water efficiently cleans surfaces
apparatuses causes deposition of stains from mineralwithout leaving ugly residues, enhances the effective
impurities. The ugly stains would usually be seen inrinsing ability of the autoclave and prolongs the life of
ridges and folds of the materials and would lessenthe device itself as well as the instruments placed
the lustrous or the polished quality of the materialinside. Also, take note that an equipment or
and this is particularly an ugly thing in glassapparatus must be cleaned or washed thoroughly
instruments. While we could be thinking much aboutfirst before placing it into an autoclave.
the aesthetic rationale behind rinsing glass wares and