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Author Topic: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies  (Read 1747 times)

Offline BrewBama

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Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« on: November 06, 2018, 03:26:52 pm »
Got a new meter today. And it started at 4 and ended at 12 until I shut it off. Called customer service. Of course they’re closed.




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Offline Robert

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2018, 03:59:08 pm »
Look on the bright side; if customer service was open,  you'd just be sitting on hold.   Seriously,  that is a bummer, hope you solve it quickly.   Hey, didn't you just have a mystery error code on your Inkbird?  Sensing a pattern....
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

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Offline BrewBama

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #2 on: November 06, 2018, 04:16:24 pm »
Yep. I have gremlins.


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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #3 on: November 06, 2018, 04:38:14 pm »
I would unplug the battery for a few, rinse the probe with distilled, and rinse whatever sample cup I'm using for calibration. Then give it another try.

Also, I see your thermometer probe is in there. I suppose its possible its creating some trace current that could screw up your reading. Measure your temp and remove the temp probe, then use your ph probe and calibrate

Temp is important but keep in mind the accuracy of your meter, +/- .01. That's equal to about 5 degrees C difference. So you could know precisely what your temp is but your meter makes that level of precision irrelevant. Then for our purposes, really +/- .1 is not horrible.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2018, 04:51:34 pm by klickitat jim »

Offline mabrungard

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #4 on: November 06, 2018, 05:12:48 pm »
With a new probe, its possible that it is not properly hydrated and it needs to be soaked in storage solution.
Martin B
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Offline goose

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2018, 07:16:48 am »
With a new probe, its possible that it is not properly hydrated and it needs to be soaked in storage solution.

Agree with Martin.  If the probe was dry, it needs to be soaked in storage solution for a few hours to re-hydrate it.
The hand held Hanna pH meter (my backup now) that I have recommends this.  When I got my Milwaukee pH meter a few months back I re-hydrated the probe and it is stable.

It is also a good idea when calibrating the meter to rinse it with 7.0 buffer before calibrating it in the buffer.  If you are doing a two step calibration, then rinse the probe in some 4.0 buffer before calibrating it with this buffer.  That way you rinse off any residual solutions during the calibration process.

I also swirl the probe in the sample I am measuring to make sure I get the probe suspended in a homogeneous sample.  This gives a better reading.
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Offline goose

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2018, 07:19:57 am »
Forgot to also mention, if you sample is warm and is cooling during the measurement process, the pH will tend to rise as the sample cools.  Higher temperature samples will read lower than cooler ones.  If you cool the sample to near room temp or at least under 100 degrees, you will get a more reliable reading.
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Offline BrewBama

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2018, 07:49:30 am »
I spoke to the mfr rep. He said even though the shipping vial came with solution in it, I still have to soak the probe in storage solution for two hours prior to calibration. So, as we spoke I filled a glass with 2” of storage solution and placed the probe in it. We’ll see in a couple hours wether it solves the problem or not.


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Offline Robert

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #8 on: November 07, 2018, 08:20:28 am »
Bet that does it.  Hanna (my mfr) recommends a 2 hour minimum soak in storage solution,  overnight preferred,  after each cleaning as well as when dried out, before recalibrating,  and rising with DI (or nearest thing) water before and between each solution during calibration. They say otherwise erratic readings will result.
Rob Stein
Akron, Ohio

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Offline BrewBama

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2018, 10:01:39 am »
Bet that does it.  Hanna (my mfr) recommends a 2 hour minimum soak in storage solution,  overnight preferred,  after each cleaning as well as when dried out, before recalibrating,  and rising with DI (or nearest thing) water before and between each solution during calibration. They say otherwise erratic readings will result.

The old ‘soak it in storage solution’ trick worked well. What I don’t understand is that it was shipped with some kind of solution in the storage vial already. Why it needed to be soaked 2 hours in MY storage solution is a mystery. Regardless, it worked and I put the shipping vial back on filled with my storage solution ready for service.


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Offline mabrungard

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Re: Me and pH meters are mortal enemies
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2018, 06:22:04 pm »
What I don’t understand is that it was shipped with some kind of solution in the storage vial already.

Hmm? I wonder what that 'solution' was? In any case, a proper storage solution is typically a potassium chloride solution typically at a concentration of 1 to 3 Molarity. If they just put water in the vial, it might have leached some of the probe's ionic content out.

Hopefully your probe gives you good life. The Milwaukee probes employ a gel electrolyte and I find that they are pretty durable and long-lived. 
Martin B
Carmel, IN

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