Hi all,
As James linked previously,this is the Meinhard Pearl Nebulizer Cleaner tool:
https://www.meinhard.com/index.cfm/prod ... lizers.cfmWe (and several other labs) have used it with pretty good success. The main advantages of using the Pearl tool are that you can make a tight seal around the nebulizer, which then allows you to use the plunger part to forcefully backflush fluid through both the sample capillary (to drip out the sample port stem) and the gas chamber (to drip out the gas side port). Basically, you take out the plunger, unscrew the black cap, then insert the nebulizer, screw in the black cap until just barely tight, pour cleaner in the top chamber, then use the plunger to push it back through the nebulizer. You then unscrew the black cap and remove the nebulizer before you pull the white plunger back out.
The Pearl cleaner we use is 40mL of 5% citranox and 10mL of methanol. A few flushes of that will clean out most clogs, and do it faster than nitric.
The disadvantages of the Pearl tool are:
1. You can break the nebulizer internal capillary. This is a certain amount of risk you take using it. Basically, the forceful backflushing on occasion will break the capillary: I think it's flow forces causing it to wiggle back and forth, and snap. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
2. Since the nebulizers are hand-made (last I heard, at least), there's a small variance in the outer diameter of the nebulizer gas chamber. Therefore, occasionally you'll get a nebulizer that's too fat to fit in the hole, and similarly occasionally you'll get one that's a little too narrow to form a sufficient seal to actually flush the nebulizer capillary....instead, it will just spill around the nebulizer rather than really going *through* the nebulizer.
However: the Pearl nebulizer flushing does require there to be *flow*. If the sample capillary is completely blocked, it won't clean.
Generally, if the capillary is completely blocked (with organic matter), then the only thing I've had good success with is leaving it inverted in concentrated nitric for a few days. There, even if it's completely blocked, capillary action and diffusion will *eventually* get nitric up to the clog so it can dissolve (or at least loosen) it.
Mike