Advanced Instrument Processing Solutions

First, you need to lower the temperature on your wash cycle to the optimum high point of your detergent. Most of the enzymes in an enzymatic detergent will begin to denature over 145°F.

Let’s explore a few scenarios where your washer was set previously to a higher temperature:

1. If your wash cycle was set at a temperature over 160°F, it was probably set up for an alkaline detergent which work best at higher temperatures. 
2. If you were previously using another enzymatic detergent at a high temperature and experiencing poor results, these high wash temperatures would most likely be the cause. 
3. If you were using a two detergent system, your wash cycle would only work properly at the higher temperature if you were following the enzymatic detergent wash by an alkaline one. Following the enzyme wash cycle with a plain neutral pH detergent wash cycle at that high of a temperature, would have just been cooking any leftover soil onto your instruments.

With the aforementioned in mind, if you don’t know how to change the temperature on your washer, please have your service tech come in and show you how! All too often, I encounter facilities where no one knows how to adjust the parameters on their washer. This is a very important piece of “know how.” For example, if you’re testing your washer’s cleaning efficacy according to AAMI recommendations, and it appears you are not using enough chemistry to do the job, how are you going to adjust the dosing if you don’t know how to? Don’t become dependent on your service tech for these minor adjustments—a service call takes time, and it’s down time you can’t afford. Besides, learning how to adjust your machine will ensure you are in control in following recommendations and optimizing your cleaning ability.

Furthermore, if you work at a larger facility with a number of shifts, it’s my belief that at least one person on every shift should know the codes to change the parameters. You wouldn’t own a car without knowing how to put gas in it or an oven that only ran at one temperature, right? And you probably know how to change the parameters on your sterilizer for those “wonderful” extended cycles… so why wouldn’t you know how to do the same with your washers?

I know… I went off on a tangent again… but I hope I answered your question and wish you all a wonderful holiday!

My first suggestion is to refer you a previous blog question regarding cloudy enzymatic detergent solution (I have noticed our enzymatic detergent becomes cloudy in hot water.  Why does that happen?)

Low foaming detergents usually cloud in hot water for a reason: the “cloud-point surfactants” contained within are what makes these detergents low or non-foaming. My other suggestion is to ensure that you use the right amount of detergent (dosing per gallon) in your sink and ultrasonic cleaner. Overdosing the detergent, especially one with a cloud point surfactant, will increase the cloudiness of your solution once the detergent is brought to its “cloud point” temperature.

I also suggest that you have analysis performed on the water used in your sink and ultrasonic. The chemistry of your water may be reacting with the detergent you are using, causing excessive clouding. Once you get the results of your water testing, contact your cleaning chemistry manufacturer with the results to see if they have any special dosing ranges for your water type.