Dear Sir,

What is the life time of a steam sterilizer?
When we have to remove a working sterilizer and replace it by a new one?
What is the average no. of cycles for a sterilzer to perform/not exceed per day?
Is the life time of sterilizer is measured by the no. of cycles or by the working days?

Regards,

Sherif Elsonbaty
Biomedical Engineer

Dear Sherif Elsonbaty,
It is impossible to give a real figure for the life cycle of a steriliser, because so many things are effecting this. Quality of the steriliser chamber - The steriliser chamber should have a well designed construction of a good quality stainless steel (AISI 316 / 316Ti or 316L). Steam quality - This is major important as chemical pollution of steam can do severe damage to the steriliser chamber construction. Intensity of use - How many times per day the steriliser is used and what type of cycle is it. Treatment of steriliser chamber - Is the steriliser chamber and door(s) regularly cleaned and maintained. Steriliser control - The electronic components used in the steriliser control are aging quicker than in normal circumstances, due to the hot and moistly environment.

Of course there is a general rule to replace a steriliser. In the Netherlands it is common that the economic life time of a steriliser is ten years. Than the discussion starts to replace the steriliser and find money for it. So the replacement takes place after 12 - 15 years. Very often the steriliser chamber does last longer than the steriliser control, which means that an old steriliser chamber often is equipped with a new, up to date, control. We do have sterilisers with a chamber of more than twenty years but with a rather new steriliser control.

I hope my answer is satisfactory to you, but if you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.


Best Regards,

Henk Ras
Export Manager

Sanamij BV - Rotterdam, The Netherlands
www.sanamij.com

Dear Sherif

What is the life time of a steam sterilizer?
Depending on your maintenance and policy of your local authorities concerning pressure equipment.Also health regulations may affect the decision to withdraw a sterilizer.

When we have to remove a working sterilizer and replace it by a new one?
The answer above is applicable + if you remove the CSSD, dont forget to take with you the sterilizer + if you have excesive money to invest.

What is the average no. of cycles for a sterilzer to perform/not exceed per day?
The shortest cycle can be 30-35 min (from "start" to "cycle ended" signal), but if you consider other known factors, you can do 8 to 10 cycles per shift.

Is the life time of sterilizer is measured by the no. of cycles or by the working days?
The lifetime is measured according to the above mentioned reasons. The lifetime is defined as 10 years in accordance with the EU Directive concerning the reliability of the product. But here you refer to the period you must retain documents. Practically, nothing to do with lifetime

What is the life time of a steam sterilizer?
If there is an unlimited availability of general spares, the part that has limited life time is the pressure vessel (in general the chamber and steam generator) Pressure vessels are calculated for a certain numbers of pressure changes. Normally a calculation (FEM analyse) gives 40000 to 50000 cycles.

When we have to remove a working sterilizer and replace it by a new one?
See above answer and/or when the availability of spares decreases, in general after 10 years.

What is the average no. of cycles for a sterilzer to perform/not exceed per day?
Total cycle time (the loading/unloading time have to be added) divided with working hours/day.

Is the life time of sterilizer is measured by the no. of cycles or by the working days?
Number of cycles