Oct. 07, 2024
Medical gas valves are critical pieces of equipment at your medical facility. These components may be small, but they regulate the flow of vital oxygen and other gases to your patients, so they need to be kept in full working order. From time to time, they will need to be serviced or replaced. If these vital pieces of equipment are damaged, become blocked, or start to malfunction, the results can be dire.
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PLEASE NOTE: This article is designed to provide a rough guide and includes a number of things to consider as you plan when to replace your medical gas tank valves. It is not designed to be a substitute for a professional inspection. If you are unsure about the efficacy or safety of any of your medical valves, remove them from service right way, and have them checked by the manufacturer.
Of course, medical facilities and healthcare institutions need to protect their investments, as well as the health, safety, and quality of care for patients. This means keeping gas tank valves in good working order, ensuring that they keep on functioning at their best for longer. To achieve this, managers and personnel can adopt a few best practices, designed to protect medical valves.
But how often do maintenance and replacements need to take place? What can affect the efficiency of the valve, and what indicators may suggest a replacement is necessary? Read on to learn more about setting a maintenance and replacement schedule for your medical gas valves.
Before we get into best practices aimed at extending the longevity of the valve without compromising on care, there is an important fact to consider &#; the lifespan of the valve cannot be extended indefinitely. There will be a limit on how long you can deploy your valves, and this is known as the Reasonable Useful Lifetime, or RUL.
The RUL will vary depending on the make and model of the valve itself, so it&#;s a good idea to keep hold of the guidelines and information supplied by the manufacturer. However, you can expect to need to change most valves after a period of around five years.
It is crucial that you work exclusively with certified installers and maintenance professionals when installing, inspecting and repairing valves. Failure to do so can put the longevity of the medical gas valves at risk and lead to compliance failures. This failure can also cause health and safety dangers.
Accreditations from the National Inspection Testing Certification (NITC), Medical Gas Management (MGM), or Medical Equipment Training and Certification (METC) may be considered acceptable, depending on which state you operate in. Environmental & Medical Gas Services (EMGS), Airgas Medical Services (AMS), and Medical Gas Testing & Certification (MGTC) are examples of other bodies that are permitted to offer accreditation in some jurisdictions.
Just remember that different countries and even states will have their own requirements. It&#;s vital to check with your local authority to understand the specific requirements in your state.
Make a maintenance timetable for your facility, ensuring that no inspections and regular repairs are missed. One of the key dangers when using medical oxygen valves or other medical gas valves is complacency. The valve gets checked, it&#;s working just fine, and everyone relaxes, possibly forgetting to schedule another assessment. If the valve starts to malfunction, this might not get noticed until it&#;s too late.
Setting a schedule &#; and sticking to this schedule &#; will eliminate this danger. Maintenance is not about checking up on something when you believe there is a problem. Instead, it&#;s about proactive checks and assessments that catch problems with the gas tank valve before they become serious.
Even if your medical gas valves seem to be working just fine, with no apparent problems, they will still need to be changed and replaced according to a regular schedule. While medical facilities and institutions are, of course, concerned with optimizing the returns they receive on their investment and extending the lifespan of their equipment, the care of patients and the health and safety of everyone on the site comes first.
With this in mind, medical facility managers need to remain aware of the Reasonable Usable Lifespan of the medical gas valves in their system. Generally, the Reasonable Usable Lifespan of medical gas equipment is five years &#; and your gas tank valves will need to be replaced after this five-year period has elapsed.
Other components of your system, such as the equipment that delivers oxygen directly to the patient, will need to be replaced more frequently. For example, the oxygen tubing will need replacing after three to six months of operation but may need to be changed sooner if there is any damage to the tubing.
Similarly, the cannula will need to be changed every two to four weeks. If the patient has been ill during this time, or if there is a chance of infection for another reason, the cannula may need to be replaced before the two weeks have elapsed.
Maintaining a regular repair and replacement schedule for your medical gas valves is very important, but your personnel will still need to be aware of other signs that replacement may be required.
Dirt, damage, and other issues can reduce the lifespan of the equipment or may reduce its efficiency. This is why regular inspections are important, as the patient can be put at risk if there are any problems with the equipment. Any medical facility or institution that uses medical gas valves and other similar equipment will need to carry out tests on a regular basis and remain vigilant for anything that could affect the operation of the valve.
Valves may need replacing in the following instances;
Medical oxygen valves will need to be regularly inspected by qualified personnel. Usually, this will be the medical professional tasked with operating the gas system, as they will usually have had appropriate inspection training alongside their operational training. The professional will check for blockages and other potential issues within the valve.
If there is dirt, grease, or another obstruction, the valve component will need to be removed and cleaned before it is passed fit for service again. If there is any damage or another defect, the gas tank valve will need to be replaced to ensure optimal safety and efficiency.
As medical oxygen equipment is designed to operate under pressure, it must be tested to ensure it can handle these operating conditions. This process will put the cylinder valve &#; i.e., the valve that regulates pressure from the gas source &#; and the pressure-reducing device&#;s inlet valve under strain. The inspector needs to check that they are working correctly.
After the equipment is connected, open up the pressure-reducing device&#;s inlet valve and the cylinder valve in turn and examine the pressure gauge for a response. If no response is visible on the indicator, you will need to get the equipment checked by the manufacturer, and the valves &#; or other components &#; may need to be changed.
Medical oxygen and gas equipment &#; including gas tank valves &#; is designed to be highly robust. In other words, it is tough enough to stand up to regular usage and can even withstand heavier impacts without endangering the health and safety of professionals and patients. However, this does not mean that the equipment is designed to withstand heavier impacts and serious incidents and remain fully operational.
Therefore, it is always best to err on the side of caution. While replacing your medical valves can be expensive, this is a far preferable situation to putting the lives and health of your patients and your staff in danger. If medical equipment is dropped, subject to extreme temperatures, or is otherwise damaged, it needs to be sent to the manufacturer for testing. If in doubt, do not use the equipment and replace the valves with alternatives that are passed as fit for service.
It&#;s true that your medical gas equipment, and the valve components included, are tough. However, you&#;re going to be using your gas systems for a long time &#; many, many years in the future &#; and so you&#;re going to replace them multiple times. This means documentation is required, providing an extensive resource that team members can refer to as they assess the operating history of the equipment. With this documentation, you will be able to ensure the ongoing efficacy of your systems and provide all important guarantees regarding health and safety.
You will need to document everything you do in relation to your medical gas valves. This may be a regulatory requirement in your area. For example, you&#;ll need to officially sign off on all inspections and replacement work, retaining this documentation in a safe place for future reference. You may also need full equipment inventories that you can make available to inspectors and other third parties when required.
Maintaining paper records can be difficult and inefficient. With this in mind, it may be useful to back up your documentation stores by scanning physical documents and saving them to a secure and well-organized cloud storage location. This will make it much easier to refer to your documents in the future.
Many of the medical professionals in your facility or healthcare institution are going to be using gas tank valves to one extent or another. Some may be handling these valves directly, replacing them when required, while others will simply be operating the gas tank&#;s opening and closing mechanism. What is important is that each and every member of your team understands how they should be carrying out these tasks.
Training can help to make sure that everyone has the knowledge they need to utilize equipment in a safe and reliable manner. As well as knowing how to fulfill their daily roles, individuals need to be aware of their limitations. For instance, if they are not qualified to carry out maintenance tasks, then they should know not to do so. Therefore, devise a protocol of notification so that the right people are alerted in the event of a fault. This minimizes the risk of error during inspection and maintenance.
Communication is key when it comes to safe practice in this sort of environment, particularly when it comes to medical valves. Foster a culture in which personnel feel comfortable asking questions and requesting help so that they know where to go if they require any assistance.
Regular refreshment meetings and training are also factors here. Everyone has to be up to date on the latest best practices, ensuring optimal health and safety of everyone on the site and maximum longevity for the gas tank valves and other components themselves. If new regulations and best practices emerge, you&#;ll certainly need to hold a meeting and/or training session about this, but it&#;s a good idea to hold regular refreshment sessions even if there are no such changes.
Budgetary concerns have a habit of sneaking up on us when we least expect it, and this can lead to significant cost concerns for the managers of medical facilities and institutions. In turn, these management teams want to extend the lifespan of their equipment as much as possible, maximizing return on investment. However, this cannot come at the expense of care quality and the health and safety of patients. While keeping valves well-maintained and extending their lifespan does support these outcomes, it&#;s also important to keep the maximum Reasonable Usable Lifetime in mind.
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Summary of issue... No replacement gas valves for Aga cookers are currently available that give the same performance as previously available. There is no timeline for this to be resolved. It is possible, though unlikely, that it is not resolved.
Summary of solution... Existing gas Aga cookers will continue to operate normally until failure of their gas valve. Conversion to electric prior to this or replacement of the cooker completely are possible solutions. We are investigating the possibility of fitting a MK1 upgrade burner unit with Maxitrol valve but this would require the rebuilding of the cooker completely to relocate the gas supply and purchase of new valve, burner and ancillaries.
Since the summer of this year, , we've had problems in our Aga cooker service department with faulty EUROSIT 630 gas valves for gas Aga cookers. Replacing a gas valve is a very common thing to do but we were making many return visits to failed valves and low oven temperatures. The thinking was that SIT, the manufacturer in Italy, had made a bad batch. Yesterday though it became clear there is a wider issue.
Our lead gas engineer is Mark Hawkes. He is a qualified gas engineer with 20 years experience on Aga cookers, there are few with his level of knowledge. He spent yesterday doing considerable research and I've collated his findings into this post for your information.
AGA Rangemaster issued a technical bulletin yesterday confirming an issue with all available EUROSIT 630 gas valves of the type used in most Aga cookers. Only a lower specified version of the valve, with the same part number (AG1M) that looks identical, is now available.
These valves are not used only by Aga cookers, we suspect that such a small subset of customers needs were not considered when SIT withdrew the higher specified valve version. I suspect a cost saving exercise.
There are two issues with the valves now in our experience.
There is currently no alternative to the EUROSIT 630 valve for use with Aga cookers. Only old Mk1 gas cooker updates and new 3 oven Aga cookers use a different valve, by Maxitrol, and converting to these is not currently possible.
Why does this matter to most gas Aga cooker owners? Uncertainty primarily. If your cooker is working normally then you don't need to worry immediately but it is possible that when you need a new valve (as previously noted they usually last around 10 years) it simply may not be available. AGA Rangemaster do state in their bulletin that they are working with SIT to find a solution but there is some doubt in the industry that SIT will be willing to make relatively small numbers of the more robust version of the valve for Aga cooker owners or, if they do decide to make them again, how long this might take.
As a company we service, repair, rebuild and commission gas cookers - this is very bad news for us! The only solution we currently have for those who want certainty from their gas Aga range cooker is to convert to electric or replace the cooker entirely with one powered by electricity.
What sort of issues do gas Aga cookers have that mean a new EUROSIT 630 gas valve needs to be fitted during a service or repair?
Most common is a broken button/igniter or a gas leak. As the valves age the seals being to leak. Valves are also replaced for thermostat issues like overheating.
How often do gas valves need replacing on Aga cookers?
The previously available, more robust, gas valve version we expect to last around 10 years. The older your valve is the more likely it is to fail of course. 10 years is an average too of course. Some fail much earlier, some much later!
What is the issue with the currently available versions of the EUROSIT 630 gas valves?
The valves currently available are designed to be used on the outside of appliances with little or no exposure to heat. Aga cookers mostly have these valves sited in the door aperture so the valves are exposed to considerable heat. Additionally the valves are not set thermostatically to a high enough temperature to satisfy the oven temperatures most are used to in their Aga cooker.
How long has this been an issue?
We've been aware of an issue since the summer of , it became clear yesterday that it relates to all current valve production and not just a 'bad batch' as was initially assumed.
How long are the currently available gas valves likely to last if I put up with much lower oven temperatures and fit one anyway?
We've had the new valves fail in weeks but 1-2 years seems likely to be the average in the professional opinion of our our lead gas engineer Mark Hawkes. Previously we would have expected 10 years approximately.
Is there an alternative gas valve to the EUROSIT 630 that can be used in Aga cookers?
There is a Maxitrol valve used in Mk1 conversion systems and new 3 oven gas Aga cookers but it is not possible to use it in place of the EUROSIT 630. We are investigating whether a complete burner unit and Maxitrol valve combination could be installed. This would require considerable expenditure on parts and also a rebuild of the cooker to relocate the gas supply from the middle of the door aperture to the side.
When will SIT (the manufacturer of the gas valves) find a solution?
The big question! We don't know. There are a lot of Aga cookers but SIT are a very big company - we don't know how motivated they are to recreate the specifications of the 'old' version of the valve or how long it might take if they decide to do so. To withdraw the more robust version must have been a decision many months or even years in the making as their supply chain changed and existing stock was sold. It seems likely that even if this decision is reversed it would take equally long or longer to restart production.
Is it possible there will never be a solution should I need a new gas valve for my Aga cooker?
Yes, we think its possible. AGA Rangemaster don't sell gas cookers anymore or have their own service network who would need to fit them to older cookers. Its an 'arms length' problem for them. This, combined with the relative unimportance of the gas Aga cooker market to the manufacturer in Italy, SIT, could mean no solution is offered.
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