Leaky Leaky

[terry3004]

I had my first cartridge leak last night.  About 15 min from the end of treatment during one of the tests that the machine does it stopped with a red 90 alarm.  Not having seen this one before, I pulled the book out and it the alarm code was for a balance chamber leak failure.

I had my wife look under the machine and sure enough there was something leaking.  I terminated and returned my blood.  Once I got everything done, I pulled the machine and found a nice puddle on top of my pureflow unit.  This was my first leak (and hopefully my last), and fortunately it wasn't too bad.  Just some paper towels and all was taken care of.  Fortunately it was dialysate that was leaking so it was pretty easy to clean up.

I called NxStage this morning to report it and they are sending me a return kit.  Lot #8017715.  I'm just hoping that this doesn't happen again.  I don't like cleaning up messes at 11:00 at night 

[Roadrunner]

Is this the norm?  They never asked me to return the cartridge when I had a leak

[KR Cincy]

Terry...sorry for the leak but glad it was just dialysate.
I've been lucky...in just over a year, we've only had one leak. Granted, we didn't have any of the bad lot that was shipped a while back, but I've been amazed at how few problems we've had with the machinery.

I'm sure, with making that many cartridges, that there's always a possibility of a pinhole in a tube or a connection will come loose. It's a nuisance, but glad you had almost all your treatment done before it happened Terry.

[kimcanada]

That would suck!!!  Specially at that hour of the night, I hope you don't have any more leaks

[jbeany]

Is this the norm? They never asked me to return the cartridge when I had a leak

I think it depends on the error message - sometimes they want the cartridge back to see if they can figure out why it leaked.  Quality control issues, and all. . .

[silverhead]

Tonight we had another leaker. Lot # 8027711, reported it and they are sending a box for it, this is getting to be an almost monthly occurrence, sure hope they can figure out the problem soon......

[mark m]

Leaker...  This one was a gusher. Big mess to clean up. #8037713. Happened about an hour in. Sucks...

[Wallyz]

all but 1 of the bad cartridges I have had have been detectable with a visual inspection.  bad plastic welds on effluent pump bags are the big one I see. 

[Wallyz]

Spoke too soon.  Last night the sak leaked into the tub, still can't find the leak.

[silverhead]

Looking back on previous posts I find my last leaker was on June 22nd, had another one today lot #8047703, looks like I am on a regular 6 week schedule on this for the last year.......
Tom

[silverhead]

And here I am again, Aug 12 was the last one and today about 45 minutes into the treatment got a 715 alarm, nice puddle under the machine, looks like bad welds near the 2 "bags" on the cartridge, they are sending a return box, getting so used to this that we now just figure if it happens in the first half we start over again, if in the last half, we just terminate for the day.......
Tom

[silverhead]

I am starting to feel like some sort of Guinna pig with leaky cartridges, yesterday, less than a week from the last incident, before it could complete the 17 minute "set-up" cycle, I had a another leak.  At least this time no blood was involved, so it was an easy replacement. This cart was the first one out of the box, the last box I have in this lot number (8087701), I told the NxStage tech I was not inclined to use any more of this lot number........

[Wallyz]

Hey Silver head, we still need to get together.  PM me sometime.

[silverhead]

It's me again, Nov 23 and another leaker, this time about 15 minutes into the run, first one out of the box (lot 8057702), never got an alarm, just noticed a small amount of water collecting under the machine, did manual rinse back and quickly installed a new cart and resumed the run, told the tech I still have 2 box's waiting for pickup from UPS, will just add this to my growing collection.......