Originally Posted by
TMonk
Yeah it was a valve - slide valve the opens the door to the deep vacuum analyzer chamber. Every time the turbo is off I worry about it b/c it's a $20,000 part and it's been running almost constantly for 10 years.
But yeah they're pretty tough.
I've that door fail, zero counts per second... odd; after that I always listened for the opening noise right after torch ignition.
Your ICP-MS is 10 years old? Time to start working on a procurement plan for a new one. Working on old ones is a PITA as the tubes etc. get brittle and break if you touch them.