Tips and Tricks

Announcing another independent study comparing no-purge samplers to low-flow sampling. This study concentrated on explosives and the majority of PAH's.

The National Defense Center for Energy and the Environment (NDCEE) conducted this study to determine whether these no-purge sampling devices can provide technically defensible analytical data for chemical contaminants of concern to the Department of Defense compared to low flow sampling with emphasis on the utility, comparability & cost effectiveness of no-purge sampling in place of low-flow sampling.

Please click the link to read the short, one-page document summarizing the results of this study.

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As announced, late last year we invested in tooling to manufacture the new 4-inch HydraSleeves.  Well, 3 months later, they have finally arrived, and we are very excited.  When they are in development stage we can only estimate volume and fill-rates.  Now that the production units are here we can say that these new HydraSleeves actually exceed our expectations with total volume of more than 2.5 liters

The new HS-4-2L are here!

For the time-being we will be offering this new size alongside the old standard 4-inch sleeves.  However, when inventory runs out for the old-style 4-inch HydraSleeve, we will be switching users over to this new larger-capacity sleeve.

The new dimensions for the HS-4-2L are 2.9 inches O.D. and 37 inches long.  Because of the larger diameter they fill within a 7-foot column and they hold greater than 2.5 liters of sample volume.  The lay-flat width is 4.614 inches including the side seams.  They easily fit inside a 4-inch well and are more versatile than the old-style 4-inch sleeve which holds ~1.6 liters and was 2.75 inches O.D.

Please keep these new sleeves in mind for your 4-inch wells.  Call us for details or order online any time.

Did you know that the HydraSleeve can be used simultaneously with other sampling devices to provide additional sample volume or for comparison purposes?

Using the same tether, a HydraSleeve may be suspended about a foot below a Passive Diffusion Bag to obtain a whole water sample for contaminants that cannot be sampled with the PDB (inorganic compounds, semi-volatiles and MTBE to name a few).  When the PDB is recovered the HydraSleeve fills as it is pulled through the same zone that was previously occupied by the PDB, thus providing a whole water sample from the same vertical interval in the well screen.  The HydraSleeve can also be attached in the same fashion beneath a Snap Sampler^TM or any other passive sampling device.

Pictured here is the HydraSleeve hybrid sample string using a Passive Diffusion Bag on top and the HydraSleeve on the same tether below.

If portable low-flow sampling or volume purging with a pump is being used, a HydraSleeve can be attached a foot or two below the pump ; or in the case of a peristalic pump, the bottom of the intake tubing; and recovered as the pump or tubing is retrieved.  It will fill as it is recovered and provide a post purge sample from the same sample interval, which can be compared to the low flow or purged sample.

Or, to make things as simple as possible, you could just use a large enough HydraSleeve to provide adequate volume for all your sample requirements.  The HydraSleeve provides the largest volume of sample at the lowest cost of any currently available no-purge/passive sampling device.

HydraSleeve - Simple by Design

There are times when the precise, slow, discharge using HydraSleeve straws to decant samples is not required.  For example, when you are filling large 1-liter bottles as opposed to small 40-mls vials it would be time-consuming to fill the larger bottles using the straws provided with our standard HydraSleeve packaging.

We have found the following rapid-discharge method to be handy for these circumstances:

   1.  Fold the top of the sleeve over at the check valve and take the weight off the bottom.

3.  Pour the sample out of the hole and control the flow by raising and lowering the sleeve.