Steam sterilizer is a common sterilization equipment, usually used in hospitals, laboratories and other places. Steam sterilizers eliminate microorganisms by adding high-temperature and high-pressure steam to the interior. High-pressure steam sterilizer is an indispensable equipment in microbiology laboratory and medical disinfection and sterilization.

Causes of sterilization failure of high pressure steam sterilizer:

1. Improper loading

Improper loading creates barriers to steam penetration. Do not place the items to be  sterilized too tight or too full, instead,stagger them up and down to leave a gap for steam circulation. When loading, use a special sterilization basket, and do not stack the items. The interval between packs should be at least 2 cm.

2. Choose inappropriate sterilization parameters

Select incorrect sterilization methods, especially for objects to be sterilized with complex structures and foreign medical devices, implants, hard containers, and oversized and overweight bags, the sterilization parameters provided by the manufacturer should be followed.

3. Improper pretreatment of items to be sterilized

(1) Effective cleaning is not carried out, which will affect the penetration of the sterilization medium;

(2) Do not fully disassemble the metal instrument;

(3) The packaging material does not allow steam to penetrate;

(4) The sterilization package is oversized and overweight, or the density is too high.

4. Wet pack

The wet pack itself is sterile, but when water contacts the permeable packaging material, due to the principle of siphon, a microbial migration channel can be formed to provide conditions for the entry of external microorganisms, resulting in possible contamination of  items to sterilized.

5. Insufficient removal of cold air

The temperature of the steam in the pressure steam sterilizer is not only related to the pressure, but also related to the saturation of the steam. When the cold air in the sterilizer is not exhausted, saturated steam cannot be achieved, then the penetration ability of high-pressure steam will be affected. Set the altitude, and appropriately extend the discharging time for cold air when the amount of sterilization is large.