Beer Forum

I bought a Milwaukee ph53 from B3 a year and a half ago. After a year the probe went belly up (I said probe). That's fine, a one year warranty so I purchased a new probe in August. Within a month or so it would not calibrate. Called B3 who put me in touch with Milwaukee, sent the whole meter to them and they replaced the whole meter. End of story right? WELLLLLLL......

Pulled the meter out to brew and it will not calibrate and gets a reading on 7.00 solution of 8.45.

I always leave the probe in storage solution and noticed the solution has an expiration date of 9/2005 . Could this cause my probe fail? Any one else have this experience with this meter?

this is why you should use strips.
and yes, those probes go bad easily, you might be able to pull it out but I doubt it.
BUB

i work with pH meters and they are just a pain in the ass. i think ours cost a couple thousand and it's better but every now and then it just f's up for no apperent reason. keep it clean and keep it wet is about the only rule for these things. check you calibrators and see what temp they are ment to be calibrated at. if it won't read right around 7.0 with distilled water, contact the manufacturer again...

pH meter are just a pain in the ass. I sell industrial pH meters and they only last about 2 years tops. Then it's about $2500 to replace the probe. If they ever get dry, they are shot.

I guess I would ask, where do you store the meter? What is the solution that you are storing it in? All of my equipment suggest that the probes be stored in DI water, might be something to try. I would also suggest using it more often. Once a meter gets to far out of calibration it's a real bitch to get it back.

i kept it wet in storage solution but out-dated, badrock. as for DI water, it says DO NOT store in distilled or deionized water.

i'm going to get pH papers like you suggested, Bub.

In that case, I guess I would not store it in DI water.

Have you tried contacting the manufacture via email and expressing your problems?

i'm going to contact milwaukee. they recommend using their storage solution or 4.01ph solution so i'm giving it a 24 hour soak in the 4.01 solution to see if that revives it somehow...

I would always store the probe dry unless you use it on a daily basis.
when your going to use it rehydrate the tip of the probe using a KCl solution that is often inside the probe itself.
With time the junction on the probe will get clogged and the glass gets fowled.
I normally use hydrochloric acid (0.1 M) to clean the glass. If you own a meter you should also calibrate before each use with a 7 and 4 pH buffer.
The buffer should also be fresh or it will mess up your results.