Hot Pack Heaters / Hydrocollator

Hot Pack Heaters / Hydrocollator

The following blog will detail the aspects of a Hot Pack Heater / Hydrocollator in a clinical setting.  We will talk about electrical safety as well as biohazardous safety.  This blog will help our clients get an in-site on how to properly maintain their equipment outside of our preventative maintenance inspections.

Electrical Safety

Electrical safety is a big aspect on these units due to a high amount of power being used to heat a large body of water.  As a yearly preventative maintenance inspection, we ensure that all grounding inside the unit and power cord is properly maintained and to ensure minimal leakage current is present.  Even though this unit does not touch patients it still has a factor of harming a clinician.  Insulation is another aspect inside these units, as we all know electricity loves to flow through water. We have to ensure that all wires and terminals inside the unit are insulated.  Following this we have to ensure no water is entering the bottom cavities were all wires and terminals are located.

Biohazardous Safety

Biohazardous safety is a large concern since the water inside these units is not hot enough to kill bacteria properly. The water should be replaced at least once a week dependant on the water status. During each water replacement phase, we highly recommend the inside of the water bath be cleaned as well, before adding new water.  If you notice the water is starting to brown before the week is up, this could be an issue with old heat packs.   As the hot pack age, they start to release their contents which is why we recommend that they be periodically replaced.  During our routine inspections we will inform and educate clinical staff how to maintain their hydrocollators and show indications of potential biohazardous concerns.

Operating Temperature

Part of our routine inspection is to check the functionality of the unit.  During this operational check we the functionality of the unit from the heating element, the thermostat and the lid.  The last aspect that we check that the unit is set to the correct temperature which is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Tips:

Here are a couple of tips to help maintain your unit in-between inspections

• To prevent failures to the unit it is important to always have water in the unit when plugged in. This will prevent the heating element from burning out and possibly causing a fire.

To maintain the life expectancy of the thermostat it’s important not to change the temperature settings without knowing the current temperature of the water. We set the proper temperature during our preventative maintenance visits.  If you are constantly changing the temperature on the unit it will cause the thermostat to prematurely fail

• Distilled water is always to be used inside the unit to ensure that the unit does not prematurely rust, an to ensure that the drain on the unit does not clog. Using hard water can cause issues to the heating element and thermostat. Hard water can cause calcium build ups which leads to blockages inside the drain.
• Lastly change the water! It is important to ensure that the water in the system is changed at least once a week. Not only will this prevent premature failures of the heating element, thermostats, and the hot packs, but it will create a cleaner unit will decrease the biohazardous impact to the patient.

The TRH Value

The added valve of choosing TRH Services to complete your maintenance and repairs on your hydrocollator / hot pack heater is that we will ensure that your device will be in great working condition for you and your patients for the next year and it will be fully certified.  At TRH Services our expertise can help educate you on your hydrocollator / hot pack heater and make sure that your unit is at top performance. We can provide onsite service to your facility if you are located in South-Western Ontario (London, Toronto, Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph, Hamilton, etc.).

Written By: Sheldon Armstrong
Edited By: Tyler Hasenpflug CET