Matching tubes and bottles to the rotor rather than to the shelf: why a high speed centrifuge and a table top centrifuge impose different limits on the vessel and why a tube rated below the run will fail at speed, what 250 ml centrifuge bottles, 15 ml centrifuge tubes and glass centrifuge tubes tolerate in force, solvent and temperature, where size exclusion spin columns and a size exclusion spin column replace a spin with a separation, what a vacuum centrifuge is doing when it removes solvent rather than separating phases, and what has to be logged about a rotor before the next run

Running centrifugation safely

1. Check the vessel rating against the run. Every tube and bottle carries a maximum force. Exceeding it deforms plastic and can shatter glass, and the rating depends on temperature and on whether the vessel is full.
2. Match adaptors, and balance carefully. Adaptors are part of the rotor assembly and have their own limits. Balance by mass rather than by eye, and balance the adaptors as well as the tubes.
3. Check chemical compatibility. Solvents craze and weaken plastics, sometimes without visible change before the spin. Where solvents are involved, use a material rated for them and inspect before reuse.
4. Use spin columns where separation, not pelleting, is wanted. Buffer exchange and desalting in a spin column is faster and gentler than precipitation, and the resin bed and volume range are the specification that matters.
5. Understand what a vacuum concentrator does. It removes solvent under reduced pressure with centrifugal force preventing bumping. It is a drying instrument rather than a separator and it has its own temperature limits.
6. Log rotor use and retire on schedule. Rotors accumulate fatigue with each run at speed. A usage log and a retirement date, enforced, is the control, and inspection alone is not sufficient.

The consumable is the safety item

In most laboratory equipment, the consumable is a cost. In centrifugation it is a pressure vessel, and its rating is a safety limit rather than a recommendation.

Put the ratings on the rotor lid or the log sheet where they are read, rather than in a catalogue nobody opens at the time of use.

Aerosols and sealed carriers

A tube failure inside a rotor produces an aerosol, and for biological material that is a containment event. Sealed buckets or a sealed rotor lid, opened inside a cabinet, is the standard control.

Decide it from the material rather than from convenience, and write it into the procedure for that sample type.

Common questions

Can I spin any tube in any rotor?

No. Tubes carry a maximum force rating, and adaptors have their own. Exceeding either risks deformation or failure, and a failure at high speed is a safety event rather than a lost sample.

Do solvents damage centrifuge tubes?

Several do, sometimes without visible change before the spin. Check the manufacturer's compatibility chart for the plastic and the solvent, and prefer a rated material for solvent work.

When should a rotor be retired?

On the manufacturer's schedule based on logged usage, not on appearance. Fatigue is not visible, which is why the log rather than the inspection is the control.

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