Pipette Check Guide

Quick
Gravimetric
Test

Reliable
Pipette
Results

Pipette Quick Check

5 Practical Tips and an SOP
 Why is it Important to Check Your Pipette’s

Importance to Check Pipettes

Performance?

How much time do you spend thinking about the accuracy of your pipette?
Probably not much! However, pipettes get dropped and parts wear out.

Can you be sure your lab colleague didn’t accidentally drop the pipette you are about to use for
an important analysis without telling you? What would be the impact on your experimentation or
laboratory routine work if your pipette wasn’t measuring accurately? What would happen if this
wasn’t detected until the next calibration?

Fig 1: Pipette Quick Check on

the laboratory balance

The fact is that up to 35% of pipettes sent to a service provider for calibration are out-of-specifi-
cation, based on an East Coast Pharma study – 1998-2003 [1]. If your pipette is one of these,
do you have to assess when it started measuring inaccurately? Do you have to investigate
which and how many analyses could have been affected?

How can you avoid this? Simply perform quick checks to verify your pipette’s performance regu-
larly in-between service calibration intervals.

If you tend to skip pipette tests because you think they are difficult to perform, this guide is for
you. Such a test can be quick and easy, providing you have the appropriate methods and in-
struments.

Over the following pages, you’ll learn 5 practical tips that will help make your quick checks
smoother and help you establish an SOP that ensures your pipettes maintain accuracy between
official calibrations.

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 What is the Difference Between Calibration and
Calibration vs. Performance Testing
Performance Testing (Quick Check) of Pipettes?

A calibration is usually performed by a specialized service provider and compares the expected
volume with the actual volume delivered by a pipette (“as found”) together with the associated
allowed measurement uncertainty.

With each new pipette, you’ll receive a calibration certificate which must be verified from time to
time. Pipettes are mechanical instruments with springs, plungers, sealing and other parts that
all wear over time. They must be kept in good condition and used properly in order to obtain ac-
curate results. If pipettes are not looked after, experiments may lack reproducibility, stock solu-
tions risk inaccuracy, and assays could potentially have such large errors that comparing them
would be meaningless.

Check
Service

Ma

na Fig. 2: Three main factors ensure that your pipette delivers

ge reliable results every day:
• Regular quick checks
• Ongoing asset management
• Regular service and calibration

Testing a pipette’s performance against process tolerances is a routine operation, normally done
by the user, to ensure that the pipette’s accuracy and precision is within pre-established accept-
able limits. This testing is also referred to as Pipette Test, Performance Test, or Quick Check.

Such checks allow you to quickly identify and remove failing pipettes from your laboratory rou-
tine work. Inaccuracies that would otherwise go undetected until your next service appointment
can be prevented.

Service Routine Operation

Time

Maintenance and calibration, by service provider, 1–2× per year

Routine testing by user, in-between service intervals
Routine testing shortens the periods of uncertainty.

Fig. 3: Reduce pipetting risk and perform regular quick checks to uncover any malfunction early and eliminate sur-
prises at your next calibration service.

The more frequently pipettes are serviced and quick checks are performed, the sooner defective
pipettes will be detected and taken out of service, decreasing the risk of incorrect results and
increasing work efficiency and up-time of your pipette.

4 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 How Often Should I Perform a Quick Check?

Frequency of Quick Checks

It’s important to verify a pipette’s performance whenever it’s “suspect” e.g. it’s just been dropped
or data is questionable.

The frequency of routine pipette performance checks primarily depends on three main factors:
1. Frequency of pipette usage
2. Effort and/or cost of sample
3. Regulated or non-regulated environment

The more often you use your pipette, the higher the wear down or changes in material can be,
especially when pipettes are used with unknown or aggressive samples. However, you must
also take into account the risk of inaccurate results within your individual analysis or experi-
ment. Rare reagents or samples with a limited availability increase the risk of failure and its
monetary or experimental loss. Critical assays or analyses, legal defensibility of results, and
production batch release decisions may also increase the risk.

The higher the risk of failure, the more frequently pipettes should undergo a quick check.

The frequency of pipette checks depends on regulations and the laboratory’s established reli-
ability levels and QC principles. Regulations and standards issued by organizations such as the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the U. S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) contain minimum requirements that help ensure the quality of laboratory results. These
form the basis on which a laboratory should determine the frequency of pipette calibration as
part of good quality control practices.

Pipettes Used Daily Pipettes Used Infrequently

Routine lab work At least monthly Every three months should suffice
Regulated industries Check appropriate regulatory guidance Check appropriate regulatory guidance
to ensure results quality (ISO, FDA, to ensure results quality (ISO, FDA,
ASTM, etc.) ASTM, etc.)

Tab. 1: Frequency of pipette quick checks

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 5

 What Do I Have to Consider When Performing
5 Practical Tips
a Quick Check? 5 Practical Tips.

Modern pipetting standards including ISO 8655 prefer gravimetric testing as the recommended
method to measure pipette performance.

Gravimetric pipette checks entail dispensing samples of distilled water into a receiving vessel
which is set on an analytical balance. To perform the check, you should record the known den-
sity of water, which is a constant, along with the atmospheric temperature, barometric pressure
and humidity (which becomes the Z-factor used in the final mass calculation). Environmental
factors must be kept within certain limits. If these limits are met, the mass of the dispensed
sample provides an accurate indication of the volume dispensed.

To ensure gravimetric performance verification is successful, the following requirements for envi-
ronment, materials and equipment should be met.

1. Environment (temperature, relative humidity and atmospheric

pressure)

Fluctuations in room temperature and humidity will adversely affect balance stability and evapo-
ration rates. A stringently-controlled environment helps to ensure reliable data.

ISO 8655 stipulates that gravimetric tests take place in a location where ambient and dispens-
ing liquid - typically distilled water - temperatures are stable between 15–30 °C. The recom-
mended range lies between 20 °C and 23 °C in a location with a constant temperature from the
beginning to the end of the test. It’s also recommended that the water that will be dispensed, the
pipettes being verified, the balance and any other equipment being used are placed in the test-
ing environment or calibration room at least two hours before the verification itself to allow these
items to reach equilibrium with room conditions.

ISO 8655 states that the relative humidity of the testing room must be greater than 50%.
It recommends that a humidity range between 50 and 75% is maintained throughout the verifi-
cation procedure to reduce the evaporation rate and control the build-up of electrostatic charges.
According to ISO, for volumes of 50 µL or smaller, an evaporation trap is strongly recommended
to obtain accurate results.

Atmospheric pressure affects the weight measurement. It’s dependent on the weather and alti-
tude and should be recorded to the nearest 0.5 kPa.

The effects of temperature, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity are usually combined to
give the Z-factor that’s used in the calculation to convert mass into water volume (Tab. 2).

6 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 5 Practical Tips
Temp °C Actual Z-Factor Temp °C Actual Z-Factor Temp °C Actual Z-Factor
15.0 1.0020 20.0 1.0029 25.0 1.0040
15.5 1.0020 20.5 1.0030 25.5 1.0041
16.0 1.0021 21.0 1.0031 26.0 1.0043
16.5 1.0022 21.5 1.0032 26.5 1.0044
17.0 1.0023 22.0 1.0033 27.0 1.0045
17.5 1.0024 22.5 1.0034 27.5 1.0047
18.0 1.0025 23.0 1.0035 28.0 1.0048
18.5 1.0026 23.5 1.0036 28.5 1.0050
19.0 1.0027 24.0 1.0038 29.0 1.0051
19.5 1.0028 24.5 1.0039 29.5 1.0052
30.0 1.0054

Table 2: Z-factor values (μL/mg) as a function of temperature, for distilled water at 1 atm [2c].

2. Pipette and Tips

The person carrying out the tests should be a competent and experienced pipette user. Use the
pipette manufacturer’s recommended tips for the model being tested and ensure a proper fit.

3. Test Liquid

The most common way to check your pipette accuracy is by weighing deionized water (grade
3, ISO 3696). The density of water is 1 g/mL. This means that every microliter (µL) should
weigh 0.001 g. Therefore, if your pipette is accurate, the amount of water you dispense will
equal the amount the water weighs. So, if your pipette is set to 100 μL, then the scale should
read 100 mg or 0.1 g.

4. Laboratory Balance

The ISO 8655 standard is stringent when it comes to the minimum requirements for the weigh-
ing equipment to be used, which, for practical purposes, depends on the nominal volume of the
pipette being tested.

Standard
Balance Repeatability and Uncertainty
Pipette Dispensing Volume Resolution (mg) Linearity (mg)1) Measurement (mg) Evaporation Trap2)
1 μL–10 μL 0.001 0.002 0.002 recommended
10 μL –100 μL 0.01 0.02 0.02 recommended
100 μL– 1,000 μL 0.1 0.2 0.2 optional
1 mL– 10 mL 0.1 0.2 0.2 optional
10 mL–200 mL 1 2 2 optional

1) If the standard uncertainty measurement of a balance is known (e.g. from the balance calibration certificate), it may
be used instead of repeatability and linearity. The standard uncertainty measurement shouldn’t be more than three
times the resolution.
2) METTLER TOLEDO recommendation

Table 3: Minimum balance requirements for pipette performance testing (ISO8655-2:2002).

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 7

5 Practical Tips
Tips & Tricks: Weighing Equipment
Place the balance in an area that’s free from drafts, direct sunlight and vibration.
Using a 4-place balance to check a 20 μL pipette can result in error three times greater
than the pipette specification. Why? The 4-place balance inaccuracy is significantly larger
than the inaccuracy of the pipette.

• Always use the right balance for the pipette quick check.

5. Weighing Vessel and Evaporation

Although it’s common to use a petri dish or a simple 100 mL glass beaker to collect the waste
water when checking the volume of a pipette, this is not recommended and can lead to inaccu-
rate results due to evaporation of the water during the check procedure.

Every liquid reaches equilibrium between liquid and gas states. To reach this equilibrium, the
liquid evaporates until a certain concentration is present in the atmosphere. To avoid the effects
of this subtle but present effect on your pipette check, work fast and record the mass of dis-
pensed water as soon as the balance stabilizes.

Norm ISO 8655-6 requires that the evaporation process be taken into consideration in calcula-
tions to decrease potential measurement errors.

To minimize the evaporation loss during weighing, particularly with small volumes (< 50 μL),
a weighing vessel with a lid should be used and if possible an evaporation trap (Fig. 4).

Lid

Liquid evaporation (humidity 90%)

Evaporation trap filled with distilled water

Weighing container

Weighed water (ejected from the pipette)

Fig. 4: Construction and working principle of an evaporation trap

Estimating the Evaporation Rate (mass loss/time)

The rate of evaporation has been investigated in an experiment by performing a series of 100
simulated weighings of distilled water filled in a beaker with an opening of 30 mm at an ambi-
ent temperature of 22 °C and 50% relative humidity (Fig. 5). The 100 cycles have been mea-
sured automatically with a weighing lifter (place beaker with the water, close wind shield, mea-
sure weight, open wind shield, remove beaker, close wind shield, pause for 5 minutes).
The weight decreases linearly and this evaporation rate is constant over time.

8 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 x105

5 Practical Tips
0.5
Sample Data
Weight Fit W(t)
Residuum (100×)
Buoyancy Corrected Weight Drift [μg] 0

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2 W(t) = m0 +α*t Beaker S28mm2 hW70mm hG30mm

m0 = 80847257.6 μg Relative humidity 50%, temperature 22 °C
α = -62.921 μg/min

-2.5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Time [s] x105

Fig. 5: Rate of evaporation in a series of 100 simulated weighings. The liquid in the weighing container evaporates
at a constant rate over time. In this experiment the average loss of weight / evaporation rate was 62.9 μg/min.

1600
1600

(3)
1400
s s [ug]

1400

1200
1200
per
to evaporation per 1515

1000
1000
Glass Beaker
Evaporation
dM [μg]

800
800
15

600
600
Evaporation Trap
duedue

(2)
Loss Loss

400
400 Weighing containers with different
opening size, glass beakers (1,2)
(1) and petri dish (3)
200
200

00
0
0 1000
1000 2000
2000 3000
3000 4000
4000 5000
5000

Surface
Surface of the liquid [mm 2]container [mm ]
in the weighing 2

Fig. 6: The loss of weight due to evaporation is directly related to the size of the surface - the larger the surface,
the higher the evaporation.

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 9

 The loss of weight due to evaporation is an absolute value depending on the surface of the ex-
5 Practical Tips
posed liquid in the weighing container (Fig. 6). The average loss due to evaporation per 15 s
(dM15) of the evaporation trap (surface/opening 28 mm2) was 14.5 μg whereas the petri dish
with a surface/opening of 4420 mm2 resulted in a loss of 1411 μg. The evaporation trap reduces
evaporation by a factor of 36×/17× (glass beakers) to 97× (petri dish).

Petri dishes or large 100 mL beakers, which are often used for pipette checks, are not suitable,
especially when checking small pipette volumes. A better choice is to use an evaporation trap.

20
20
19
19
Loss due to evaporation per 15 s

18
18
17
17
dM15 [μg]

16
16

15
15

14
14

13
13

12
12

11
11

10
10
00 10
10 20
20 30
30 40
40 50
50 60
60 70
70 80
80
Distance from surface to tube edge [mm]

Fig. 7: The loss due to evaporation depends on the distance from the surface to the tube edge; longer distances
resulted in lower evaporation rates.

The evaporation rate decreases with the tube length; the larger the distance from the surface to
the tube edge, the lower the evaporation (Fig. 7).

It’s therefore recommended to empty the evaporation trap regularly and at least when it’s half full.

Small Details – Big Difference: SmartCheck Evaporation Traps

METTLER TOLEDO offers specially-designed SmartCheck evaporation traps which can be
placed on any balance. Such traps minimize evaporation (Fig. 8) and can hold up to 50 mL
for many measurements even with large pipette volumes.
Take it off from the shelf, place it in the weighing chamber of the micro- or analytical balance
and start your pipette quick check. You’ll be finished within minutes.

• Diameter of container ≈ 38 mm
• Height of container ≈ 52 mm
• Diameter of glas tube ≈ 6.4 mm
• Lenght of glas tube ≈ 62.5 mm

Fig. 8: Measurements with a METTLER TOLEDO SmartCheck evaporation trap. The loss due to evaporation per
15 s (dM15) was in average 8.1 μg. Compared to a container of the same size left open, this is a reduction of
a factor of 35x.

10 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 How Should I Perform a Quick Check? SOP with

Standard Operating Procedure

10 Steps.
The scope of this SOP is to describe how to verify and check pipettes to ensure that dispens-
ing is carried out with the intended accuracy. This means determining the difference between
the dispensed volume and the selected volume.

Material

To perform a quick check, the following materials are required:

Pipette, pipette tips (recommended by the manufacturer), appropriate and calibrated labora-
tory balance, evaporation trap (or suitable weighing container), test liquid (deionized water),
thermometer, barometer, gloves, work sheet (e.g. Quick Check Worksheet [2c]) or software.

It’s also important to use traceable instruments (balance, thermometer and barometer) and
test weights which have been properly calibrated. Performing time-consuming pipette check
processes with instruments that haven’t been properly calibrated is a waste of time and just
best guessing.

Laboratory Balance Your Pipette Thermometer Weighing Vessel/ Distilled Water

Evaporation Trap

Fig. 9: A quick check requires minimal equipment.

A pipette should be checked at least at 100% (nominal volume). Depending on the guideline
followed, more volumes (10%, 50%) have to be tested.

Guideline Repetition Volumes

ISO 10× 100%, 50%, 10%
SOP 4× 100%, 10%
n/a 4× 100%

Before Starting

Ensure that balances, water, pipettes and tips are properly equilibrated to ambient conditions.
Balances should be turned on a minimum of one hour before use. This hour window allows
you to:
• Prepare materials, familiarize yourself with the SOP, and prepare report templates
• Bring equipment to ambient temperature
• Make sure you have knowledge of the correct use of the pipette to be tested

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 11

 Leak Test
Standard Operating Procedure

Before performing any gravimetric measurements, verify that the pipette isn’t leaking.
1. Pre-rinse tip(s) by aspirating and dispensing the nominal volume twice.
2. Using the same tip(s), aspirate the nominal volume.
3. With the tip(s) immersed 2 mm in liquid, hold the pipette vertically for 30 seconds.
4. If the liquid level doesn’t drop, continue with the validation.

A decreasing liquid level indicates a leak. Contact the manufacturer or service provider to dis-
cuss remedial action.

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Pipette Quick Checks

Quick checks are generally performed in the following 10 steps:

1. With a prepared vessel on a tared balance, adjust the pipette to 100% of its nominal volume
and load the manufacturer‘s recommended tip.
2. Pre-rinse the tip by aspirating and dispensing the set volume of deionized water three times.
3. Holding the pipette vertically, immerse the tip to the appropriate depth and aspirate the
deionized water.
4. Carefully move the pipette over the vessel on the balance and dispense the water. Slide the
tip up the side wall to remove any excess liquid.
5. To avoid the effects of evaporation, as soon as the balance stabilizes, record the mass of the
water in milligrams.
6. Repeat the process 3 more times using the same tip, recording the mass each time.
7. Eject the tip after the final dispense.
8. Adjust the pipette down to 10% of its nominal volume. Pre-rinse a new tip three times, and
repeat steps 3–7.
9. With the collected data, calculate the pipette‘s mean volume, accuracy (mean error) and
precision (standard deviation); formulas, equations and Z-factors, see Quick Check Work-
sheet [2c].
10. Compare results vs. specifications (Tab. 4). If the results don’t match, the pipette might re-
quire servicing, or the operator may require further training in technique.

12 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 Standard Operating Procedure
Tips & Tricks: Pipette Operation in General and for the Quick Check
Always hold the pipette vertically and immerse the tip to the appropriate depth. Immersing
the pipette tip to the proper depth during aspiration of the sample is important. Pipette cali-
bration standards like ASTM E1154 recommend an immersion depth of 2–3 mm for pipette
volumes of 1–100 μL, 2–4 mm for 101–1,000 μL, and 3–6 mm for volumes larger than
1 mL.

1–2 mm 2–3 mm
3–6 mm

1–10 μL 10–200 μL 200–2000 μL

Fig.10: Pipette operation and immersion depth

Pre-rinse the tip by aspirating and dispensing the deionized water three times. This pre-
rinsing provides identical contact surfaces for all aliquots. It also helps to neutralise capil-
lary effects in micro-volume pipettes and – importantly for macro-volume pipettes – it
equalizes the air temperature inside the pipette to the sample temperature.

Slide the tip up the side wall to remove any excess liquid.

• Pre-rinse tips whenever critical reproducibility is required.

• Always operate a pipette in a vertical position.
• Dispense sample by touching the tip end against the side wall of the receiving vessel
to ensure complete sample flow.

A short video to guide you through every step in performing a Quick Check, calculation sheets
and more information are available at:

www. mt.com/gpp-qc

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 13

 Tolerances, Maximum Permissible Errors (ISO 8655)
Standard Operating Procedure

Maximum Error Limits for piston-operated pipettes are clearly defined in ISO 8655. The standard
characterizes both the maximum permissible systematic error, as well as the maximum permis-
sible random error limits for a device at specific volumes ranging from 1–10,000 μL. These er-
rors are doubled for multichannel pipettes. Most pipette manufacturer’s tolerance specifications
fall well below these limits, but at low volume measurements, meeting ISO 8655 tolerances can
be a challenge for many service providers.

Nominal volume Maximum permissible systematic error Maximum permissible random error
μL ±% ± μLa ± %b ± μLc
1 5.0 0.05 5.0 0.05
2 4.0 0.08 2.0 0.04
5 2.5 0.125 1.5 0.075
10 1.2 0.12 0.8 0.08
20 1.0 0.2 0.5 0.1
50 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.2
100 0.8 0.8 0.3d 0.3d
200 0.8 1.6 0.3d 0.6d
500 0.8 4.0 0.3 1.5
1,000 0.8 8.0 0.3 3.0
2,000 0.8 16 0.3 6.0
5,000 0.8 40 0.3 15.0
10,000 0.6 60 0.3 30.0

a Expressed as the deviation of the mean of a tenfold measurement from the nominal or selected volume
(see ISO 8655-6:2002, 8.4)
b Expressed as the coefficient of variation of a tenfold measurement (see ISO 8655-6:2002, 8.5)

c Expressed as the repeatability standard deviation of a tenfold measurement (see ISO 8655-6:2002, 8.5)

d For piston pipettes of type D1 the maximum permissible error may be ± 0.4%

Tab. 4: Maximum permissible errors for Air Displacement and Certain Positive Displacement pipettes
[ISO8655-2:2002, p. 6]

14 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 Schedule and Automate Pipette Check Dates

Schedule and Automate

As devices become “smarter” and more interconnected, procedures like pipette checks are be-
coming more automated.

Here’s an example of how METTLER TOLEDO is interlinking equipment in order to simplify and
automate basic lab processes:

Labs with Rainin XLS and XLS+ pipettes and METTLER TOLEDO XPE or XSE analytical balances
can use an application on-board the balance which offers guidance through the whole quick
check and performs all the calculations.
This can be combined to an automated and convenient solution with a Rainin SmartStand, MET-
TLER TOLEDO Easy-Direct Pipette Asset Management (ED-PAM) software and an optional RFID
reader connected to the XPE or XSE analytical balance.

1. ED-PAM asset management software is used to manage pipettes, including check methods
and intervals.
2. ED-PAM connects wirelessly with SmartStand and uploads the check method directly onto
the pipette.
3. SmartStand alerts lab users when a performance check is due.
4. For the performance check, the pipette is held at the RFID EasyScan reader on the XPE or
XSE balance and reads the assigned method on the pipette‘s RFID chip, then guides the user
through each step of the method and performs all calculations.
5. If the pipette passes, the balance writes the next quick check date on the RFID chip and
prints a protocol, showing the method used, measurements, and pass/fail results.

Fig. 11: Pipette asset management and tracking system – never miss a check date

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 15

 Summary
Summary

In order to build quality into laboratory results, the performance of pipettes must be verified at
regular intervals. Simple steps including developing and implementing a regular calibration pro-
gram, implementing regular performance checks and understanding pipette usage and failure
can be taken to minimize this source of uncertainty and ensure data accuracy.

Periodic service and calibration, ongoing asset management and regular quick checks accord-
ing to an effective SOP represent the best way to ensure pipette performance.

More and more laboratories realize that it’s both cost saving and more efficient to build quality
into a laboratory result up-front, rather than to discover problems later on.

For more information, visit:

www.mt.com/pipcheck

16 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

 Glossary

Glossary
Accuracy: The closeness of a measured volume to the true volume as specified by the volum
setting of the pipette, also known as “mean error”.

Calibration: The fine adjustment of the piston stroke length for mechanical pipettes.

Evaporation Rate: The quantity of water which is vaporized or evaporated from a given surface
per unit time. It’s dependent on the temperature, the relative humidity and the surface size of the
liquid.

Gravimetric Analysis: The general procedure based upon the determination of the weight of
water samples as delivered by the pipette. From the mass the volume is calculated, based upon
the knowledge of the density of water at specific temperatures with corrections for air buoyancy
(Z-factor).

ISO 8655 and 17025 Standards: ISO 8655, was written specifically to define the requirements
necessary to produce accurate and reliable calibrations of piston pipettes and other closely-
related measurement equipment. It details the required methods, test conditions, test equipment
and reporting requirements, including the requirements for reporting measurement uncertainty
values. The ISO 8655 standard was written to complement and complete the well-known ISO
17025 standard. Laboratories that are accredited to this standard have demonstrated that they
are technically competent and able to produce precise and accurate test and/or calibration data.

Pipette Performance Testing: Routine pipette performance checks, often called Pipette Check
or Quick Check are essential to ensure correct functioning, accuracy, and to maintain data in-
tegrity. To identify any maintenance and (re)calibration needs, performance should be compared
against the manufacturer’s specifications or ISO 8655-1:2002 and process requirements on
a regular basis.

Precision: The closeness of agreement among the individual weighings, also known as stan-
dard deviation, reproducibility and repeatability.

Pre-rinse: A double rinse of a pipette tip with a testing medium. Repeat pre-rinse whenever
a new tip is applied or weighing cycle time has been interrupted.

Z-factor: Conversion factor (μL/mg) incorporating the density of water when buoyed in air as
a function of temperature and pressure.

METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check 17

 References and Further Reading
References and Further Reading

1. White Paper: Pipette Choice and Maintenance – Best Practice Matters

https://www.mt.com/global/en/home/library/white-papers/rainin-pipettes/
pipette-choice-and-maintenance.html

2. Good Pipetting PracticeTM (GPPTM), Quick Check

http://www.mt.com/gpp-qc
a. Quick Check Video: Short video to guide you through every step in performing a Quick Check.
https://youtu.be/1zYxCsKgs8o
b. Quick Check Poster:
https://www.mt.com/global/en/home/library/know-how/rainin-pipettes/
rainin-quick-check-poster.html
c. Quick Check Worksheet:
https://www.mt.com/dam/RAININ/PDFs/Service/quick-check-worksheet.pdf

3. Good Pipetting Practice™ (GPP™) Risk Check: Self Evaluation Risk Check Analysis
https://www.mt.com/global/en/home/products/pipettes/pipette/pipetting-techniques.html

4. Calibration Service:
https://www.mt.com/global/en/home/products/pipettes/service/compliance/
calibration-and-certificates.html

5. ISO 8655-2:2002, ISO 8655-6:2002: Piston-operated volumetric apparatus.

Part 2: piston pipets. Part 6: Gravimetric methods for the determination of measurement
error. ISO, Geneva, Switzerland
http://www.iso.org

6. ASTM E1154-89(2008): Standard specification for piston or plunger operated volumetric

apparatus. ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA
https://www.astm.org/Standards/E1154.htm

7. METTLER TOLEDO Product Information

www.mt.com/pipcheck
www.mt.com/analytical-balances

18 METTLER TOLEDO Pipette Quick Check

Benefit From Our Weighing Expertise

With decades of experience in laboratory and production weighing,

METTLER TOLEDO can offer you a wide range of online learning resources.
Take advantage of our expertise to enhance your weighing know-how and
make the most of your balance. Check out the documentation on our internet
pages for a range of relevant materials.

Laboratory Expertise
This portal of laboratory knowledge offers a wealth
of free information and advice. Learn from experts
about a range of topics, such as:
• Calibrating your weighing devices
• Electrostatic effects on weighing
• USP Revisions
www.mt.com/lab-expertise

Expert Library
A one-stop portal for knowledge resources:
White papers, guides, videos, webinars and more.
• Educational papers with tips and tricks
• White papers with expert knowledge
• Webinars, videos and more...

www.mt.com/library

GWP® The Standard – Science Based Weighing

The global weighing guideline GWP® reduces risks
associated with your weighing processes and
helps to:
• Choose the appropriate balance or scale
• Reduce costs by optimizing testing proce-
dures
• Comply with the most common regulatory
requirements
www.mt.com/GWP

www.mt.com/pipcheck
For more information

METTLER TOLEDO Group

Laboratory Weighing
Local contact: www.mt.com/contacts

Subject to technical changes

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