Techne / Stratagene thermal cyclers

[Ed Rybicki]

Dr Anna-Lise Williamson of our Dept of Medical Microbiology has asked me
to forward this question to the Net:

Has anyone else had a block blowout on the Techne PHC-2 thermal cycler
(also apparently marketed under the Stratagene label)?  By this we mean
a cracked block, necessitating replacement by the suppliers?  The machine
is about 4 yrs old, quite a lot of mileage, so the firm (of course) will
not consider doing it free - HOWEVER, at least one other identical
machine in Cape Town, supplied around the same time, has apparently done
the same thing, so it may be a more widespread phenomenon than Techne are
letting on.

So, Bionauts - anyone else in the same boat?  Would appreciate answers to
my email address.  Thank you.

  ____________________________________________________________________
 | Ed Rybicki, PhD             |       "Lord, won't you buy me        |
 | (ed at micro.uct.ac.za)        |                                      |
 | Dept Microbiology           |         A Mer-ce-des Benz..."        |
 | University of Cape Town     |                                      |
 | Private Bag, Rondebosch     |                                      |
 | 7700, South Africa          |           - Janis Joplin             |
 | fax: 27-21-650 4023         |                                      |
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