Does the postPCR 4-degree hold damage the thermal cycler ??

[Jose de las Heras]

"chovek69" <ivanoov at gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:1150387642.596445.44380 at p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
> Hi guys,
>
> Today, all of a sudden, my boss gave an order to cut the postPCR 4
> degree hold on all PCR programs "'cause this could damage the machine
> and/or shorten its life"- he said. Could it be possible ? Interestengly
> most of the thermal cyclers have an in-built 4 degree holds by default.
>
> I am also interested in how the Peltier is capable of cooling down the
> block to 4 degrees as this is opposed by the thermodynamics. Any
> suggestions ?

I can't say how stressful it is for the block to hold a 4 degree temperature 
overnight, but we also have the rule of avoiding overninght 4 degree holds 
if possible...

as for the Peltier effect...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peltier-Seebeck_effect

Jose