Blackstone HS-CLASSB

Dental practices and medical clinics sterilise pouched examination kits, extraction sets, and minor surgery packs, and choose a size based on the instruments. A single dental surgery whose longest items sit well inside 350 mm fits the 18-litre chamber. A practice processing long forceps or heavier wrapped loads moves to the 23-litre size, with its 450 mm depth and 5.0 kg solid load. Dental nurses and decontamination leads run the Bowie-Dick or Helix test first, then work through the day on the same four buttons.

In podiatry, pouched nail nippers, burrs and blade handles go through the wrapped programmes at 121 °C or 134 °C between appointments. Veterinary practices use the textile programmes for drapes and gowns alongside wrapped surgical kits, and the 23-litre chamber's 1.25 kg porous load gives linen more room.

Beauty and nail salons sterilise cuticle nippers, pushers and metal files, while tattoo and piercing studios pass steel grips, tubes and forceps between clients. For a studio, the 350 mm depth of the 18-litre chamber covers grips and tubes. Tubes and cannulated tools are hollow loads, which is where triple pre-vacuum matters, and the 134 °C prion programme with its 18-minute hold serves sites that set prion inactivation as their standard.

Clinics that reprocess on the same bench all day benefit from preheat mode, which keeps the chamber and generator warm between cycles, and the unit is ready for routine use within 15 minutes of switching on.

Central sterile departments, heat-sensitive devices and routine liquid loads all fall outside what either size is designed to handle.

The instrument determines the size.

The 18-litre and 23-litre chambers share a 247 mm bore and differ only in depth, 350 mm or 450 mm. A practice measures its longest instrument and its heaviest load, then picks the size without changing programmes, controls or training.

Usable load stated per load type

Each size carries a maximum load for every load type, from 5.0 kg of unwrapped solid instruments in the 23-litre chamber down to 0.6 kg of dual-wrapped porous material in the 18-litre one. Staff load to a figure, so nobody has to guess what the chamber volume really holds.

Prion programme in the standard set

A 134 °C programme with an 18-minute hold sits alongside the solid, wrapped and textile cycles. Sites that adopt extended prion holds as routine have one ready on the panel.

Daily tests to a stated criterion

Bowie-Dick and Helix programmes hold 134 °C for 3.5 minutes, and the vacuum test passes only when the chamber leaks no more than 0.13 kPa per minute over 10 minutes. A failed leak test shows on the display before you load anything.

A long cycle history on board

The internal memory keeps the last 9,999 cycles, browsable through the report menu. A practice can look back across months of use without any accessory fitted.

Warm and ready through the day

Preheat mode holds the chamber and generator at the minimum temperature for a cycle, shortening total cycle time and improving drying. It switches itself off after an hour of inactivity.

Eight safety devices

A door safety lock, a door micro-switch, a safety valve, heater thermostats, transformer cut-outs and a main breaker each guard against a specific fault. If power fails mid-cycle, the self-levelling hydraulic system brings the chamber back to atmospheric pressure.

Maintenance counted in cycles

The manufacturer schedules cleaning every 50 cycles, filter replacement every 200, and a new door seal every 800, with calendar equivalents of a month, three months, and a year. Busy sites can plan by cycle count, and the first spare door seal ships with the unit.

What it consumes

Distilled water within the feed specification is the main consumable, followed by the bacteriological filter, door seals and test indicators. The open tank holds about 2.5 L, enough to watch at a glance and top up by hand.

One bore, two depths

Both chambers measure 247 mm across. The 18-litre version runs 350 mm deep and the 23-litre version 450 mm.

Triple pre-vacuum

Three vacuum pulses precede each sterilising hold, so air leaves lumens, pouches and porous packs before steam takes over the chamber.

Independent steam generator

The steam generator raises steam and feeds it to the chamber as each programme calls for it.

Seven sterilisation programmes

Solid, wrapped and textile programmes each run at 121 °C or 134 °C, and a prion programme runs at 134 °C. Pressure is 110 kPa at 121 °C and 210 kPa at 134 °C.

Holding times by load

Solid and wrapped loads hold for 4 minutes at 134 °C or 20 minutes at 121 °C, textiles for 8 or 30 minutes, and prion loads for 18 minutes. You can adjust holding and drying times in a password-protected settings menu.

Bowie-Dick, Helix and vacuum tests

Three test programmes cover air removal, steam penetration and chamber tightness. The vacuum test reports success, failure or a void result when the chamber is still too warm to judge.

Controlled temperature ceilings

The 134 °C cycles peak at no more than 137 °C, and the 121 °C cycles at 124 °C. Those ceilings show how far above the set point a load can go during the hold.

Four-button LCD control

Up, down, menu and enter buttons drive every function. The LCD shows the programme, holding time, pressure, temperature, water status, door position and the current time.

Preheat mode

When switched on, preheat keeps the chamber and generator at the starting temperature. It shortens cycles and turns off after an hour without use.

9,999-cycle internal memory

Each cycle's record stays in internal memory, and the report menu shows any of the last 9,999 on screen.

Distilled water and used water tanks

An open distilled water tank holds about 2.5 L and alerts at about 0.5 L. Used water collects in a separate 1.5 L tank with its own drain valve.

Bacteriological filter

A screw-in bacteriological filter at the rear is replaced by hand every three months or 200 cycles, with no tools involved.

Door safety lock and self-levelling hydraulics

The door locks for the length of each programme, and a micro-switch confirms it is closed. A self-levelling hydraulic system restores atmospheric pressure after an interruption or blackout.

Thermal and electrical protection

Thermostats guard the chamber and generator heaters, thermal cut-outs protect the transformer, and a main breaker covers heater faults. A safety valve releases any chamber overpressure.

Electro-polished stainless steel

The chamber and door are stainless steel with an electro-polished finish, and the door seal, trays, and rack are cleaned with mild soap and distilled water.

Sixteen interface languages

The display runs in 16 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Portuguese, and Chinese.

The 18-litre HS-CLASSB suits a single dental surgery, podiatry clinic, or studio whose instruments fit within 350 mm. The 23-litre size suits practices with longer forceps or loads of up to 5.0 kg of unwrapped solid instruments. Both offer the full Class B load range, a prion programme and maintenance intervals counted in cycles, all run from four buttons. Three limits weigh most. No CE or UKCA position is evidenced for this model. The standard configuration keeps records only in internal memory, with USB and printing outside it. Daily operation depends on distilled water with a conductivity limit of 15 µS/cm, which the generator needs for every cycle.