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What This Guide Helps With
Use this guide when a cycle begins but terminates during conditioning or exposure because of utilities, load, pressure, temperature, drainage, or control conditions.
Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
1. Protect Patient Safety and Quarantine the Load
Any load from an aborted sterilization cycle must be treated as not successfully sterilized unless facility procedure specifically establishes otherwise.
Quarantine the load and maintain cycle and load traceability.
Expected outcome: No load from the aborted cycle is released for patient use.
2. Capture the Exact Abort Information
Before clearing messages, record:
- Cycle selected.
- Cycle phase when the abort occurred.
- Exact alarm or message.
- Chamber temperature and pressure if displayed.
- Time into the cycle.
- Whether the abort has repeated.
Retrieve the cycle record when available.
Expected outcome: The failure is documented well enough to distinguish conditioning, temperature, pressure, door, drainage, and utility problems.
3. Verify the Load and Cycle Match
Confirm the selected cycle was appropriate for the load and that the chamber was loaded according to facility practice.
Check for obvious overloading, items extending into the door area, or arrangements that could interfere with air removal or drainage.
Expected outcome: The load and cycle are appropriate. If an obvious loading or cycle-selection error caused the abort, correct it and proceed according to facility reprocessing requirements.
4. Check Door Closure and Recognition
Verify the door is fully closed, locked, and recognized by the sterilizer.
Inspect accessible sealing areas for debris or obstruction. Do not bypass interlocks.
Expected outcome: The chamber remains securely closed throughout normal operation. Any unreliable door condition requires removal from service.
5. Check Required Facility Utilities
Determine whether steam, electrical power, water, compressed air, or drainage services experienced an interruption during the failed cycle.
Ask whether other equipment was affected at the same time.
Expected outcome: Utilities are stable. If a facility interruption caused the abort, coordinate infrastructure correction before repeating a test.
6. Review Temperature and Pressure Progression
Use the cycle record or display history to identify whether:
- Pressure failed to build.
- Temperature failed to rise.
- Conditions were achieved and then lost.
- The abort occurred without an obvious utility trend.
Do not diagnose an internal component from a single trend alone.
Expected outcome: The failure pattern provides a logical direction for additional external checks or escalation.
7. Inspect Drain and Chamber Condition
Look for standing water, debris at the accessible drain, unusual condensate, or a wet chamber condition.
Drainage problems can disrupt conditioning and exposure.
Expected outcome: The drain is visibly clear and the chamber condition appears normal.
8. Check for External Steam or Water Leakage
Inspect accessible piping and the sterilizer perimeter for visible leakage, abnormal condensation, or unusual sounds.
Avoid hot steam and do not open internal panels merely to locate a leak.
Expected outcome: No external leak is present. Significant leakage requires immediate removal from service.
9. Run an Appropriate Test Cycle
Once any external issue is corrected, run a facility-approved test cycle and observe startup, conditioning, pressure, temperature, exposure transition, and completion.
Do not use a production load for troubleshooting when a proper test method is available.
Expected outcome: The cycle progresses through the previously failing phase without aborting. If required performance checks pass, troubleshooting can stop.
10. Escalate Repeated Cycle Aborts
If loading, cycle selection, door condition, utilities, drainage, and visible external conditions are satisfactory but the sterilizer continues to abort, stop external troubleshooting.
Potential service-level categories include steam control, vacuum generation, drainage control, temperature or pressure sensing, internal leakage, safety interlocks, or controller faults.
Expected outcome: The sterilizer remains out of service until repaired and validated.
If the Problem Persists
Common external causes of cycle aborts have been ruled out. Remove the sterilizer from service, label it Out of Service, and arrange qualified service evaluation.
Use current STERIS documentation and approved test equipment. Internal steam, vacuum, drainage, sensing, and control systems should be inspected, tested, calibrated, configured, or repaired only by qualified personnel.
After service, complete appropriate operational and sterilization-performance verification before returning the sterilizer to production. Repeatedly restarting aborted loads without identifying the cause is not appropriate troubleshooting.
Clinical Use Tip
Maintain the aborted load's traceability and reprocess it according to facility policy rather than assuming partial exposure provided sterility.
Work Order Documentation (CCR Method)
CCR = Complaint, Cause, Resolution
Complaint
What was reported by the clinical staff.
Example:
"Sterile Processing reported that the AMSCO 600 Series repeatedly aborted during the conditioning phase."
Cause
What was observed during troubleshooting.
Example:
"Clinical Engineering found debris obstructing the accessible chamber drain and abnormal standing water in the chamber."
Resolution
What action was taken.
Example:
"Removed the accessible obstruction, verified normal drainage, completed an approved test cycle through conditioning and exposure, and returned the sterilizer to service."
Helpful Details to Include (If Known)
- Cycle selected.
- Load type.
- Exact abort message.
- Phase and time of failure.
- Temperature and pressure behavior.
- Utility status.
- Door status.
- Drain findings.
- External leaks.
- Test cycle performed.
- Final device status.
Final Thought
Start by protecting the aborted load, preserve the fault information, evaluate the phase-specific external causes logically, and escalate repeat failures instead of repeatedly restarting the sterilizer without verification.
That is successful troubleshooting.