Equipment Rental and Supplies

The Air-O-Cell cassette is a sampling device used for the rapid collection and analysis of mold spores, pollen, insect parts, skin cell fragments, fibers, and inorganic particulates.

The Allergenco-D air sampling cassette is used for the sampling and collection of mold spores, pollen, skin fragments, insects, combustion particles, toners, enivironmental dusts, construction dusts, and other airborne particulates.

The micro 5 cassettes are designed to operate at a flow rate of 5 L/min.

The cassette contains a circular glass slide with adhesive that captures the mold spores and other particulates such as pollen, insect and dust when they impact the slide.

Sterile swabs are ideal for testing the level of contamination on surfaces. Swabs are very useful on hard-to-reach places such as crevices or on wet surfaces where cellophane tape cannot be used. Both mold and bacteria can be tested by culture methods from a single swab. It is recommended that wet swabs are used on dry surfaces and dry swabs on wet surfaces. Wet culture medium swabs are required for bacterial sampling.

Objective of Surface Sampling (Tape, Swab, or Bulk)

To determine whether visible stain or discoloration on a surface sampled is indicative of mold growth.

To determine the type of molds actually growing on the surface sampled

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Surface sampling for direct microscopic examination is inexpensive and may be analyzed immediately.

A direct microscopic examination of a surface shows exactly what is there.

Surface sampling may also reveal indoor reservoirs of spores that have not yet become airborne.

Disadvantages

The presence of biological materials (spores, hyphal frogments, insect parts, etc) on a particular surface is not a direct
indication of what may be in the air yet health problems related to indoor biological contamination are generally caused by the
inhalation of substantial amount of airborne particulates, sometimes over a substantial period of time.

The Biotest Agar Strips are used with the RCS sampler (High Flow, Isolator, Plus and Standard Microbial Air Sampler). They are easily loaded into the rotor of the sampler. The Agar Strip packaging is composed of a plastic holder with grids (wells) filled with 11 g of a sterile specific solid agar medium. Agar strip are individually enclosed in a plastic to protect them from contamination. For Mold sampling, the strips are filled with malt extract agar (MEA) amended with rose bengal. [OUT OF STOCK UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

The mold tape slide is used for surface sampling of visible mold.

• Ideal for surface sampling
• 90 degree flexibility
• Uniform sample size
• Individually packaged to protect slides during transport
• Prevents cross contamination
• Bar-coded serial numbers for easy traceability

The SKC Quick Take 15 air sampler is available at MBL for RENTAL within Canada. We do not ship outside of Canada. The SKC Quick Take 15 air sampler is easy to use with spore trap cassettes such as VersaTrap Cassettes, Air-O-Cell Cassettes, and Allergenco.

The rental fee for quick take 15 is $50.00 per day.

The Quick Take 30 is available at MBL for RENTAL within Canada. We do not ship outside of Canada. The Quick Take 30, is a high volume air sampling pump. It operates at a constant flow rate of 10 to 30 L/min. Quick Take 30 is ideal for use with BioStage Impactors, spore trap cassettes such as the VersaTrap, Air-O-Cell Cassettes, asbestos cassettes, microvacuum cassettes, or other samplers that require flow rates of up to 30 L/min.

The rental fee for Quick Take 30 alone is $50.00 per day. If Biostage Impactor is required, additional $30.00 is charged.

Used for collection of airborne particulate including fungal spores.

The Zefon Bio-Pump® Plus is available at MBL for RENTAL within Canada. We do not ship outside of Canada. The Zefon Bio-Pump® Plus is the smallest and lightest portable battery powered IAQ sampling pump available. It provides the simplest and most convenient way to sample with Air-O-Cell®, Via-Cell®, Allergencos, VersaTrap and various other cassettes that require a flow rate of 15LPM.

The pump is manufactured by Zefon International and it has the following features:

• New ‘Quick Sample’ feature makes sampling a breeze.
• Extra Long Battery Life – Take over 100 samples on a single charge
• It’s very small and weighs Over 40% less than the standard Zefon Bio-Pump
• It’s very quiet in operation
• It has a programmable timer that allows unattended operation
• Comes with a quick-charge battery charger (approx 3 hours)
• Uses Air-O-Cell® cassettes and others such as Allergencos, VersaTraps
• Uses Via-Cell® cassettes – a cassette sampler offering both viable and non-viable analysis options
• Requires no prior preparation or cleaning. Just place the cassette on the pump, set the time and go
• Each pump comes complete with both an Air-O-Cell® and Via-Cell® flow indicator, quick charger, and a handy carrying case

The Zefon Bio-Pump® Plus Specifications:

• Flow Rate: 15 LPM
• Housing: ABS
• Housing Color: Black
• Battery: Nickel Metal Hydride
• Sampler Size: 4.375″ width; 8″ depth; 2.75″ height
• Weight: 1.6lbs

BioStage sampler is available at MBL for RENTAL within Canada. We do not ship outside of Canada. BioStage sampler is used together with QuickTake 30 for collecting viable (culturable) air samples. It’s important to select the right type of media. For example, if you you’re sampling for bacteria you would have to use the media that supports bacteria growth such TSA. If sampling for mould, use media that supports mould growth such as MEA. Use of more than one type of media (or species specific media) is sometimes recommended. For example, if you’re sampling for Legionella bacteria, you would not use TSA but BCYE media.