Ask The Brewmasters

We've been struggling to keep our Hach Orbisphere 3100's operational lately. In the past 9 months, we've had two units suffer board failures, and now a third has a capacitor that literally detached and was found loose inside the side panel.

To be fair, these instruments get a lot of use: daily checks on the packaging line with a piercer, monitoring centrifuge transfers, pre-transfer readings on fermenters, and confirmation of brite tank DO levels before packaging or during purging.

That said, we've received very little meaningful support from Hach. Our QC manager has a decent relationship with their service team, but we've been stuck in a holding pattern for months. There's been no explanation for the board failures, and the only proposed solution has been to pay roughly half the cost of a new unit to replace each failed one-without any confidence the same issues won't happen again.

It's hard to justify further investment when reliability has become such a concern. At this point, we may need to walk away from the 3100 platform, despite owning three of them.

To the community:
Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the 3100?
Any insight into root cause or solutions that worked for you?

We've already taken steps or were using best practices like relocating sampling stations to minimize vibration (e.g., from the separator), exclusively using Hach-supplied charging cables for overnight battery charging, flushing sensors after each use, powering down when idle, and recalibrating regularly with certified gas per Hach's recommended interval (every 30–90 days based on drift).

And for those who are not using the 3100s:
What are you using to measure low-range DO, and how has it held up in terms of reliability and accuracy?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Hopefully this post can also serve as a signal to Hach that their users need better support on what is otherwise a highly capable tool.

[this is cross posted in other industry communities as we search for solutions]

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Brandt Stewart - Dipl. Brew
Director of Brewing Operations
Third Space Brewing
Milwaukee WI
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Hi Brandt,

At my last brewery we used both the Hach Orbisphere 3100 and the Pentair Gehaltemeter.  I preferred the Hach instrument for its simplicity of calibration and maintenance, durability, versatility and reliability.  That said, we did have maintenance issues like the one you described.  At one point the "foil pack" (that's the screen and buttons) delaminated and water got into the instrument and burnt out the mother board.  The cellar men had a habit of stowing the instrument with the hoses wrapped around it and the sample valve adapter resting against the screen, which may have caused that problem.

A recurring problem was corrosion of the charging port, which was avoided by only charging in a dry location, and keeping the rubber cover sealed on the charging port when the instrument was in use.

We contracted with Hach's bench service program every year.  Hach lives up to its promise and takes the contract very seriously.  If you have any problem with the instrument that you cannot troubleshoot yourself, they will send you a loaner instrument right away and repair your instrument for no additional charge.   It was an expensive program, but ultimately we were glad we did it.  If you assume your instrument will depreciate about 10%/year, the cost of the bench service program is actually pretty reasonable.

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Cullen Dwyer
Lunenburg MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-05-2025 15:42
From: Brandt Stewart
Subject: Dissolved Oxygen Meters - What are you all experiencing?

We've been struggling to keep our Hach Orbisphere 3100's operational lately. In the past 9 months, we've had two units suffer board failures, and now a third has a capacitor that literally detached and was found loose inside the side panel.

To be fair, these instruments get a lot of use: daily checks on the packaging line with a piercer, monitoring centrifuge transfers, pre-transfer readings on fermenters, and confirmation of brite tank DO levels before packaging or during purging.

That said, we've received very little meaningful support from Hach. Our QC manager has a decent relationship with their service team, but we've been stuck in a holding pattern for months. There's been no explanation for the board failures, and the only proposed solution has been to pay roughly half the cost of a new unit to replace each failed one-without any confidence the same issues won't happen again.

It's hard to justify further investment when reliability has become such a concern. At this point, we may need to walk away from the 3100 platform, despite owning three of them.

To the community:
Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the 3100?
Any insight into root cause or solutions that worked for you?

We've already taken steps or were using best practices like relocating sampling stations to minimize vibration (e.g., from the separator), exclusively using Hach-supplied charging cables for overnight battery charging, flushing sensors after each use, powering down when idle, and recalibrating regularly with certified gas per Hach's recommended interval (every 30–90 days based on drift).

And for those who are not using the 3100s:
What are you using to measure low-range DO, and how has it held up in terms of reliability and accuracy?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Hopefully this post can also serve as a signal to Hach that their users need better support on what is otherwise a highly capable tool.

[this is cross posted in other industry communities as we search for solutions]

------------------------------
Brandt Stewart - Dipl. Brew
Director of Brewing Operations
Third Space Brewing
Milwaukee WI
------------------------------

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Hey Brandt, 

We currently use HACH Orbisphere 3100 in our cellar and the rest of the brewery uses a Haffmans cDGM and have had our fare share of issues in the past, luckily our electrical engineer was able to get the parts in and do the repairs in-house. You guys flush after every use?? We only do it at the end of the shift with how much we use it. One that used to pop up for us was "Channel Out" warning message. I believe it was the optic cable. This can be changed in house without voiding your warranty. Our HACH gets used 24/7 for finish beer, brite tanks after a CIP or CUP to check Co2 levels, tankers and anything that we can put a zwickle and get readings. Sorry you are having a bad experience with your device.

-------------------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 08-05-2025 15:42
From: Brandt Stewart
Subject: Dissolved Oxygen Meters - What are you all experiencing?

We've been struggling to keep our Hach Orbisphere 3100's operational lately. In the past 9 months, we've had two units suffer board failures, and now a third has a capacitor that literally detached and was found loose inside the side panel.

To be fair, these instruments get a lot of use: daily checks on the packaging line with a piercer, monitoring centrifuge transfers, pre-transfer readings on fermenters, and confirmation of brite tank DO levels before packaging or during purging.

That said, we've received very little meaningful support from Hach. Our QC manager has a decent relationship with their service team, but we've been stuck in a holding pattern for months. There's been no explanation for the board failures, and the only proposed solution has been to pay roughly half the cost of a new unit to replace each failed one-without any confidence the same issues won't happen again.

It's hard to justify further investment when reliability has become such a concern. At this point, we may need to walk away from the 3100 platform, despite owning three of them.

To the community:
Has anyone else experienced similar issues with the 3100?
Any insight into root cause or solutions that worked for you?

We've already taken steps or were using best practices like relocating sampling stations to minimize vibration (e.g., from the separator), exclusively using Hach-supplied charging cables for overnight battery charging, flushing sensors after each use, powering down when idle, and recalibrating regularly with certified gas per Hach's recommended interval (every 30–90 days based on drift).

And for those who are not using the 3100s:
What are you using to measure low-range DO, and how has it held up in terms of reliability and accuracy?

Any guidance would be appreciated. Hopefully this post can also serve as a signal to Hach that their users need better support on what is otherwise a highly capable tool.

[this is cross posted in other industry communities as we search for solutions]

------------------------------
Brandt Stewart - Dipl. Brew
Director of Brewing Operations
Third Space Brewing
Milwaukee WI
------------------------------