Hach’s SL1000 Portable Parallel Analyzer (PPA) is a handheld device for water-quality testing. It was developed with the capabilities that customers most commonly wanted in instruments for field testing—testing more parameters in less time, eliminating error and performing tests more easily.

The PPA has inputs for two probes and slots—each with a pump—for four Chemkeys, allowing six simultaneous tests. Chemkeys are disposable cuvettes containing the reagents for performing colorimetric tests. Thomas Siller, global product manager, Handheld Instruments, at Hach told IBO, “[Y]ou insert the Chemkey into your instrument, and then you dip that into your sample. From there, the instrument is entirely automated.“ The automation, he said, eliminates the error that can be introduced by variables such as glassware cleanliness and reagent mixing.

Chemkeys are currently available to test free and total chlorine, free and total ammonia, monochloramine, nitrites and copper. According to Mr. Siller, when the PPA detects the placement of a Chemkey in a water sample, the pump mixes the sample with the reagent and, after the reaction occurs, draws the sample into an optical channel on the Chemkey where the PPA detects the sample’s change in color.

Although Hach’s DR900 colorimeter can test more parameters, Mr. Siller stated that the PPA gives accurate and more consistent results, and can test the parameters most used by municipal drinking-water–facilities. The PPA began shipping in October. It is priced at $2,950, and a kit including pH and conductivity probes (a DO probe is also available), and boxes of five different Chemkeys costs about $3,620.