A rainbow of choice available for new Siltex B

Autoclave manufacturers to date may have survived on the Henry Ford principal of any colour as long as it's... boring, however Siltex has not only made a statement with the features of its new Siltex B, it has also accomplished a world first: colour choice.

Visitors to the recent Melbourne dental expo were literally stopped in their tracks as they stood and stared at the hot pink autoclave on the Siltex stand and immediately queried if indeed it was real.

"It certainly caused a stir," said Danny Jonas, managing director of Siltex. "But the unit we were displaying in hot pink sold immediately. It was literally like bees to honey."

Mr Jonas said they offer the Siltex B in any colour a practice wants and it can be coloured to suite the décor.

"The Siltex B offers a world-first with colour choice but also a number of firsts for Siltex. It features a stainless steel chamber for the first time and for the first time the outer skin is plastic.

"It's also an all Australian made product with Australian electronics and plastics."

Siltex manufacture the only benchtop steam sterilisers in Australia and the Siltex B is designed to comply with the newly adopted EN 13060 European Standard for Class B autoclaves.

"An autoclave is as much a service as it is a product," Mr Jonas said, "so we have put in place an unprecedented program to support the Siltex B. We have a one week course that must be undertaken by all authorised service agents and only those people will be certified to maintain the unit."

Mr Jonas said that the Siltex B has a built-in service interval indicator that activates every six months or 600 cycles to alert practices when a service was required.

The Siltex B contains two separate water tanks - one for condensation and used water (dump tank) and another for distilled/demineralised water. A message automatically appears when water is to be added into the water reservoir. The sterilizer has a built in leakage test cycle and features an automated door closing mechanism.

The Siltex B has a stand-by preheat mode between cycles that allows a significant reduction to the cycle duration and water consumption. The user may select the duration time of the stand-by preheat mode.

The sterilizer also features an optional internal temperature sensor for the load, where the sterilizer automatically determines the start of the sterilization stage/holding time.

Siltex's B comes with a built-in printer for creating a hard copy of sterilization results, detailing all necessary data. The company also sourced thermal paper for the printer with a ten year lifespan which complies with the relevant standards.

The unit is also equipped with a computer serial interface and an optional digital data cartridge device which allows transfer of data to a PC.

Siltex has manufactured autoclaves since 1967 and has produced some 15,000 units in that time. Located in Melbourne, the Australian owned enterprise employs 25 staff, is ISO 9001 accredited and its products are listed with the TGA.