Oxford Nanopore Support | Oxford Nanopore Technologies

Community support

a member of the Nanopore support team aiding a customer at a conference

Contact support

You can contact our Customer Services and Technical Services teams round the clock using the contact support function.

My PromethION flow cell had fewer than 5000 pores after the flow cell check, what can I do?

My PromethION flow cell had fewer than 5000 pores after the flow cell check, what can I do?

If a PromethION Flow Cell falls below the 5000-pore warranty level, please move it to a different position on the sequencer and re-try the QC check. If it passes, please proceed with sequencing.

If 0 pore was reported, this could be caused by the presence of a bubble between the electrode and the flow cell array.

In this case, flushing through 200 µL of Storage Buffer from the Wash Kit may help.

Please follow the below steps then repeat the platform QC to see if you obtain different results.

  1. Turn the valve to expose the inlet port

  2. After opening the valve, a small tract of air will be visible beyond the inlet port. Drawback a small volume to remove any air bubbles:

  • Set a P1000 pipette to 200 µL

  • Insert the tip into the inlet port

  • Turn the wheel until the dial shows 220-230 µL, or until you can see a small volume of buffer entering the pipette tip

  1. Using a P1000 pipette load 200 µL of Storage Buffer into the inlet port of the flow cell, avoiding the introduction of air bubbles

  2. Close the valve

If the pore count remains below the warranty level after performing the above steps, please contact the support team via Live Chat on our website.

Back to flow-cells FAQs

Getting started

Your first experiment

Find out more

The Nanopore Community

Find out more

Managing your devices and account

Find out more

Nanopore technology explained

Find out more

Community posts

Full community members have access to posts and private channels