A probe that arrives for repair with an incomplete story takes longer to assess, and a probe that arrives with a fault it did not leave with is worse. These twelve checks take about half an hour between them. They exist to prevent three specific outcomes: shipping a probe that was never broken, shipping one that cannot be repaired, and shipping one that gets damaged on the way.
Prove the fault is the probe (1–4)
1. Test a second probe on the same port. If it also fails, the fault is the system, not the probe. This single check prevents more unnecessary shipments than any other.
2. Test the suspect probe on a second port. A fault that clears on another port is a port fault.
3. Test the suspect probe on a second machine if one is reachable. A fault that does not follow the probe is not the probe’s. Full method: the three-branch isolation tree.
4. Clean the acoustic face and rescan. Dried gel and disinfectant residue mimic element loss convincingly. Clean per the manufacturer’s instructions — not with whatever solvent is nearest.
Characterise the fault (5–8)
5. Capture the fault on screen at maximum depth with gain compensation off. This is the single most useful image for assessment, and the one people most often forget to take.
6. Flex the cable while scanning and note whether the image changes, and where along the cable. That distinguishes a conductor break from a dead array — two different repairs at two different prices.
7. Photograph the lens face, the strain relief and the connector pins. Lens lifting, a split boot and a bent pin are all diagnosable from a photograph before the probe moves.
8. Note anything unusual about onset. Did it appear after a drop, after a disinfection cycle, after twenty minutes of use, or gradually over months? Thermal and cycle-dependent faults are looked for differently.
Decide whether to ship at all (9–10)
9. Send the images for assessment before you send the probe. This is the check that makes the other eleven pay off. We look at what you captured and tell you whether the probe is repairable. If we judge it is not, we tell you not to ship it — you keep the freight and the two weeks.
10. Check the host system’s age and support status. If the machine is close to end of support and parts are already thinning, that changes whether this repair is money well spent. Covered in repair against replacement.
Prepare it for transit (11–12)
11. Disinfect, and say so. TEE and endocavity probes must complete full high-level disinfection before they are packed — that is your department’s responsibility and it cannot be done retrospectively. Note it on the paperwork.
12. Pack for the cable, not the probe. Coil the cable loosely; a tight coil around the strain relief is how probes arrive with new faults. Cap the connector or box it rigidly — bent pins in transit are common and entirely avoidable. Declare the shipment as goods for repair and return, not as a sale.
The three failures these checks prevent
It is worth being concrete about what each group is actually for, because a checklist without a stated purpose gets skipped.
The false RMA. Checks 1 to 4 exist because a large share of probes sent for repair are not faulty. The system’s socket board, a dirty port, a wrong preset or a film of dried gel all present as “the probe is broken”. The check that catches most of these costs sixty seconds: plug in a different probe. Departments that run it routinely stop shipping healthy probes.
The slow assessment. Checks 5 to 8 exist because a probe with no history takes longer to diagnose. An engineer who knows the image changes when the cable is flexed at the connector end starts at the connector. One who receives a probe in a box with “no image” written on the form starts from the beginning. The difference is days, and it is entirely in your hands before the probe leaves.
The transit fault. Checks 11 and 12 exist because probes genuinely do arrive with damage they did not have when they were packed. A cable coiled tightly around its own strain relief and an uncapped connector rattling in a loose box are the two ways it happens. Both are free to avoid.
What good preparation buys you
An assessment that would otherwise wait for the probe to arrive happens before it ships. A fault that is characterised is quoted accurately instead of provisionally. And a probe that would have been a wasted round trip never leaves the department.
Once it does arrive, the repair itself normally takes about a week, and the return shipment is free — including in the case where the probe turned out not to be repairable after all. Sending from Europe? The cross-border round trip is here.
Frequently asked questions
Do you charge for the pre-shipment assessment?
No. It is a look at your images and a written answer on whether the probe is repairable. We would rather spend that time than have you spend freight on a probe we cannot help with.
What if I cannot get a screen capture off our system?
A clear phone photograph of the screen works. What matters is that the artifact is visible and that we can see the depth and gain settings, not that the file came off the machine.
Should I include the connector cap and the case?
Include the cap — it is the cheapest protection the connector will get. The case is optional; a rigid box with the cable coiled loosely is fine, and it is what most probes arrive in.