Two weeks ago, during an unusually warm spell on the east coast, I received a text message from a friend who was suffering through the misfortune of a failed air conditioner. I was of course more than sympathetic as I sat in my nice cool home and insisted that she move her family into my guest bedroom. She politely declined and suffered through the calamity until she could get the unit replaced. Unfortunately she did not have a service contract and had to fork over a hefty chunk of her hard earned savings to replace the heat pump.

If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it will.– PAUL HARVEY, AMERican Journalist

Have you ever had one of those annoying garden hoses that leaks no matter what you seem to do?  You change that little washer a zillion times but water is still erupting from one end or the other!  Similarly, this seems to be the topic of the month at SeqGen for our qPCR and thermal cycler customers.  Several calls and emails have come in detailing customer frustration over sample evaporation around the edges of their plates or lids cracking on the 9700 thermal cycler.