[Histonet] Recycled alcohol

[histotech <@t> imagesbyhopper.com]

Hi Histonetters!

For those who use recycled alcohol, I have a few questions.

Do you use it in your automatic H&E stainers?
Are you having any troubles with proper, consistent H&E staining?

We are using recycled alcohol, and wish to continue to do so IF we can.  We are having issues with our staining - hematoxylin isn't as purple as it should be, eosin is way too pink/red. We use recycled alcohol when deparaffinizing and running down to water. For the record, we are also using recycled xylene.  After staining, we use 2 recycled 100s and two fresh 100s. I have increased the hem time, decreased the eosin time, adjusted the acid alcohol and bluing... I'm tearing my hair out trying to troubleshoot this!  Can anyone help me?

Thanks!
Michelle