[Histonet] 5 Yr old Leica ST5020 is down

[Cathy M. Mathis/Comparative Medicine]

Hello Histology friends,
We are a research lab with a 5 year old Leica ST5020 autostainer that looks like new.  We run less than 5000 slides a year on it.  We noticed that (of course just after the warranty ended) that one of the water rinse stations stayed full of water all the time, even when the instrument was off.  It may have been like this from the beginning and we just did not notice it.  Leica quoted a $6000 repair but said we could run it as is.  So, we skipped the repair and went on using it.
Now the instrument is completely down and the repair is a new "slave controller board" for $17,600, stepper motor for arm, etc. with total quote for over $23,800.  Has anyone else had major issues with this instrument over time.  We are trying to decide whether to fix it or go for a new stainer.  I'm kinda wondering if we got a lemon.
Thank you for your time,
Cathy

Cathy M. Mathis
Lab Technician IV
Dept. of Pathology \  Comparative Medicine
Wake Forest School of Medicine
p 336.716.1538  \  f 336.716.1515
cmmathis at wakehealth.edu<mailto:cmmathis at wakehealth.edu>
www.wakehealth.edu<http://www.wakehealth.edu>