Has My PH Meter Diffused?

O.K. so I have had the same Milwaukee 3in1 meter for the last year, it has always worked fine for me. I check the PH of my cloner today and its at 7.0, It was at 5.9 yesterday. I check the PH of my veg. unit because I know its at 5.8, and it reads that its 7.0 too. It also said bleach and the tap water PH reading was 7.0 I have not calibrated it since the first year Ive had it. But I also read if you store your probe in tap water it will diffuse your probe and make it no good, has anybody had this problem? Should I buy a new probe or calibrate, or both?!?

Milwaukee's instructions clearly state the probe tip should be kept moist with 4.0 solution or distilled water, never tap water. It does not say why no tap water, just not to use it.

Dam I'm having the same problem I just keep mine reading all the time in a 55 gallon drum. I'm grabbing a new meter tomorrow.

I've had my milwalkee for over 4 years and never a problem.. the guy at Milwaukee told me to only use tap water for storage.

wow - you guys must be lucky!
You really should store your meter in 4.0 solution only, never tap water and you would be wise to calibrate it every week to 10 days.
If you journal everything you will be able to see how much more or how much less ph up or down you have been using since your last calibration.
There is your clue as to how often the calibration should be done.

another thing is that your calibration solution gets old and reads incorrect after a while. If you try to calibrate and you get an error message then clean your unit and soak it fresh 4.0 solution for a while and try again. It works everytime for me.

ive gone through loads of ph meters , dont ever touch the bulb ive broke about 6 just by touching the bulb by accident .they are so weak and just shatter if anything even brushes against them , dont go and try coz you will be upset lol .

I just ordered a 2nd probe and calibration solution, also ordered a special probe storage solution from Hanna. I dont know if its 4.0 but its made to store PH probe's

I bet they tell you not to store it in tap water because they want you to buy thier "storage solution". Which is probly just calibration solution. I have always used tap water or ph 7 cal, solution to store mine. My 40 doller hanna lasted about a year untill it was smoked and now I have a bluelab which is doing great. Maybe the hanna would have lasted longer if I stored the tip in "storage solution"???, although it was a POS 40 doller meter I had to cal. every single time I used it... Just WHAT EVER YOU DO, do not store it with out ANYTHING at all. That will definetly make it say bye bye. The 100 doller meters are worth it IMO

I just went thru a month of headaches due to a faulty oakton ph2 ugh. I tell ya I would calibrate it but it still would not read reliably. I would dip it in my tap water which is very high 7 plus and it would read 6.2 i finally said fuk it and bought another one. My old meter was a full point off even after calibration. I have since come to the conclusion that replacing a 100 dollar meter aint shit compared to losing more than 50 percent off harvests for a month straight in sog. Oh well from now on I am replacing my meters once a year right along with my light bulbs. this may sound wasteful but why have 400 dollar light bills for nothing? That my friends is wasteful. Oh well I cant get last month bak but next month is looking delicious

Yea, the new probe has been working fine. It seems to have small calibration issues because I actually had to calibrate it twice since I had it. I told myself If it does it again Im just going to order a hanna pen and throw that piece of shit in the trash, that would be 300 down the drain $150 2yrs ago on the pen and 110$ on a replacement probe, 100 more on calibration solution and storage. So if it dont work right, FUCK MILWAUKEE!! Update Soon !

YEA A BIG FUCK YOU TO MILWAUKEE METERS. Whenever I take the probe out the water, the PPM and TDS recognize that its no longer inside the water, the PH does not. I know for a fact the meter is defective now, I calibrated it, replaced the probe. I cant spend any more money on the piece of shit, ordering a Hanna combination pen. Milwaukee is just down right trash, I would not suggest anyone buying their meters. The worst part is a guy would always rant on the Stinkbud forum how he hated milwaukee meters, now I see why.

Can someone please tell me where to get a good ph combo meter, i bought the hanna pen and it seems to not be compatible with general hydro calibration solution. They said this piece of shit would be calibrated out the box. It was not, it read the 7.01 solution wrong, and the 1500ppm. Wtf!!!!!! Im so fucking sad and pissed right now, $110, for the new probe it didnt work. 175 for a new pen and its a piece of shit, somebody please help me!!!!

I don't like my hanna product. ima sell it on ebay one of these days.
I use separate meters. Oakton ph2 and bluelab truncheon.

Im actually comparing the 2 meters now, the Milwaukee reacts way faster than the Hanna combo pen. I feel so fucking stupid for wasting my money twice, these combo meters seem to be one big rip off.

Bluehillsmoker said:

Im actually comparing the 2 meters now, the Milwaukee reacts way faster than the Hanna combo pen. I feel so fucking stupid for wasting my money twice, these combo meters seem to be one big rip off.

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Don't feel to stupid I'm way ahead of you in wasted money on meters. I currently have 3 cheap sunleaves tds meters @25 buks a piece That I don't use anymore, Two oakton ph2 meters one of which is shot after 1 1/2 yrs the other I am using @85 buks a piece, the hanna combo meter I really don't like @ just over 100 buks, One Bluelab truncheon that I just got and absolutely love @ 100 buks, and lastly Two of the cheap chinese continuous reading meters @bout 100 buks a piece that I still use but only as a quick glance reference, I dbl check my #s with my bluelab and oakton meters daily. Amazingly enuf the cheap chinese continuous meters are relatively consistent in their readings.

So I guess thats bout 650$ on meters spent in the last 3 yrs! Ouch.

What I have learned thru all this is find a product you like and trust and stick to it. Keep a daily journal of nute and ph readings, If you start needing to add buffer or your nutes are all over calibrate. If the problems continue replace.

Bluelab and oakton are two of the best products out there IMO. Even tho I did have to replace my old Oakton recently. Prior to that it gave me consistent readings. The truncheon seems great thus far but I have only had it bout 6 wks. AL B. Fuct recommends em tho so I have confidence in it.

Don't give up,perseverance pays off bro. Things have never looked so good in my op. since gettin' my new meters