Purpose: To evaluate the performance of seven brands of ATP devices at different environmental temperatures and determine the ATP signal decay after one minute of activation.
Methods: The performance of the ATP devices was evaluated at temperatures ranging from 10°C to 35°C using an environmental chamber. All devices were tested using a solution which had a concentration of 5 x 10–9 M ATP. Testing was completed using the exact instructions provided by the device manufacturer. The signal decay was assessed by reading the result in the luminometers immediately after activation and at 60 seconds.
Results: 420 results were obtained to evaluate the temperature profile and ATP signal decay at one minute from activation. The results suggest that only two of the seven devices studied retained 80% of the maximum signal over a wide temperature range indicating that they were little affected by changes in ambient temperature. The results of the other five devices were highly temperature dependent. The results also indicate that for some devices, time within activation and reading the result in the luminometer has a considerable effect on the result.
Significance: The selection of the appropriate water ATP device for its intended environment temperature and the time taken to read the result in the luminometer following activation of the device is critical to ensure accuracy of the results.