Our lab uses old Gilson Pipetman pipettes. I've been using some for making mRNA by in vitro transcription and started running into RNAse issues. I'm trying to clean everything up, including the pipettes. I'm not sure these old pipettes can be autoclaved, at least not in one piece, I think I can take them apart and autoclave the parts that might touch the solutions. Is there some way to wash the pipettes out effectively and remove any RNAses?
I use boxes of RNAse free barrier tips, do all my work on new pieces of aluminum foil, use commercial RNAse free water, gloves, labcoat, facemask, etc. However yields from the in vitro transcription kit have been reduced, and yields from the tailing kit are even worse, sometimes losing 90% of the RNA. There's only so much I can do, our building is old and full of dust and the damn pipes above my work bench leak ( all the pipes leak, had 2 major pipe bursts in the last 6 months ).
I'll probably have to get new kits. Just have to prove to my advisor that the kits are contaminated.