Answers to the questions hospitals, clinics, laboratories and dental practices ask us most, covering equipment selection, ordering, installation, validation, servicing and support. If your question is not answered here, send it through the contact form and the consultant covering your region will reply within one business day.
Ordering and quotations
How do I get a price for equipment?
Send your technical scope through the request form or call either branch. Our biomedical engineering team prepares a formal quotation, including installation, commissioning and SANS 347 compliance documentation where it applies.
How quickly will I hear back?
A sales consultant covering your region replies within one business day with pricing and availability. Your enquiry goes straight to that consultant, who stays your single point of contact from quotation through to order.
Do you quote a lead time?
Equipment lead times are quoted per project, since chamber size, utility work and site conditions all affect the build and installation programme. Pricing and availability come back within one business day.
Do I have to order through the website?
Most of our equipment is specified and quoted, so a quotation is how a purchase normally starts. You can browse the full range and request a quotation from any product page, or ask a consultant to specify the right model for your loads.
Can you supply to public hospitals and provincial departments?
We are a Level 2 B-BBEE contributor, which carries 125% procurement recognition for hospital groups and provincial departments.
Products and equipment we supply
What equipment do you supply?
Steam sterilizers and autoclaves, instrument washer-disinfectors, laboratory glassware washers, ultrasonic cleaners, drying cabinets, bedpan washers and sluice room equipment, heat sealers, sterile store shelving, LED theatre and examination lighting, low-temperature sterilizers, endoscope storage and endoscope washers, and the spares and consumables that keep them running.
Do you manufacture your own autoclaves?
We engineer, fabricate and certify autoclaves and steam sterilizers at our Cape Town manufacturing facility, then install, validate and support them for their working life.
Which brands do you represent?
Alongside the RDS Series built in Cape Town, we supply MEIKO from Germany, Emerson ASCO from the UK and US, Koinamed from India, Pedrollo from Italy, AT-OS from Italy, Scitek Global from China, Swiss-engineered Asetronics lighting, and equipment from SMC, Sturdy and Renosem.
Which autoclave types are available?
The RDS Series covers single-door hospital autoclaves, pass-through double-door units built into a CSSD wall, flash autoclaves for rapid turnaround between theatre cases, vertical RDSV autoclaves for clinics and laboratories, and the RDS200 LPG model for sites without reliable mains power.
Can I buy spares and accessories?
We stock autoclave spares such as door gaskets and filters, along with spare parts, stainless steel accessories, combined care units and warming cabinets. Every unit we supply is backed by our spares operation and by technicians trained by the equipment manufacturers.
Do you supply endoscope reprocessing and storage equipment?
Yes. The range includes endoscope washers and endoscope storage cabinets, which sit alongside the instrument washers and drying cabinets on the decontamination and storage side of a department.
Can you supply heat sealers and packaging equipment?
Yes. We list manual impulse sealers, touch-screen sealing machines and seal-and-cut models, including units that print an operation ID on the seal for traceability.
Do you supply mobile and examination lighting as well as theatre lights?
The lighting range covers ceiling-mounted theatre luminaires, single and double head theatre lights, mobile LED lights for examination and ward use, and clinical examination lights.
Do you supply dental practices and laboratories?
Both. Dental practices typically specify a benchtop autoclave, an ultrasonic cleaner and a drying or storage station. Laboratories specify glassware washers, autoclaves for media and waste, and ultrasonic baths for narrow-necked glass and instrument-like geometry.
Choosing the right equipment
How do I choose the right autoclave size?
Start with the loads you run in a day. A benchtop chamber suits a practice with a handful of sets a day, while a hospital CSSD works in larger chambers: our single-door range runs from 160 litres upward, and pass-through models are built on the same chamber sizes.
What is the difference between pre-vacuum and gravity cycles?
A pre-vacuum cycle removes air from the chamber before sterilizing, so steam penetrates wrapped packs and hollow instruments. A gravity cycle pushes air out with incoming steam and suits liquids and dense glassware. RDS autoclaves offer both, with fractionated vacuum options.
What utilities does an autoclave need?
Taking an RDS160 as an example, the machine needs a 380V three-phase supply at 35A per phase, 15mm cold water at 300 kPa for the vacuum system, a separate 15mm clean or RO feed for the steam generator, and a 50mm metal floor drain. We confirm the requirements for your model before installation.
Can an autoclave run where the power supply is unreliable?
The RDS200 LPG autoclave uses an LP-gas burner instead of mains-heated steam, which suits field hospitals and rural clinics. Chamber pressure, temperature and gas flow are set on manual controls, with 134 degrees Celsius recommended for general surgical instruments.
Should we replace manual cleaning with a washer-disinfector?
Manual cleaning keeps a place in the workflow for immediate point-of-use care and for items a machine cannot handle. A department processing several trays a day, or any volume of lumen instruments, is where a washer-disinfector earns its place, because it delivers a repeatable cycle with the thermal disinfection record attached.
Which lighting suits a theatre upgrade?
LED surgical luminaires are specified on colour rendering, colour temperature and illumination at the working distance, and the Asetronics range covers examination work through to flagship theatre luminaires with sealed, homogeneous surfaces.
Standards, certification and compliance
Which certifications do you hold?
We are an ISO 13485:2016 certified manufacturer, a SAHPRA-licensed manufacturer of medical devices, and SANS 347:2012 accredited for the design, fabrication and inspection of pressure vessels. We also build to the PD 5500 code for unfired fusion welded pressure vessels, which aligns with EN 13445. The certification page lists them in full.
Is pressure equipment compliance documented?
Pressure vessels are built to SANS 347 Cat IV requirements, and quotations include SANS 347 compliance documentation where it applies to the project.
What documentation comes with an autoclave?
Every unit leaves the factory with a data pack: operating manuals, manufacturing certificates, technical drawings and pressure testing certificates.
Does ISO 13485 cover the machine after delivery?
The certificate covers our quality management system at the Cape Town facility, from design and purchasing controls through production traceability to servicing and complaint handling.
Installation, commissioning and validation
Do you install and commission the equipment?
Installation and commissioning are part of the quotation, and our own engineers carry them out.
Do you perform validation?
We perform calibration and statutory performance validation on sterilizers and washer-disinfectors. The records are prepared so they hold up to SANS and Department of Health scrutiny. Our article on IQ, OQ and PQ explains what each stage proves.
Can you validate equipment we already own?
Validation falls under the servicing and validation we run on equipment across the range: autoclaves, washer-disinfectors, laboratory glassware washers, low-temperature sterilizers, lighting and sterile store shelving.
Does a repair mean the machine has to be revalidated?
Where a repair touches a critical component, requalification closes the job out. Annual performance requalification is normally folded into the same service agreement.
Servicing, repairs and spares
Do you offer service agreements?
Preventive maintenance agreements are structured around your throughput, compliance calendar and budget, from an annual validation contract to a full maintenance agreement. Visits are scheduled around theatre lists and department activity.
What happens when a sterilizer breaks down?
Our mobile service teams carry common spares on board and same-day part support covers stocked lines, which keeps downtime measured in hours. A qualified technician is on 24-hour standby in Cape Town and Gauteng for emergencies that cannot wait until morning.
Who carries out the repairs?
Our own factory-trained technicians, who are trained directly by the equipment manufacturers.
Do you service equipment you did not supply?
Our service division works across the equipment categories we supply and support, from a single practice autoclave to a full hospital CSSD. Send us your equipment list and a consultant will confirm the scope.
Can a fault be diagnosed remotely?
RDS autoclaves include wireless fault finding, which lets our technicians diagnose problems remotely and often removes the need for a call-out.
Do you handle medical gas installations?
We install new medical gas systems and service oxygen and vacuum plants, outlet points and pipework, with technicians qualified to work in clinical environments.
How are service records kept?
One file per asset holds the serial number, service dates, parts fitted, test results, calibration certificates, validation reports and training records.
Water, utilities and running costs
How much water does an RDS autoclave use?
RDS cycles use up to 20 litres of water, and some cycles run on as little as 8 litres. Conventional sterilizers can use around 100 litres per cycle. Our article on autoclave water consumption works through the numbers.
Can the autoclave run on reverse osmosis water?
The all-stainless construction covers the jacket, chamber, door, steam generator, pipework, frame and solenoid valves, so RO water can be used without the corrosion risk that comes with mixed materials.
What are the chambers made from?
Duplex LDX2101 stainless steel for the chamber and the jacket. We were the first manufacturer in the sector to standardise on it, and the chambers use a 6mm wall with a 3mm channel-jacketed system that distributes steam and heat evenly.
How are cycles recorded?
Sterilization runs automatically through a PLC HMI touch-screen interface with paperless record keeping, stored simultaneously on the local PC, in the cloud and in internal static memory.
What safety features are standard?
A powered sliding door with a direct-drive motor and braked gearbox, complete switch-gear protection for the PLC, contactors, pumps and motors, low-water alarms, no-water cut-outs, and alarms that stop a cycle starting during a power failure or utility problem.
Do the machines save energy between cycles?
Stand-by mode lets the machine save water and energy when it is idle, and boiler pre-heating shortens the wait at the start of a day.
Guarantees and after-sales cover
What guarantee comes with an RDS autoclave?
Up to 10 years on the complete pressure vessel, independently verified by approved inspection authorities.
What do the warranty terms cover?
The published guarantee is on the pressure vessel. Terms for the rest of the machine, and any exclusions that apply to your model, are set out in your quotation and in the documentation supplied with the unit.
What happens once the guarantee period ends?
Our service division continues to support the machine, with spares, planned maintenance and validation available throughout its working life.
Coverage and where we work
Where are you based?
Our head office and manufacturing facility is at 13 Monza Road, Killarney Gardens, Cape Town, and our Gauteng branch is at Unit 60 BBQ Bend, Hyperion Road, Kyalami, Midrand.
Do you service the whole country?
The mobile service fleet operates nationwide and also responds into Namibia and Lesotho.
Do you install equipment outside the main centres?
Installation and commissioning are quoted per project, so coverage and travel are confirmed with the quotation. The fleet and branch structure are built for sites away from the main centres, where response time usually matters most.
Who will I deal with?
A sales consultant covering your region, who remains your contact from quotation through to order.
Contact and after-hours support
How do I reach you during office hours?
Call the Cape Town office on 021 555 1760, or email info@robdyersurgical.co.za for general enquiries and gauteng@robdyersurgical.co.za for the Gauteng branch. The contact page carries both sets of details.
What if equipment fails after hours?
Cape Town standby is 066 307 4331 and Gauteng standby is 068 920 4666. Both lines reach a qualified technician on 24-hour standby.
Can I ask about equipment I already own?
Yes. Use the contact form or call the branch nearest you, and include the model and serial number if you have them so the team can check the machine’s service history.