MRI Cold Head Replacement for Siemens and GE
Cold head changes on Siemens Magnetom and GE Signa magnets, in the eleven states FDM covers. For sites whose cooling is falling off and who need the change scheduled before the magnet forces the date. We can book the cold head and the helium as one job. Veteran-owned.
Magnet Down? Ask Us.
Helium is genuinely constrained right now and a cold head change needs it. We work with more than one supplier, and we often hold cold heads for common Siemens and GE platforms locally. When in doubt, reach out - call 615-479-5572. See liquid helium delivery. Call or text 615-479-5572, email service@fdmenterprises.com, or use the form on this page - whichever is quickest for you. Please reach out as early as you can - a magnet on passive boil-off is losing helium the whole time.
A cold head change needs cryogen lined up
Opening the helium circuit can pull the charge down, and older self-sealing couplings do not always reseal. So the job needs product booked against the labor. With supply constrained, the cryogen is the part that slips - which is why we work with more than one supplier rather than waiting on one allocation.
We often hold cold heads locally
For the common Siemens Magnetom and GE Signa platforms we frequently have cold heads in stock locally, which takes the longest lead time out of the job. Ask when you call and we will tell you straight whether we have yours rather than letting you assume we do.
We push to get you scanning again
We will not quote you a response time we cannot stand behind. What we will do is work the part, the cryogen and the schedule at the same time instead of one after the other. A magnet down is a list of patients being moved, and we treat it that way.
Weekends: call and leave a message
Cold heads do not fail on a schedule. If yours goes down on a weekend, call 615-479-5572 and leave a message. We will come back to you as soon as we can rather than leaving it until Monday.
Why a Cold Head Gets Changed
Cooling Falls Off Long Before It Stops
A cold head rarely fails all at once. It loses capacity over months while the magnet still scans and nothing alarms, and the cost lands on the helium bill instead. If the level is what you are watching, start at MRI liquid helium fills.
Cold heads are rated in running hours, and the interval is set by the manufacturer, not by whether the magnet is still scanning. A unit run well past it is working harder for less cooling every month, and the helium bill is where that shows up first.
The magnet still holds, but the second stage is no longer pulling temperature the way it did. Nothing alarms. The only evidence is a boil-off rate that has quietly doubled and a cryogen spend nobody has connected back to the cold head.
The moving parts inside the cold head wear to a point where the cycle is no longer doing full work. This is ordinary end of life on a mechanical device, not a defect, and it is the most common reason a change is due on a system that has otherwise been looked after.
Contamination introduced during earlier work freezes out at the cold end and chokes the cycle. The symptom looks like a failing cold head, and replacing the unit without dealing with the contamination gets you a second failure on a new part.
The drive is loading up against internal friction. Left alone this ends with a seized unit and a magnet on passive boil-off, which turns a scheduled part swap into an emergency with cryogen attached to it.
The adsorber protects the cold head from what circulates in the helium loop. Once it is spent, the cold head is the thing that pays for it. Adsorber and cold head intervals are worth planning against each other rather than discovering separately.
When the Change Gets Scheduled
Planned Beats Emergency Every Time
A cold head change is a known job with a known part. What decides the cost is whether it happens on your date or the magnet's. Cryogen scheduling and cold head intervals can both be written into an MRI full service contract.
The cheapest cold head change is the one on your calendar. Booked ahead it is a known outage on a day you chose. Left to fail it is an unscheduled outage, an emergency cryogen order and a cancelled schedule, in whatever week it happens to land.
The magnet is consuming helium continuously from the moment the cold head stops. This is handled as an outage, and the clock on it is set by the magnet rather than by anyone's calendar.
Both jobs touch the same circuit. Doing them on one visit means one mobilization and one disturbance to the helium loop instead of two, which is the whole argument for planning them against each other.
Systems that sat, or were held at field without being scanned, often need the cold head addressed before they go back into clinical service. These are the ones that get discovered late, usually inside an install schedule with no room in it.
Two failures close together is not bad luck with parts. It points at the circuit rather than the unit, and fitting a third cold head without looking at why is an expensive way to find that out.
Opening the circuit can pull the charge down, so the cryogen wants to be scheduled against the labor rather than ordered after it. See liquid helium delivery.
How a Cold Head Change Runs
Tell us the magnet
Siemens or GE, the model, field strength, and the cold head hours if you have them. Also what the helium level has done over the last three months, because that says how much cooling you have actually lost.
We confirm the platform and the part
We work on Siemens Magnetom and GE Signa systems. If it is a Philips or another make we will tell you up front rather than take the job and sort it out later.
Cold head and cryogen are scheduled together
Opening the circuit can pull the helium charge down. Booking the part, the labor and the cryogen as one job is what keeps a planned change from ending in an emergency fill.
You get a written report
What was fitted, circuit pressures, helium level before and after, and how the system is cooling once it is back on. That is the baseline the next interval gets measured against.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two things tell you: running hours against the manufacturer's interval, and your helium trend. A boil-off rate that has climbed over several months is lost cooling capacity, and that is the cold head talking whether or not anything has alarmed. Pull both numbers before you call.
No. Cold head replacement is Siemens and GE only. We would rather say that up front than take the job and hand you a problem. Helium supply is not limited the same way, see liquid helium delivery.
In the eleven states listed under Service Coverage on this page. This is hands-on work on a specific platform, so it is limited to where our engineers are. That is narrower than our helium coverage, which reaches the continental United States.
Often, yes. Opening the helium circuit can pull the charge down, and older self-sealing couplings do not always reseal. We quote the cryogen alongside the labor so it is scheduled rather than ordered in a hurry afterwards.
It depends on the magnet, the state of the circuit, and site access. We give you a window before you commit, and we would rather quote an honest one than a short one you build a schedule around.
You pay for it in helium every month, and the failure gets worse rather than staying flat. Once the unit stops, the magnet is on passive boil-off and the job becomes an outage with an emergency cryogen order attached. The economics stop favouring waiting quite early.
Either works. We can source the unit or fit one you have already bought. If you are holding a spare, tell us the part and how long it has been on the shelf when you ask for a quote.
That is the whole argument for tracking hours and the helium trend. A cold head change booked in advance is a known outage on a date you picked. The same change after a failure is the same part at a worse time.
Two failures close together usually points at the helium circuit rather than the part, either moisture or air introduced during earlier work, or an adsorber long past interval. Fitting a third unit without addressing that is an expensive way to confirm it.
Make, model and field strength, cold head running hours if known, the current helium level and its trend, and a note on access to the equipment room. That is enough for a real number rather than a range.
Send us the magnet and the cold head hours
Request a helium quote
We reply by the next business day.
Cold Head Coverage: The Eleven States We Work
Cold head replacement is hands-on work on a specific platform, so we do it where our engineers are. These are the states. This is narrower than our helium coverage, which reaches the continental United States. If your site is outside this list we can still get you helium.