An extracorporeal system for the recovery and washing of salvaged body fluid collected from a surgical site of a patient includes a reservoir 10 for storing the collected fluid having a bottom wall and a sensor 11 for sensing the level of fluid in the reservoir and producing a corresponding signal 10. A salvaging system 12 is fluidly coupled to the reservoir 10 for processing the salvaged fluid. Control apparatus 18 initiates or terminates processing of the salvaged fluid in response to the signal. A fluid sensing chamber 216 extends up from the bottom wall within the reservoir 10 to isolate a narrow column of fluid within the reservoir from the rest of the fluid in the reservoir and the sensor 11 is coupled to the fluid sensing chamber 216 to sense the height of the isolated column
