A column protection gas supply channel (4) is connected to a channel (17) for carrier gas present between a sample vaporization chamber (12) and an MS section (2). During a standby, a column (11) may be protected on the downstream side of a merging section (16) of the column protection gas supply channel (4) and the channel (17) for carrier gas by supplying column protection gas through the column protection gas supply channel (4). At this time, there is remaining carrier gas in the channel (17) for carrier gas on the upstream side of the merging section (16). Accordingly, when carrier gas is then supplied at a time of start of an analysis, a certain amount of carrier gas is already present inside the channel (17). Therefore, the time required to completely replace the column protection gas in the channel (17) by the carrier gas is reduced, and the standby time until the start of the analysis may be reduced.
