The Importance of Regular Equipment Maintenance for Cold Storage Equipment

The integrity of many different samples and reagents stored within the laboratory rely on maintaining the correct storage temperatures, whether at +4°C, -20°C, -40°C, -80°C or -150/196°C. Alongside the continuous and accurate monitoring of cold storage areas, it is crucial to ensure cold storage equipment is regularly maintained. 

Issues such as ambient environment, sample loading and storage, frequency of door openings and power outages can all have an impact on the performance of refrigerated storage equipment, leading to problems with a temperature falling outside a required range, which can affect the integrity of the product and in some cases the research project itself.  Alternatively, these issues can cause cabinet failures and product losses, which can have significant implications for a department or facility in terms of time and money.

Alongside problems caused by fluctuations in storage temperatures, equipment not regularly maintained or located in less than optimal environmental conditions - work harder, use more energy and cost more to run.  Many facilities have a proactive approach to sustainability and look for ways to reduce their energy footprint, regular maintenance can have a positive impact in this area.

It is therefore important to implement a maintenance programme for all cold storage areas, refrigerators and freezers, whereby equipment undergoes regular maintenance checks. There are many aspects of fridge or freezer maintenance that can be carried out by laboratory personnel, such as removing frost build-up around doors and seals, cleaning filters, positioning of equipment and ensuring the ambient room temperatures do not exceed recommended levels.

This is however time consuming and not always practical, hence many facilities opt to get annual preventative maintenance checks carried out by experienced refrigeration engineers.

Benefits of regular maintenance?

● Extends your equipment lifetime

● Avoids and reduces costly downtime of your scientific equipment

● Less downtime caused by unplanned maintenance and breakdowns

● Minimises disruption with priority response times

● Extends equipment life by maintaining critical components

● Reduces running costs by ensuring maximum efficiency across critical components such as compressors which in turn educes energy consumption

● Prevents problems before they occur

● Confidence in your research results as variation in storage temperature can affect biological sample viability

● Meets GLP and other audit requirements

Haier Biomedical UK offers three levels of service contracts tailored to suit your individual maintenance needs. We have a dedicated UK based service support team and factory trained engineers.

Haier Biomedical UK can also provide flexible bespoke contracts and include services such as annual calibrations, temperature mapping or additional preventative maintenance visits

.

Please get in touch to discuss your individual needs, call our service team on 01435 817 003 or email sales@haierbiomedical.co.uk.