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Preventative Maintenance for your Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer

maintenance ultra low freezer

Preventative maintenance for your ultra-low temperature freezer is one of the best ways to ensure your unit performs at peak potential. Preventative maintenance helps improve energy consumption and can help extend the lifespan of the freezer. It can also help you meet manufacturer warranty and compliance requirements. Typically, preventative maintenance is performed on an Ultra-Low Temperature freezer either yearly, semi-annually or quarterly depending on your labs practices. Maintenance includes using best practices, inspecting the equipment & routine servicing which can help diagnose issues and allow you to correct possible problems before they arise.

In order to comply with most manufacturer warranties, bi-annual preventative maintenance and necessary repairs are a condition that must be met. Typically, these services should be performed by an authorized service group or person who is factory trained.

There are some preventative maintenance measures that can be performed by you to ensure your ULT freezer performs to its fullest potential and longer lifespan. User maintenance is usually simple and straightforward to do and includes:

Cleaning the condenser filter (if applicable):
PREVENTATIVE maintenance ultra low freezer

Recommended to be performed every 2-3 months unless your lab has heavy foot traffic or if your lab is normally prone to high concentrations of dust it is suggested that the filter be cleaner more frequently. Failing to do this will cause compressor stress preventing transfer of heat from the refrigerant to the ambient environment. A clogged filter will cause the compressor to pump at a higher-pressure increasing energy consumption and will also cause temperature fluctuation within the unit itself.

Cleaning Door Gaskets:

Cleaning the door gaskets is recommended to be performed once a month. While the cleaning is being done you should also check for cracking and tearing of the seal to help prevent frost buildup. If you do happen to notice frost this should be cleaned off and corrected. Frost build up means that warm air is getting into the unit. This can cause compressor stress and can possibly affect stored samples.

Removing Ice Buildup:

Removing ice buildup is one of the most necessary steps in taking care of your freezer. Ice build up increases the more frequently you open the door. If ice buildup is not removed regularly it can lead to a lot of issues. These issues include delayed temperature recovery after door openings, door latch and gasket damage and inconsistent temperature regularity.

Frost buildup can also be minimized by positioning the unit away from air vents. Some other preventative measures include minimizing door openings & making sure the latch is closed.

Routine preventative maintenance is crucial to keeping your unit at peak performance stored samples stay viable. Besides routine maintenance and cleaning, here are some other tips to keep your samples safe are:

  • Keeping your unit full: a full unit has better temperature uniformity
  • Organization of your samples: Knowing where samples are before you open the door. This will allow you to find your samples quickly. Getting in and our of the freezer quickly will cut down significantly on room temperature air infiltrating your unit.
  • Having a data monitoring system that has alarms: Alarms on these systems can be programmed to your specified needs and can alert you when maintenance necessary.

Operator maintenance that should be performed can typically be found in the owner’s manual or within the terms of the manufacturer’s warranty. These documents should be consulted before any user maintenance is performed. For more information contact us today.

To view available Ultra Low Temp Freezers, click here.