If you’re storing important items such as blood samples or vaccines, you need to ensure you look after the refrigerators where they’re stored. This article offers advice to help make sure your medical fridges are efficient and long-lasting, therefore helping your lab stay streamlined, clean and cost-effective.
Regular cleaning
Daily cleaning is instrumental in prolonging your refrigerator’s life. Ensure you bleach surfaces, shelves and handles two or three times each day, and give the fridge a regular deep clean too. A deep clean means placing the contents in a different fridge and then cleaning all surfaces with a warm water and sodium bicarbonate solution. Frost removal is important as well: this affects both energy consumption and consistency of temperatures.
For all types of cleaning, it’s imperative you wear a lab coat and additional safety equipment, goggles and gloves at a minimum, to protect yourself against potential biohazards.
Follow manufacturer instructions
Vaccines need refrigeration. If your fridge breaks down, your medicines or samples might be ruined. This could lead to serious consequences, not to mention loss of money and reputation. Make sure you optimise functionality by following ventilation space and ambient room temperature requirements for all refrigerators. Companies such as Fridge Freezer Direct have a wide range of options to meet your needs.
Handle with care
If you really need to move your fridges, don’t underestimate the process – it takes time and immense care. Check all power sources and follow any manufacturer instructions. After moving, leave for 24 hours before switching refrigerators on, as tilting them can affect the location and performance of the compressor coolant. Once re-situated, let the fridge reach ideal temperature range before using it.
Learn about your fridge
Before finding quality medical refrigeration that meets your requirements, it’s helpful to understand how fridges actually work. A medical fridge is practically identical to domestic fridges, even though the contents are very different. Just having a grasp of the mechanics could give you insight into a problem, which could save on outside maintenance or replacement, and also affect how you manage all the other procedures described in this article.
The medical, pharmaceutical and science sectors rely heavily on refrigeration for all sorts of sensitive and vital biological items. It’s in your interests to ensure your fridges last as long as possible.
