Pharmaceutical freezers are essential when it comes to keeping medical supplies in good shape. Given that these freezers come in a variety of types and sizes, choosing the right one for your facility can be more challenging than you might think. In this article, we give you several essential tips on how to go about choosing a medical freezer, including which features to look for. Read on to learn more.
Decide on the Appropriate Size of Freezer
Before purchasing a pharmaceutical freezer, you need to balance the amount of space you have available in your facility with how much capacity you’ll need your freezer to have. Upright pharmaceutical freezers are great for preserving floor space. Even larger models of such freezers can manage a high capacity. Because such freezers come with ample shelving, they make it much easier to fit a significant quantity of smaller items. You can even reconfigure the shelving of such a lab refrigerator to better meet your storage needs.
For laboratories which store items that are larger in nature, chest pharmaceutical freezers are ideal, though they do take up more floor space.
Consider the Temperature Range
Once you have a clear idea of how you’re going to be using your scientific freezer, it becomes easier to determine what temperature range you’ll require. The majority of pharmaceutical freezers provide temperature ranges that are comparable with, although there are some ultra-low freezers that maintain a consistent temperature.
The best thing about medical refrigerators and freezers is that they’re quite precise about the temperature compared to residential freezers. This is especially important if you’re looking to preserve such sensitive items as vaccines, which help prevent more than 2.5 million unnecessary deaths each year.
Think of the Energy Efficiency of the Freezer
It takes considerable energy to keep the air in a space artificially cold. This is especially so when you’re constantly plummeting temperatures to extremely low temperatures. To conserve energy and keep the cost of running your scientific refrigerator low, it’s best to look for a refrigerator that’s Energy Star rated.
If you have trouble finding an Energy Star rated freezer, try looking for models that prioritize energy efficiency in their design.
Check Out the Features
Different pharmaceutical freezers come with different features. One of the popular features to look for is an external digital thermometer, which feature prominently on the outside of many medical freezers. An external digital freezer lets you easily monitor the temperature within the freezer so you don’t have to unnecessarily open the door of the freezer and let the cold air out.
Another feature to look for is the kind of lock that the freezer comes with. Keep in mind that you’re going to be preserving chemicals and medications, and security is of utmost importance. A lock helps keep out people without authorization from accessing the contents inside.
Freezers with glass doors are also the best as they let you easily see the contents of the freezer without having to open the door, while the temperature alarm lets you know every time the temperature rises above the required level.
Think About the Cost
While for many people the cost of a medical refrigerator is not the top concern when it comes to choosing an ideal freezer, you still need to think of the amount of money you can comfortably spend on your new freezer. To get a clear idea of the amount you’re going to spend on your new freezer, you need to know precisely what you’re going to use your freezer for. A larger freezer designed to reach ultra-low temperatures will, naturally, cost higher than other freezers without such features.
When you’re looking for a freezer for your medical facility, you need to make sure that you get everything right.