-20°C freezers: maintenance#

Routine maintenance of fridges and freezers prevents from issues and preserves integrity of samples.

In the event of a fridge or a freezer would get damaged or have a failure due to a lake of maintenance on the user side, the cost of the repair or of the replacement will be charged to the group in charge of the device.

The fridges and freezers are under constant temperature monitoring by the Rmoni sensor system. In order to avoid alarms, the monitoring has to be disconnected before the cleaning of 4°C fridges and the defrosting of -20°C/-75°C/-150°C freezers.

Please inform the Instrument Care team before any type of maintenance to disable the Rmoni sensor by sending a ticket 24h before starting your maintenance.

Always start your maintenance in the morning.

When the maintenance is finished and the temperature is back to normal, reply to the open ticket to let them know you are done.

How to defrost a -20°C freezer#

After some time and depending of its opening frequency, ice can be formed inside of the freezers. To ensure a good maintenance, a reliable temperature and to keep the energy consumption as low as possible, this ice has to be removed on a regular basis. It is on the responsibility of the lab users to remove the excess of ice.

At LCSB, we have different kind of -20°C freezers. The defrosting procedure is the same for all of them, except for the Liebherr LGPv. Those freezers defrost automatically, and therefore, the user does not need to do it.

LIEBHERR LGPv (600 L)#

no defrosting needed

Other freezers#

Every month: check if ice has been formed. Defrost if needed.

Every three months: we recommend to defrost the -20°C every three months. THis period can vary depending on the frequency of opening the device.

Every six months for the other freezers

• 24h before your maintenance, inform the Instrument Care team to disable the Rmoni sensor by sending a ticket
• Once it has been confirmed that the Rmoni sensor is disabled, switch off the appliance and disconnect it from the power supply
• Remove the drawers and transfer their content to another freezer
• To speed up the defrosting process, a beaker containing warm, but not boiling, water can be put on one of the cooling plates
• Leave the door open for defrosting
• Check regularly and mop the melted water
• Once all the ice melted and the water has been mopped, clean the inside of the freezer with lukewarm water and mild detergent. Ensure that no cleaning water penetrates into the electrical components or ventilation grids
• Dry completely the inside of the freezer
• Reconnect the main plug and switch the freezer back on
• Wait until the pre-set temperature is reached before transferring the content of the freezer back
• Enable the Rmoni sensor by replying to the open ticket to confirm that you are finished and that everything is back to normal.
• Fill the maintenance form located on the door of the freezer