Posted July 2, 20241 yr comment_89374 Hi everyone, All the old threads about plasma thawers are several years past, so let's start it up again. We have a Helmer 8 slot water bath, and we had a plasma microwave from ArkBio/Tropitronics as well. The problem I'm running into is that the plasma units being manufactured by ARC lately are pheresis units, and the bags are too small and not folded the right way to use in our plasma microwave. It's been this way for years now, and ARC does not seem to change their manufacturing plans just because of us, so I'm looking for a new plasma thawer as a backup to my Helmer DH8. I'm very interested in the Barkey Plasmatherm and the Sarstedt Sahara, but there are precious little details in their brochures about thaw times and maintenance. These are clearly not the most popular thawers, but a dry one is very intriguing. Smaller footprint is also a necessity for me. Anyone have recent experience with a thawer OTHER than Helmer? I love our Helmer, but I need a decent back up, as we are a Level 1 Trauma that must ensure we can thaw at all times. Thanks!
July 3, 20241 yr comment_89382 We use Plamatherm, their newer model, and I have used their old model 10 years ago and would advice to stay away unless absolutely needed. The time to thaw is usually longer than Helmer especially if more than two units thawed at once. We keep getting overtemp error and there is nothing in the manual on how to troubleshoot it. There is another waterless plasma thawer I had a pleasure to see in person and it looked promising but not sure if they are still in the business. It was Zipthaw by GenesisBPS. It depends what your need is, if only two units are needed at one time I would consider waterless thawer as a back up .
July 3, 20241 yr Author comment_89383 Thanks for the info. I trialed the Zipthaw a few years ago, and they are still in business. Its downside is only thawing 2 units, and when we trialed it, the Zipthaw took longer to thaw than the microwave.....but since I don't have the microwave to compare to anymore, the Zipthaw may be a decent backup for small orders. I'll have to look at that again. Thanks for making me think about that!
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