richardsonj Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 Hello. We currently have an array of Helmer products throughout our lab, refrigerators, freezers, cell washer, plasma thawing unit, platelet incubator. I am very happy with each of these pieces of equipment. I will be looking for a new plasma freezer in the near future and our new bio-med guy is dead against getting another Helmer product. He wants only Follett. I of course would buy another Helmer due to the reputation we have seen (and besides, then they would all match! ) Any feedback comparing the two would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L106 Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 (edited) Which department is paying for the new freezer???? (Hint, hint!) And which department will be using it?Does your institution have a policy that your bio-med department must approve your purchase?Why is your bio-med guy dead-set against the Helmer brand? (Especially since it sounds like they have done well for you in the past.) If he's "new", do you think maybe Follett is the only brand of equipment with which he has experience? Donna Edited June 2, 2011 by L106 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Saikin Posted June 2, 2011 Share Posted June 2, 2011 I love all my Helmer products, including my freezer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Eye Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I love my Helmer freezer. It's really odd but our biomed guy wanted me to get Follett...Everytime he is in blood bank he keeps reminding me and my boss that I did not listen him and bought Helmer brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmartin Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I really wanted a Helmer Freezer, but had to purchase a Thermo Scientific because of the electrical needs. The Helmer freezer needed a 220 outlet and all we had were 110's. It was too expensive to change the electrical for us. I LOVE all my Helmer products, but have to admit the Thermo Scientific Freezer has met our needs quite nicely. We have had no issues with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adiescast Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 I also love my Helmer freezers, but I have to admit that we had power problems with them in the beginning. This was because the information Helmer gave originally about the freezer did not accurately represent the power level the freezer needed. Now that we have the right power going to them, they work beautifully. I can't give you a comparison to Follett because I have not heard of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ModernDayVamp Posted June 3, 2011 Share Posted June 3, 2011 Attention all,Follett has been working behind the scenes for a while with biomed and facilties staff to try and convert all Ice machines and refrigerators and freezers over to their brand in most hospitals.It would not suprise me if they offer some type of rebate benefits on parts, etc. to your biomed or facilities department in order to have them try to internally sell the equipment to you in the Blood bank or laboratory areas. This is how I've heard they do their business.It is true that Helmer Freezers have had some issues. The rest of Helmer's products are much more reliable generally. Have you considered GEM? They are strong in the hospital Pharmacy market, been in business for 75 years, and use expansion valve technology.www.gemref.comGood luck with your biomed people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macarton Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 We have a Sanyo refrig and freezer and have been very pleased with them. We have a couple of Revco and FTR (also made by same company) and have issues with them. Only complaint I have about our Sanyo refrig is that the small finger holes on the inside door will almost break your fingers sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pholliday Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 As refrigeration project manager at Follett Corporation, I'd like to respond to a recent post regarding Follett refrigerators and freezers. Follett has a long, established reputation for quality ice and water dispensers for patient care and medical-grade undercounter refrigerators and freezers for critical product storage such as blood products, medications, vaccines and mother's milk. In 2010 we introduced a line of innovatively-designed, high performance upright refrigerators for blood bank, lab and pharmacy applications to meet larger storage needs.Our sales representatives have called directly on hospitals every day for decades, working with HVAC and refrigeration staff to understand their ice dispensing and refrigeration needs. They also visit with blood bank, lab, pharmacy and biomed to discuss Follett refrigerator and freezer solutions.We offer no special deals through biomed or HVAC to entice utilization of our equipment. We stand solely on our good reputation, based on more than 60 years of manufacturing, product quality and customer service. I would be pleased to speak with anyone about our company or Follett equipment solutions. I can be reached at pholliday@follettice.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Townsend Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 We have also had problems with our Helmer freezer (which is only about 5 years old). Last year we learned that we had a voltage problem, which was causing the compresser to work overtime. A couple of weeks ago, we replaced the compressor, starter, fluid lines (just about everything inside the freezer!) - the parts were all sent free-of-charge from Helmer due to known reported problems. I am hopeful that they fixed the problem and will be more conscious of having them check the actual voltage coming in the outlet vs. what is needed by the unit.I am not familiar with Follett, but we do have two double-door Jewett refrigerators that we have been happy with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estiner Posted June 23, 2011 Share Posted June 23, 2011 Helmer are by far the best!!!! I have not had any luck with Revco, Puffer Hubbard or Jewett in the past 5-8 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOGLOVER Posted June 24, 2011 Share Posted June 24, 2011 I have 2 Helmer fridges and 1 freezer. I feel like the freezer has had more downtime then a 6 or 7 year old unit should have had. Also have a platelet rotator and incubator as well as plasma thawer, both of which are over 10 years old (length of time I've been here) and they are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogerM Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) Hi, We currently have numerous Follet Medical grade refrigerators, freezers, including plasma freezers at our facilities. From our experience, the older Follet units are very trouble free. However, the Follet units that we purchased during the past 3 to 5 years has been very troublesome. The problems, varies from evaporator fan failing, to control panel fails or anything else. Recently, we brought in a newer Follet freezer unit from our clinics and discovered that the soldered joints for the refrigeration tubing had failed in four locations.So, literally all of our newer Follet units have been plague with continuous problems, every few months. Also, we do have Helmer units in our lab and has worked fine. As for newer Follets, I would approach with caution and be open to considering Summit or other manufacturers. The tech response is good with Follet, however, we rather not have equipment that constantly has problems. Edited September 14, 2011 by RogerM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAGNUM Posted September 15, 2011 Share Posted September 15, 2011 Recently when I had to replace my 20 year old Jewett freezer, I actually looked at Follett, but they did not have anything that suited my purposes. The only freezer that they had was an undercounter freezer, and I do not know how big some of your blood banks are, but 1 undercounter would not suffice for me. I then looked at Sanyo, but way overpriced. Ultimately I went back with Jewett, after all I got 20 years out of the other one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabCare Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Hello. We currently have an array of Helmer products throughout our lab, refrigerators, freezers, cell washer, plasma thawing unit, platelet incubator. I am very happy with each of these pieces of equipment. I will be looking for a new plasma freezer in the near future and our new bio-med guy is dead against getting another Helmer product. He wants only Follett. I of course would buy another Helmer due to the reputation we have seen (and besides, then they would all match! ) Any feedback comparing the two would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!!!I have experience of Helmer but not the other brand across Southern Africa. Never had any negative feedback. So that tells you something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
profbaud Posted September 8, 2013 Share Posted September 8, 2013 I had Jewetts and they are not the product they used to be. My last one only lasted 7 years. I bought a Helmer and am very happy. They stand behind their products. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTUCK Posted January 3, 2017 Share Posted January 3, 2017 We currently have 2 Jewett frigs and 1 Jewett freezer, a Helmer platelet incubator and Helmer plasma thawer. Have had good experience with the Jewetts. the freezer is about 18 years old and still kicking. We've had no issues with our Helmer products thus far though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macarton Posted January 11, 2017 Share Posted January 11, 2017 We have a Helmer refrigerator and have been very pleased with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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