David Saikin Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I am in the market for a blood bank freezer; about 20+ cu ft. Not an ultralow. As mush as I like Helmer, I have had bad luck with them in 2 institutions. Open to any and all opinions please. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMcCord Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 We've been happy with our Panasonic freezers. Ours happen to be ultra-lows, but I suspect their regular freezers would be good as well. Their pricing is good. David Saikin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macarton Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 We have a Sanyo, now Panasonic and have been very pleased with it. David Saikin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Saikin Posted August 18, 2016 Author Share Posted August 18, 2016 On 8/11/2016 at 7:12 AM, macarton said: We have a Sanyo, now Panasonic and have been very pleased with it. Would you tell me what model you have? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnadeau Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Just got an under counter Helmer freezer a few months ago David. What was your "bad luck" with them? Got a Helmer refrigerator coming in a few weeks too - please do tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Saikin Posted August 21, 2016 Author Share Posted August 21, 2016 (edited) On 8/19/2016 at 9:32 AM, jnadeau said: Just got an under counter Helmer freezer a few months ago David. What was your "bad luck" with them? Got a Helmer refrigerator coming in a few weeks too - please do tell. I love Helmer products. Used to be you called up and spoke with one of the Helmers . . . that said. Had an iseries in NH. After the first year it would crash, for a number of small reasons, every 10-12 months . . . a gasket deteriorates, the inside unit attached to the fan craps out, nothing major but it forces you to move product, increase documentation. At my current facility iseries: fan motor dies, compressor dies, - I think there might be exterior pressures on those parts which I have resolved but still . . . I just put in a capital request for one of the Panasonics. Hopeuflly it will perform more efficiently. Have had no problems with Helmer Refs except to add coolant sporadically. Have that built into maintenance schedule where I am now (I think so anyway) Edited August 21, 2016 by David Saikin more to say medtechristy and jnadeau 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle Eye Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 sometime it may be the product is not used as intended....at least for us that was the case for freezer......our biomed technician has been with our hospital for >25 hrs and he used to cover the area of the fan in the back so he did not have to clean every quarter. After so many discussion , finally bio med department head intervene and stopped practice....... because of cover/filter, the compressor was working too much and it died and had to replace it in less than five years...not anticipating any problems. we have two freezers, three double door refrigerators, platelet incubator, small ref. for ER, two plasma thawer and a cell washer....all helmer and very happy..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Saikin Posted August 22, 2016 Author Share Posted August 22, 2016 I agree that most helmer products are very good. It is just odd that I had freezers in 2 different operations that both seemed to die at least every 8-10 months for a variety of reasons. I too have Helmer refs, platelet incubators - they work great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macarton Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 our Sanyo is model # MDF-U537, we got it as a backup to an RTF that the drawers are falling apart, now it's the only one we use and are letting chemistry use the RTF. We'll use the RTF when defrosting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gagpinks Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 We have Lab cold freezer since last 4 years and so far there is no problem . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Saikin Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 On 8/22/2016 at 6:44 AM, macarton said: our Sanyo is model # MDF-U537, we got it as a backup to an RTF that the drawers are falling 'lit's the only one we use and are letting chemistry use the RTF. We'll use the RTF when defrosting. Do you have the manual defrost? Is this a problem? I opted for the automatic. Do you think I'll need to move product when this occurs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macarton Posted August 24, 2016 Share Posted August 24, 2016 it is manual defrost, I would go for the automatic if I had the option. we have our old RTF still set up with recorder that we transfer everything to so we can defrost, which is usually an all day job, and we'll move stuff back the next day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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