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FAQs for Vacc-Safe Fridges

6 minute(s) to read

Medical refrigeration preventative maintenance

Medical refrigeration works continuously to protect valuable temperature-sensitive contents, which is why regular preventive maintenance is so important. Routine servicing helps maintain performance, efficiency, and longevity, ensuring your equipment continues to operate as intended.

The National Vaccine Storage Guidelines recommend an annual service to ensure your unit is in good working order.

Have a Cubro technician regularly inspect your equipment for signs of trouble and prevent problems before they turn into breakdowns. The majority of operational sub-par conditions that can plague your refrigeration system will result in your system working harder, which will likely hasten repairs and drive up electricity costs. An ignored problem can result in a costly breakdown. Worse yet, the consequences of an unchecked problem could be a complete system failure where the entire contents of the refrigeration unit become compromised and inevitably lost.

What’s included in preventative maintenance:

  • Electrical safety test completed to AS/NZS 3551
  • Clean condenser coils and check condition of compressor
  • Check condition of condenser fan motors
  • Check for oil leaks
  • Check conditioning of wiring
  • Clean condensate tray
  • Clean Unit housing of dust, dirt and foreign material
  • Check evaporator fan motors
  • Check condition of evaporator coil
  • Check control panel
  • Check door gasket condition
  • Check alarm systems are functioning correctly

You can request preventative maintenance service by visiting the Service team enquiries page.

Medical refrigeration temperature calibration

The storage of vaccines in medical refrigerators typically requires temperatures between 2°C and 8°C. Preserving the efficacy of vaccines requires that they are consistently stored within this temperature range. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 35% of the worldwide vaccine supply is wasted due to transportation or storage at inappropriate temperatures.

Proper temperature monitoring is essential to protect sensitive and costly vaccines. Medical or lab refrigerators and freezers come equipped with digital controllers featuring sensitive temperature probes to monitor the unit’s temperature. Over time, the capabilities of measuring instruments can wander resulting in the accuracy of the equipment falling outside acceptable levels. Hence the requirement for medical fridges and secondary temperature monitoring devices to be calibrated annually.

Calibration is the process of comparing the display reading of your measuring equipment against another piece of testing equipment which itself has been checked against a known and verified source to establish a level of accuracy.

It is recommended that the probe and controller are calibrated on a bi-annual basis to ensure that what the readout temperature is recording accurately reflects what is going on inside the unit.

Service charge

Cubro reserves the right to charge a Service call-out fee (such as for a technician to conduct an onsite inspection), including in the following circumstances:

  • No fault was found at the time of inspection;
  • The fault was user-related and not a defect, such as where the product has been improperly used or abused;
  • The quote to repair is declined by the customer;
  • Parts required to complete the repair are no longer available from the manufacturer and/or supplier;
  • Service booking is cancelled by the customer without at least 24hr notice;
  • The customer fails to make themselves available, or, provide safe access to the property, at the time of the Service booking.

Warranty conditions

Some products come with a manufacturer’s warranty. Glass and lamps do not come with a warranty. RCD tripping due to moisture absorption by Tubular Heating Elements is not considered a defect or fault falling within the scope of a warranty.

If the Service falls within the scope of the warranty for the product, it is a warranty repair and:

  • There is no call-out fee for a Cubro Technician to complete the Service during the working hours of 8am – 5pm Monday to Friday (on non-public holidays) in New Zealand; and
  • There is no travel fee for traveling to the customer’s nominated location, provided the location is within a range of 50km from our nearest appointed Service Centre. Cubro will confirm whether a Service is a warranty repair. A warranty repair must be authorised by our Service Manager before any action is taken. Cubro reserves the right to reject a claim for a warranty repair if it is not reasonably satisfied with the circumstances under which such fault or defect occurred.

While the terms of each warranty differ, all manufacturers’ warranties that come with our products generally do not cover misuse, neglect, unauthorised alteration, incorrect installation, power surges, accident, use of inappropriate chemicals for cleaning, flooding, fire or acts of God. Please read the warranty terms provided with the product to check what it covers.

Why does my unit flash LOF?

Your refrigerator will flash ‘LOF’ when the date and time are not set. This essentially means that the USB data recorder has not started and is not currently recording. Please call our friendly team on 0800 656 527  to receive technical support for this issue.

This issue can be avoided by following the instructions on the instruction sticker prior to installation.

How do I reset the minimum and maximum temperatures on my fridge?

This is not the same for all models. Please view the instruction video for your specific model. If you cannot find your fridge on this website, please give our team a call on 0800 656 527 , they will be more than happy to provide assistance.

Can I buy extra shelves?

Yes, extra shelves for our Vacc-Safe Premium range can be purchased. Please give us a call to enquire on 0800 656 527.

How long does my fridge need to be turned on for before I load vaccines

Once your new refrigerator comes down below 8°C, it its okay to start loading vaccines. You should always stock the refrigerator 1/3 at a time, and each time wait until it comes back down to temperature before putting the next lot of stock inside.

When putting a large quantity of stock in the unit at a time, the fridge temperature does not have time to regulate and breaches can occur.

How do I download data from the refrigerator's inbuilt data logger?

The link below will take you to a YouTube video which demonstrates this process. For extra information or technical support please give us a call on 0800 656 527.

 

Vacc-Safe Premium – How to check & read USB Data

Where can I find the user manual for my refrigerator?

The user manual comes inside the plastic bag inside the unit when it is received, if you misplace this it can easily be found on our website when you go into the applicable model and hit specifications.

Why is the inside of the refrigerator door dripping?

This can be attributed to a range of causes, but the most common one is condensation. We see this occur more frequently in the summer months when humidity and room temperatures are higher, and thus when the refrigerator door is open the hot air mixes with the cool temperature of the fridge causing a build-up of moisture on the door.

If you are concerned about the amount of water, please do not hesitate to give our team a call on 0800 656 527.

My fridge is reading higher than 8°C, what do I do?

Higher readings can sometimes be attributed to incorrect fridge stacking, where the contents are placed too close together or too close to the side and back walls of the refrigerator, not allowing for adequate airflow.

We always ask that you email us a picture of your refrigerator and a copy of your recent data logs to determine if we can solve the issue over the phone before sending a service technician out.

How do we book a service for our vaccine fridge?

You can request a service by visiting the ‘Service team enquiry’ page on our website.