Cold Storage

How to optimize cold storage in my lab and how to select a -80 °C freezer?

Sample storage is not limited to the ULT freezer. Storage goes beyond a freezer and vessels.
Did you ever calculate the value within your freezer? All the hours, days, weeks, and months spent on your samples? More than 50,000 samples fit into large, standard ULTs. The value of every single sample differs – from simple buffers to high-value cell extracts, expensive enzymes, or very rare sample material. Assuming an average value of 10 € per vial, the total value already reaches 500,000 euro or dollars.
Storage is not limited to being a storage room for samples. The freezer and related equipment is your assurance for long-term scientific success, it guards the results of your work.

The process of sample storage includes the right selection of vessels, a reliable labeling/ identification of your samples, robust freezer boxes and racks, a convenient sample management tool, the freezer itself, and freezer performance monitoring systems.
Still, the freezer is the core of your sample storage system:

Eppendorf offers different lines of -80 °C lab ULT freezers to meet a variety of needs. Depending on the approach, there are different questions to answer before you select your Ultra-Low-Temperature freezer, also known as ULT freezer to store your freezer boxes and your valuable samples:

• Which type of vessels are used in our lab?
• How many samples need to be stored?
• How can I improve our paper-based sample documentation system?
• Do I need to replace an old/ broken freezer, enlarge my storage capacities or is this my first freezer?
• Do I need an upright freezer or a chest freezer to store my freezer boxes?
• Which freezer footprint in the lab is sufficient and/or acceptable?
• Where can I install the freezer – in the lab, hallway, basement,…?
• Can I re-use existing freezer racks?
• Do I need green cooling liquids such as R290/R170?
• What is a back-up system?
• How can I receive notifications if something happens to my freezer?