VC200SDD-B Refrigerator User’s Manual
Page 12 of 16
8. Refrigerator Loading
IN ORDER TO KEEP INTERNAL TEMPERATURES OPTIMISED AND MINIMISE ENERGY
CONSUMPTION, ONLY OPEN THE LID WHEN STRICTLY NECESSARY.
The VC200SDD-B refrigerator has a single compartment specifically for the storage of blood, see
Section 4. The refrigerator compartment is designed to maintain a stable temperature between
+2
o
C and +8
o
C across an ambient temperature range from +5
o
C to +43
o
C . There are no points
within the compartment that drop below freezing and thus no danger of freezing.
The refrigerator contains stacking baskets designed to make stock management easier and
encourage air circulation within the compartment.
Do not remove these baskets and do not store blood outside of these baskets.
The wire baskets encourage the circulation of air by maintaining a small gap between the basket
and the cabinet wall. Good air circulation will help the refrigerator to maintain an even temperature
throughout the compartment. In order to save energy, try to keep the lid open for as short a time
as possible.
The best time to add blood packs
The best time to cool fresh packs of blood is as early in the morning as possible to allow the fridge
to use as much direct solar energy as possible.
Amount of blood to be added per day
The fridge has been tested to cool 24 x 280ml packs of blood from 37
o
C to 6
o
C in less than 11
hours. This is fine occasionally, but to ensure correct operation of the fridge on the cloudiest days
limit 4 packs per day should be added.
Temperature excursions above 6
o
C
The VC200 is a PQS approved fridge for vaccine storage which have safe storage temperature of
2
o
C to 8
o
C. In cloudy conditions, or when fresh blood packs have been added there is likely to be
occasional short term increases above 6
o
C overnight. In periods of cloudy weather these can be
minimised by reducing the amount of fresh blood packs added, ensuring the PV array is kept
clean, and minimising the lid opening time as much as possible.
