As consumers of
electronic goods, we’ve all grown accustomed to “plug and play” without much
thought to what might be going on inside the outlet powering our device.
We like to imagine electrons all neatly lined up and ready to do their job, but sometimes that isn’t the case.
Voltage fluctuations like surges and spikes, sags, harmonic distortions, and momentary disruptions are a constant concern to anyone operating expensive and delicate machinery; a much bigger deal than the aggravation of losing a Foreman Grill or television.
Voltage sags are the most significant power quality (PQ) problem facing the freezer industry and customers today, and they can be a significant problem for valuable sample and cold storage.
In fact, 60% of freezer failures are due to voltage sags.
A voltage sag is not a complete interruption of power; it is a temporary drop below 90 percent of the nominal voltage level.
A voltage sag will trigger your ULT freezer to shift into emergency mode and throw more power to the compressor to compensate.
Prolonged operation in emergency mode stresses the compressor and rapidly ages the system.
Ever come in on a Monday morning to find a large puddle in front of your ULT, thawing samples, and wonder aloud: “How could this have happened? The freezer is less than two years old!!?”
A voltage sag is quite possibly to blame.
Had you been alerted to a low-voltage episode, installing a simple buck-boost transformer would have provided a nice-steady flow of electricity and let your ULT freezer live out its life to the fullest.
Like carbon monoxide and Iocaine powder, you can neither see, feel, taste or detect a voltage sag unless your freezer has been built with an alarm to call attention to what is occurring.
Without a doubt, your current ULT freezer comes equipped with an annoying alarm to alert you to prolonged door openings or sudden drop in temperature.
But does it alert you to a low-voltage event? Most likely not.
If the powerful dual-compressor systems were not a convincing enough reason to consider a Z-SC1 ULT freezer, perhaps knowing that all our freezers come with low-voltage alarms as standard is?
Ask your current ULT provider if their systems offer this level of peace of mind.
If they don’t (and we’re 99% certain they do not) pick up the phone and call Stellar Scientific to learn more how we and Z-SC1 are protecting tomorrow’s discoveries today.