Freezer Racks
To make scientific life easier, we strongly recommend placing storage boxes within the ULT freezer in freezer racks. These metal racks enable optimal use of space as well as easy relocation of sample boxes.
Drawer or side access?
When using racks with drawers, only the drawer with the freezer boxes of interest is pulled out. All other boxes stay in the cold inner area of the ULT freezer. Eppendorf drawers are optimized for smooth movement at -80°C for ergonomic handling.
When using side access racks, most of the storage boxes have to be pulled out of the cold inner area of the ULT freezer to access the samples.
Racks for chest freezers can be equipped with locking rods to secure freezer boxes when pulling out the rack tower.
Stainless steel or aluminum?
By standard, there are two types of rack materials available.
Stainless steel:
- Stable/robust for longevity and higher capacity
- For freezer boxes up to 136 mm x 136 mm for high flexibility regarding boxes
- Special design for optimized cooling conditions and improved sample safety
Aluminum:
- For freezer boxes up to 133 mm x 133 mm
- Non-corrosive anodized aluminum for long-term use
Depth of racks
There are two systems used in laboratories - the standard 4-boxes deep racks and 5-boxes deep racks. Why is this of any interest? In case of an emergency, you want to rescue your valuable samples. The easiest way is to take out all racks (with the samples/ boxes included) and store those racks in some backup freezer. To be compatible with most common ULT freezer suppliers, Eppendorf ULT freezers are designed for 4-boxes deep racks.
3-compartment or 5-compartment?
The ULT freezer with 3 compartments/ shelves (e.g. Innova U535) has higher compartments compared to the 5-compartment ULT freezer (e.g. CryoCube F570 series). Racks of a 5-compartment freezer do fit into a 3-compartment freezer but not vice versa.
To get the maximum capacity out of your ULT freezer, the CryoCube F740 series (3-compartment) can be equipped with "3-compartment MAX" racks. These racks only fit into the CryoCube F730 3-compartment instruments.