Someone hands you a purchase requisition that says ARG12PVDL2B and asks you to order it. Or a discharge planner writes ARS6PV456 on a form. Or you find two listings that look identical, differ by four letters, and differ in price by several hundred dollars, and nothing on either page explains why.
Accucold model numbers are not random. Every segment carries information: the product family, the capacity, the series, and the configuration options fitted at the factory. Once you can read the pattern you can tell at a glance whether a unit has a glass door, a data logger, an ADA-height built-in cabinet, or third-party vaccine certification, without opening a single spec sheet. This guide decodes the system.
Who This Guide Is For
Practice managers and procurement staff ordering from a written model number, clinic and pharmacy buyers comparing near-identical listings, biomedical and facilities teams standardising equipment across sites, and anyone who has been given an Accucold code and needs to know what will actually arrive.
What This Guide Covers
The four-part structure of an Accucold model number, every major product family prefix, the PV and ML series designations, the capacity number, and the configuration suffixes including 456, DL2B, BIADA, LOCKER, DR, LHD and STACK. It also covers one ordering trap that catches people out: on certain configurations the door hinge cannot be changed after delivery.
Quick Start: Browse Accucold
Already know the code you need? Browse the collection, or start with the buying guide if you are still choosing.
Table of Contents
- The Four Parts of an Accucold Model Number
- Product Family Prefixes
- ARS or ARG: One Letter, One Decision
- The Capacity Number
- PV, ML and CRT: The Series Codes
- Freezer and Combination Families
- 456: NSF/ANSI Certification
- DL2B: The Factory Data Logger
- BIADA: Built-In ADA Height
- LOCKER and DR: Interior Configuration
- LHD and the Hinge Trap
- STACK: Combination Units
- Other Suffixes You May See
- Worked Examples
- Quick Reference Table
- Ordering & Smart Solutions
- Explore Related MediDepot Guides
- External References
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The Four Parts of an Accucold Model Number
Take ARG12PVDL2B and split it into segments:
| Segment | Part | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ARG | Family prefix | All-Refrigerator, Glass door |
| 12 | Capacity | Approximately 12 cubic feet |
| PV | Series | Pharma-Vac, the vaccine and pharmacy line |
| DL2B | Configuration | Factory-installed digital data logger |
Read that way, ARG12PVDL2B is a 12 cubic foot glass-door all-refrigerator from the Pharma-Vac series with a factory data logger fitted. Once the pattern clicks, the rest of the catalogue becomes navigable.
Configuration suffixes stack. A model can carry more than one, and they appear in a consistent order, so ARS3PVBIADADL2B is a solid-door 3 cubic foot Pharma-Vac unit that is both built-in ADA height and fitted with the data logger.
Product Family Prefixes
The opening letters tell you what kind of appliance it is. The main families in the medical range:
- ARS: All-Refrigerator, Solid door. Refrigeration only, no freezer compartment.
- ARG: All-Refrigerator, Glass door. Same as ARS with a glass door.
- AFZ: All-Freezer, compact. Frequently used as the freezer half of stackable combinations.
- AFS: All-Freezer, upright pharmacy and vaccine sizes.
- ARFG: All-Refrigerator and All-Freezer combination in one cabinet, with independent compartments.
- ACR: Pharmacy and medical refrigerators, including built-in and drawer models.
- ADA: ADA-compliant built-in units, sized to fit under accessible counter heights.
- VT: Variable temperature units, including freezers capable of deeper setpoints.
- MLRS: MOMCUBE breast milk refrigerators for hospital and NICU milk storage.
- PTHC: Blanket and fluid warming cabinets, holding a warm range rather than a cold one.
- ABOD: BOD refrigerated and heated incubators for laboratory use.
- AGP: General purpose refrigerator-freezer units for healthcare settings.
- FF: Compact all-refrigerators for general purpose healthcare storage, spanning the MED2, Plus2, Pro and Nutrition Center series.
Two of these are worth flagging because the prefix does not suggest the function. PTHC units are warming cabinets, not refrigerators. ABOD units are incubators that both cool and heat. If you order one expecting a fridge you will be surprised.
ARS or ARG: One Letter, One Decision
The clearest illustration of the system is a matched pair that differs by a single character.
Same capacity, same series, same temperature range, same cabinet. The third letter is the entire difference: S for solid, G for glass. This holds across the range, so ARS6PV and ARG6PV are the solid and glass versions of the same 6 cubic foot unit, and so on.
Which to choose is a genuine decision rather than a preference, and we cover it properly in our glass door versus solid door comparison.
The Capacity Number
The digits after the family prefix indicate approximate capacity in cubic feet. ARG1PV is about 1 cubic foot, ARG6PV about 6, ARG12PV about 12, ARG15PV about 15.
Two cautions. The number is approximate rather than exact, so a unit labelled 12 may specify as 11.8 or 12.4 cubic feet on its data sheet. And on some families the numbering follows a model series rather than a straight capacity, which is why an ACR45L is 2.65 cubic feet rather than 45. When the number looks implausible as a capacity, treat it as a model designation and read the actual figure from the specification.
Where the number does track capacity, it makes size comparison across the range immediate: ARS3PV, ARS6PV, ARS12PV and ARS15PV are the same product in four sizes.
PV, ML and CRT: The Series Codes
After the capacity comes the series designation, and this tells you what the unit is engineered for.
PV, Pharma-Vac. The vaccine and pharmacy series, holding 2 to 8°C and built around CDC vaccine storage expectations. This is the code you will see most often on medical listings.
ML, Med-Lab. The laboratory counterpart, for reagents, samples and clinical materials rather than vaccine specifically. An ARS1MLDL2B, for example, is a 1 cubic foot Med-Lab compact all-refrigerator with a data logger.
CRT, Controlled Room Temperature. Not a refrigerator at all. CRT cabinets hold a stable warm range, commonly around 20 to 25°C, for medications labelled for controlled room temperature storage. An ARG12PV-CRT shares the cabinet of the refrigerator but does the opposite job. If your medication labelling says controlled room temperature, this is the code you want, and ordering the refrigerator version would be a genuine error. Our compact medical refrigeration guide covers when CRT applies.
Freezer and Combination Families
The refrigerator families have direct freezer equivalents, and there is a combination family that holds both.
AFS denotes an upright all-freezer in pharmacy and vaccine sizes. AFZ covers the compact freezers, which frequently appear as the upper or lower half of a stackable combination. ARFG is a single cabinet containing both a refrigerator and a freezer section, useful where floor space allows only one unit but both temperature ranges are needed.
Note the distinction between ARFG and a stackable pair. ARFG is one cabinet with two zones. A STACK model is two independent units bolted together, which matters for vaccine compliance because each has its own compressor and control. Our stackable combination guide covers that difference.
456: NSF/ANSI Certification
A model ending in 456 has been certified to the NSF/ANSI 456 vaccine storage standard. So ARG12PV456 is the standard ARG12PV that has additionally passed independent third-party testing against the vaccine storage benchmarks.
Whether you need it depends on your programme. A growing number of state Vaccines for Children programmes reference the standard in procurement specifications, and some health systems have adopted it as a purchasing baseline. If VFC participation is current or plausible, specifying the 456 variant at the outset avoids replacing equipment later.
What it does not mean: 456 certification is not a substitute for the rest of the compliance picture. You still need continuous monitoring, alarms and documented temperature logs. Our NSF/ANSI 456 guide explains what the certification actually tests.
DL2B: The Factory Data Logger
One of the most common suffixes and one of the most useful, because it addresses a requirement most buyers have to solve anyway.
DL2B denotes a factory-installed USB digital data logger mounted to the door. Its notable characteristics:
- NIST calibrated in an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited laboratory, shipping with a certificate.
- Buffered probe. The temperature sensor sits inside a glycol-filled bottle, so it reads what a stored vial experiences rather than the air temperature that swings each time the door opens. This is precisely the configuration CDC guidance calls for.
- Programmable logging interval, from 10 seconds to 240 minutes.
- Approximately a year of memory, downloadable via USB.
- Battery backup that continues recording for several hours during a power failure, so an outage is documented rather than leaving a gap in the record.
- Audible and visual alarms on high and low temperature.
Buying DL2B factory-fitted usually costs less than buying the unit and adding an equivalent aftermarket logger, and it removes a separate calibration record to manage. The same logger is available separately as the DL2BKIT for units already in service.
One practical note from the manufacturer's own documentation: the DL2B adds about an inch and a half to the depth at the upper corner of the door, which is worth knowing if the unit is going into a tight recess.
BIADA: Built-In ADA Height
Two pieces of information in one suffix, and both matter for installation.
BI means built-in capable. The unit vents through the front, usually a base grille, so it can sit flush under a counter or inside cabinetry without side or rear clearance. A freestanding unit installed the same way will run hot and hold temperature poorly, which is a failure that only shows up in the temperature log.
ADA means the cabinet is sized to fit under accessible counter heights as specified in ADA guidance for accessible work surfaces. For a new build or a renovation subject to ADA requirements, this is not optional.
So ARS32PVBIADA is a solid-door Pharma-Vac unit built for flush installation under an ADA-height counter. You will also see the components of this suffix used separately: BI alone for built-in, ADA alone on the ADA-prefixed family.
LOCKER and DR: Interior Configuration
Two suffixes describe what is inside rather than outside, and both solve real workflow problems.
LOCKER denotes lockable interior compartments within the cabinet. This suits settings where different departments, clinicians or programmes share one unit but their stock must be separated, or where a subset of contents requires restricted access while the rest does not.
DR denotes removable drawers instead of, or alongside, wire shelving. Drawers organise inventory by category and reduce the time the door stays open, since staff pull a drawer rather than searching a shelf. They also stop small boxes migrating to the back where they get forgotten.
Both are ordered as configurations rather than added later, so decide at purchase.
LHD and the Hinge Trap
LHD means left hand door, that is, the hinge is on the left and the door opens from the right. Standard units without the suffix are right hinged.
This sounds like a trivial preference and occasionally is not. In a narrow alcove, a corridor, or a position beside a wall, a door that swings the wrong way blocks the person standing at it, or will not open fully at all. Work out which way the door needs to open before ordering, not after the unit arrives.
And here is the trap, which comes from Accucold's own installation documentation: doors on units certified to NSF/ANSI 456, or fitted with the DL2B data logger, are factory-reversible only and cannot be changed in the field. On a standard unit an installer can usually swap the hinge. On a 456 or DL2B unit, the hinge orientation you order is the one you keep.
That combination, a certified unit with a logger in a tight space, is exactly the specification a compliance-conscious buyer chooses, so this catches out precisely the people being most careful. Measure the door swing first.
STACK: Combination Units
Models containing STACK are matched pairs sold as one item: a refrigerator and a freezer mounted vertically using purpose-built mounting hardware. The model number typically names both units, as in ARG12PV-AFZ1PVSTACK, which is the 12 cubic foot glass-door refrigerator paired with the AFZ1PV freezer.
The important characteristic is that each unit remains fully independent, with its own compressor, controller and alarm. That independence is what makes stacked pairs acceptable for vaccine storage where a household-style combination unit with shared cooling is not. Our stackable combination guide covers the detail, including floor space arithmetic.
Other Suffixes You May See
Several further codes appear across the catalogue:
- CSS: stainless steel exterior finish.
- IF: integrated frame, meaning a panel-ready door that accepts a custom cabinetry panel.
- MED2, PLUS2, PRO: series designations within the FF compact range, differing in controls and features. Pro models, for instance, carry a digital thermostat.
- NZ: Nutrition Center series, NSF-7 approved for food service applications in healthcare settings.
- GP: general purpose configuration.
- DT, TT, Alarm: monitoring options ordered as upgrades: digital thermostat with external readout, NIST calibrated thermometer, and high/low temperature alarm respectively.
Beyond these, Accucold uses additional short codes for finish, handle style and regional configuration variants. They appear on a small number of models and are not always self-explanatory. If you meet a suffix you cannot place, confirm it against the specification sheet or ask your supplier rather than assuming, since some affect installation dimensions.
Worked Examples
Reading four real codes end to end:
ARS6PV
All-Refrigerator, Solid door, approximately 6 cubic feet, Pharma-Vac series. A mid-size solid-door vaccine refrigerator with no additional options fitted.
ARG12PV456
All-Refrigerator, Glass door, 12 cubic feet, Pharma-Vac, certified to NSF/ANSI 456. The unit a VFC-participating practice would typically specify at this size. Note the door hinge cannot be reversed in the field.
ARS32PVBIADADL2B
All-Refrigerator, Solid door, Pharma-Vac, built-in capable at ADA height, with factory data logger. A compliance-focused specification for a new build with accessible counter heights, monitoring included.
ARG12PV-CRT
Same cabinet as the ARG12PV, configured as a controlled room temperature cabinet rather than a refrigerator. Holds a warm stable range for medications that must not be chilled.
Quick Reference Table
| Code | Position | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ARS | Prefix | All-Refrigerator, solid door |
| ARG | Prefix | All-Refrigerator, glass door |
| AFZ | Prefix | All-Freezer, compact |
| AFS | Prefix | All-Freezer, upright pharmacy |
| ARFG | Prefix | Refrigerator and freezer, one cabinet |
| ACR | Prefix | Pharmacy and medical refrigerators |
| ADA | Prefix | ADA-compliant built-in family |
| MLRS | Prefix | MOMCUBE breast milk refrigerator |
| PTHC | Prefix | Warming cabinet, not refrigeration |
| ABOD | Prefix | BOD incubator, cooled and heated |
| Number | Middle | Approximate capacity in cubic feet |
| PV | Series | Pharma-Vac, vaccine and pharmacy |
| ML | Series | Med-Lab, laboratory storage |
| CRT | Series | Controlled room temperature, not chilled |
| 456 | Suffix | NSF/ANSI 456 certified |
| DL2B | Suffix | Factory data logger, NIST calibrated |
| BIADA | Suffix | Built-in capable, ADA height |
| LOCKER | Suffix | Lockable interior compartments |
| DR | Suffix | Removable drawer interior |
| LHD | Suffix | Left hand door hinge |
| STACK | Suffix | Matched stackable pair, independent units |
| CSS | Suffix | Stainless steel exterior |
| IF | Suffix | Integrated frame, panel ready |
Ordering & Smart Solutions
Need Help With Budget, Coverage, or Configuration?
Have a Model Number and Want It Checked?
Send us the code from your requisition along with the alcove width and which way the door needs to open. We'll confirm exactly what that configuration includes, flag anything that cannot be changed after delivery, and tell you if a different suffix would serve you better.
Explore Related MediDepot Guides
- Accucold Vaccine Refrigerator & Freezer Buying Guide
- NSF/ANSI 456 Certified Vaccine Refrigerators
- Glass Door vs Solid Door Comparison
- Stackable Refrigerator-Freezer Combinations
- MOMCUBE Breast Milk Refrigerators
- Medical Grade Mini Fridge: What Qualifies
- Temperature Monitoring Guide
- Medical Refrigeration: The Complete Buying Hub
External References
- Accucold Options and Upgrades (Manufacturer)
- CDC Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit
- NSF/ANSI 456 Vaccine Storage Standard
- 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1: What is the difference between Accucold ARS and ARG?
The third letter is the door. ARS is All-Refrigerator with a solid door; ARG is the same unit with a glass door. Capacity, series and temperature range are otherwise identical, so ARS12PV and ARG12PV are the solid and glass versions of the same 12 cubic foot refrigerator.
Q2: What does PV mean on an Accucold model number?
PV is the Pharma-Vac series, the vaccine and pharmacy line built around CDC vaccine storage expectations at 2 to 8°C. The laboratory counterpart is ML for Med-Lab, and CRT denotes a controlled room temperature cabinet rather than a refrigerator.
Q3: What is DL2B on an Accucold refrigerator?
A factory-installed USB digital data logger mounted to the door. It is NIST calibrated in an accredited laboratory, uses a glycol-buffered probe so it reads what a stored vial experiences, offers programmable logging intervals, holds around a year of data, and continues recording on battery during a power failure.
Q4: What does 456 mean at the end of an Accucold model?
The unit is certified to the NSF/ANSI 456 vaccine storage standard, meaning it has passed independent third-party testing against vaccine storage performance benchmarks. A growing number of state Vaccines for Children programmes reference the standard in procurement specifications.
Q5: What does BIADA mean?
Two things: built-in capable, meaning the unit vents through the front so it can sit flush under cabinetry, and ADA height, meaning the cabinet fits under accessible counter heights. Installing a freestanding unit in a recess instead causes it to run hot and hold temperature poorly.
Q6: Can I change the door hinge after delivery?
On a standard unit, usually yes. But units certified to NSF/ANSI 456 or fitted with the DL2B data logger are factory-reversible only and cannot be changed in the field. Decide the hinge direction before ordering if you are specifying either of those.
Q7: What is the difference between ARFG and a STACK model?
ARFG is one cabinet containing both a refrigerator and freezer section. A STACK model is two fully independent units, each with its own compressor and controller, mounted vertically. That independence is what makes stacked pairs acceptable for vaccine storage where household-style combination units are not.
Q8: Does the number in the model always mean cubic feet?
Usually but not always. Across the ARS, ARG and similar families it tracks approximate capacity, so ARG6PV is around 6 cubic feet. On some families the number is a model designation instead, which is why an ACR45L is 2.65 cubic feet. If the number looks implausible as a capacity, read the actual figure from the specification.
Q9: What are LOCKER and DR?
LOCKER denotes lockable interior compartments, useful where departments share a unit or part of the contents needs restricted access. DR denotes removable drawers rather than wire shelving, which organises inventory by category and reduces how long the door stays open.
Q10: Does MediDepot stock all these configurations?
MediDepot carries the Accucold range across the ARS, ARG, AFZ, AFS, ARFG, ACR, ADA, MLRS and related families, including 456 certified, DL2B logger-equipped, BIADA built-in, locker, drawer and stackable configurations. Browse: Accucold at MediDepot.
Ordering From a Model Number?
Send us the code and the space it is going into. We'll confirm the configuration, check the hinge direction against your installation, and flag anything that cannot be changed later.
*All technical specifications and workflow recommendations reflect general laboratory practice guidance. Always follow your manufacturer's Instructions for Use (IFU), your facility's Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and any applicable regulatory requirements for your sample type and application.
**Reviewed for workflow practicality by MediDepot Clinical Support Team. Always follow manufacturer instructions and your facility protocol.
***Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always verify current compliance certifications (NSF/ANSI 456, NFPA 45, OSHA 29 CFR 1910.106), GLP/GMP requirements applicable to your facility, and your state's specific program requirements before purchase. Always consult your physician, healthcare provider, or qualified medical professional before using any medical products or following health-related guidance. MediDepot products do not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical condition.