Searches for compact cryosleeve covers are usually looking for half cryosleeves, and the assumption behind the search is that they are the same product in a smaller size. They are not. The sleeve length follows the cane, and the cane follows the vessel.
What a cryosleeve does
It is a PVC tube that slides over a loaded cryocane so straws or ampoules are held in place and protected while the cane is lifted in and out of liquid nitrogen.
Which length fits
- Full length Cryosleeves suit standard aluminium cryocanes in canisters deep enough to take the whole cane.
- Half Cryosleeves pair with half canes in shallower canisters or vessels with lower working height, and where a laboratory prefers to split a patient’s samples across two short canes rather than one long one.
Both come in packs of 100, and colour coded tabs or cryocane coders can be added to either.
The check to do before ordering
Measure canister depth and the vessel’s working height, then confirm the loaded cane and sleeve clear the neck without forcing. A sleeve that has to be bent to fit is a sleeve that will split in the cold.
