Rubber Stopper (C)

A: It seats in the hole in the bottom of the ice bowl, closing the opening where the pole coupling passes through. Without it there is an open hole in the base of the vessel that holds your ice pack and sits under your product. That is the whole job, and it is not optional.

A: The floor-stand Sample Dome displays. If you are replacing the stopper on a countertop unit, confirm the part with us before ordering. The countertop assembly also uses a rubber plug in the ice bowl, but the catalogue lists this item for floor stands specifically, and we would rather check than guess on your behalf.

A: Not properly. An open hole in the bottom of the ice bowl is a hygiene problem and a cleaning problem at the same time. Debris and moisture reach a cavity that cannot be inspected or sanitised, directly beneath the food area. A missing stopper takes the display out of service until it is replaced.

A: Push it into the hole in the bottom of the ice bowl. It friction fits. No tools, no adhesive. Fit it during assembly, before the ice pack and tray go in.

A: Because they are small, they detach during cleaning, and they look like nothing. A stopper that falls into a sink or a bin at the end of a shift is gone, and its absence is not obvious until the next assembly. Of every part in the range, this is the one most likely to be lost.

A: Several. They cost very little and they are the cheapest possible insurance against a display standing idle. For any operator running more than one floor stand, a handful on the shelf is proportionate. This is not a part to order one at a time.

A: Remove it, wash and sanitise it, and refit it once dry. Cleaning around a fitted stopper leaves the seat behind it untouched, and that seat is damp and enclosed. Take it out every time the bowl is properly cleaned.

A: When it no longer grips, when it is split or perished, or when the surface has hardened. Rubber degrades with repeated sanitising and temperature change. A stopper that has to be pressed hard to stay in is already past replacing.

A: It sits in the bottom of the ice bowl, beneath the ice pack and the tray, so it does not contact the samples in normal use. Even so, treat it as part of the food area for cleaning purposes. It is inside the vessel that holds your product.

A: No. It is sized to the hole in the Sample Dome ice bowl, and a substitute that is loose will work its way out. A stopper that falls out mid-shift is worse than one that is missing, because nobody notices until the display is being cleaned down.