Commercial Refrigeration Safety Tips

Commercial Refrigeration units are the most common residential and commercial appliance and work hard. Due to this it can be quite easier for a refrigerator or freezer not to be performing as efficiently as it could be, either through old age or by not being correctly maintained.

This loss of efficiency can lead to the temperature inside the appliance rising above its optimum. Commercial Refrigeration units should be kept at between 34-40 degrees F although the best temperature is 37 degrees F. Anything much higher and food will not be fully frozen, too much lower and food can get freezer burn which ruins stored food.

Here are some tips on keeping your commercial refrigeration units working well and maintaining their optimum temperatures:

• Test the temperature of your refrigeration unit regularly to make sure they are working well. This can be done by placing a glass of water with a thermometer inside in your refrigerator and leaving it for 24 hours. After this time check the temperature, if it is not within the recommended limits alter the temperature settings accordingly.

• Make sure that any food that is to be either put in the refrigerator is cooled down properly before doing so. Failing to do this could cause problems in the quality of food being stored and also reduce the temperature of the appliance and create condensation inside them. This can lead to food being spoilt and it will also encourage the growth of bacteria within the food.

• It is also wise to check the doors and seals on refrigerators as they can become damaged and cause air to get inside them altering the temperatures and causing food to spoil. If you notice anything wrong with a door or seal you must either get it repaired or replaced as soon as possible.

• Try to keep the doors to your refrigerators closed as much as possible, opening them too much or keeping them open for any reason will lead to a reduction in temperature and this will result in poorly stored food which could have bacteria growing in it. Commercially used refrigerators are mainly at risk of this happening as they have more usage than residential appliances.

Remember, like with all appliances refrigerators only have a life of around 12-14 years before they begin to become less efficient and break down so bear this in mind when your have had your appliance for some time.

If you follow these tips you will be using your refrigerators and freezers with confidence and know how to spot any problems.

Prevent Many Unneeded Commercial Refrigeration Repairs



Learn these skills and put an end to many unneeded commercial refrigeration repairs illinois. A cold control is often used to control temperature in small refrigerators. With a thermostat you set the temperature you want the box to be and forget about it. That isn’t possible with a cold control. This leads to false refrigerator repairs.

A cold control isn’t calibrated by temperature. It usually only has numbers. Turning it in one direction lowers the temperature and the other direction raises the temperature. Setting the cold control takes a lot of time.

Turning it colder doesn’t always make it colder. On a freezer you can turn a cold control to the coldest setting without any problems. The freezer will automatically defrost several times a day. Setting a cold control to the coldest setting on a cooler will cause a warm box and possible compressor damage, a real refrigerator repair.

Refrigerators defrost when the box is cold enough and the compressor turns off. If the cold control is set to low the compressor never turns off. It tries to reach a temperature that is not possible. The evaporator never defrosts and it freezes up. This causes the box to warm and can seriously damage the compressor.

How to set a cold control? Start out setting it at a higher temperature than your target. Wait for the condensing unit to shut off. The condensing unit is the combination of the compressor and usually a fan and coil. The coil is the thing with fins.

When the condensing unit shuts off, check the temperature in the box. If the temperature is too high, slightly lower the cold control and wait.

The condenser will come on again and then shut off. Repeat the process until you zero in on your target temperature.
What to do if the evaporator freezes up? If the cold control is set too low the evaporator will ice up. This is easy to remedy. Try to turn the condensing unit off with the cold control. This will leave the evaporator fan on and will quickly defrost the evaporator.

If the cold control doesn’t turn off the condensing unit, just unplug the unit. The ice will slowly melt. Running restaurant refrigerators with a little ice on the evaporator will not cause damage. You can wait until closing time to unplug it.

Once the evaporator is defrosted, start the process over. Once you have found the correct setting mark it. Congratulations, you can now avoid many unneeded refrigerator repairs.
If you need assistance in commercial refrigeration repair in Illinois, Northeast Cooling has specialized in Commercial Refrigeration and Ice Machine sales, service and repair for more than 15 years. Cooler, Freezer, and Ice Machine repairs done right the first time. Count on Northeast Cooling for Quality commercial refrigeration Illinois.

Cooler Repair - How a Freezer Works?

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A freezer doesn't actually cool things; it removes the heat from them. You probably don't want a physics lesson but may wonder where the "cold" comes from. So here is a little bit more physics. When a gas goes from a state of high pressure to a state of low pressure, the temperature of the gas drops. Your freezer is circulating a gas from high pressure to low pressure over and over again.

Your freezer has a compressor and a closed system of tubing that contains a gas (the refrigerant). The compressor pumps the refrigerant and compresses it. The refrigerant flows through the coils on the back or under the freezer and through an expansion valve to the inside of the freezer. As the refrigerant passes through the expansion valve the pressure drops and so does the temperature.

Inside the freezer a fan circulates air over the chilled tubing and the refrigerant absorbs the heat from the freezer's relatively warmer air. If you prefer to just think of the fan blowing cold air into the freezer, that's fine, it all works out to pretty much the same results. But technically, the heat is being pumped out rather than the cold being pumped in.

We've had a lot of questions about this, so here is an interesting note. If the temperature outside a refrigerator or freezer is too low, the appliance will not cool efficiently. The appliance relies on there being warmer temperatures outside the appliance for the process to work. So if you keep a refrigerator or freezer in the garage and you are experiencing cold weather, your appliance will probably be too warm.

As the air in the freezer cools, the water in the air (humidity) condenses. Water that condenses in the freezer will freeze into frost. Most modern freezers have an automatic defroster which melts the build up of frost. The defroster is simply a heating element that is controlled by a defrost timer and a thermostat. The water from the melted frost drains out of the freezer into a pan beneath the freezer and evaporates.

Another thermostat activates the compressor whenever the temperature rises above a certain level. The level varies based upon the setting of the temperature control.

A door switch closes a circuit when the door is opened and turns on the interior light. When the door is open some freezers will disable some components such as the fan, defrost heater or "through the door" ice and water dispensing.

Want to learn more about your freezer? Have a freezer repair problem? If you answered yes to these questions, then it is high time to consider a freezer repair technician. If you need assistance in freezer repair in Illinois, Northeast Cooling has specialized in Commercial Refrigeration and Ice Machine sales, service and repair for more than 15 years. Cooler, Freezer, and Ice Machine repairs done right the first time. Count on Northeast Cooling for Quality Refrigeration Repairs.