Cold Room FAQ’s: What you Need to Know
While lots of people within the food industry may have heard of a cold room, if you are new to the game you may not totally understand the functions or benefits of one.
So what is a cold room, how can it be used? This is what we will aim to answer for you along with some key walk-in cold room FAQs.
What is a cold room?
A walk-in cold room is a storage solution for perishable items which need to be frozen or chilled at a specific temperature. Think of a refrigerator, but on a much bigger scale. The temperature of a cold room is generated artificially and often used for commercial refrigeration.
Cold storage is most frequently used to keep fresh produce fresher for longer periods of time, but they are also perfect for stockpiling medicines or flowers.
What are the components of a walk-in cold room?
Are you wondering how a walk-in fridge or blast freezer works on such a bigger scale? Here are the components that make up a cold store chiller:
- Compressor – this compresses refrigerant gas
- Condenser – this cools hot gas into a cold liquid
- Expansion Valve – this controls the flow of liquid gas and expands liquid gas into a vapour
- Evaporator Coils – this boils and expands liquid gas and cools the coils by absorbing energy
- Refrigerator Fans – circulates air over cold evaporator coils and cools the room
- Cold Room Door – rigid door with excellent insulation to maintain the temperature
Who utilises walk-in cold storage?
Anyone who requires storage for large or bulk items which need to be chilled and frozen can hire a walk-in refrigeration unit for food storage, whether you are a business or an individual.
Often, cold rooms are occupied by catering or food businesses to store their back stock of supplies. Using chilled storage permits businesses to keep their kitchen fridges clear for the products they are using that day. added space within a walk-in fridge makes organisation and stock-checking a much quicker process.
Pharmaceutical companies also use walk-in cool rooms for medicine batches that need to be kept at very specific low temperatures.
Within the food industry, there are lots of businesses that might use cold rooms, including:
- Pop up food stands
- Food box delivery services
- Catering companies
- Restaurants
- Cooking class businesses
How to keep up with cold room maintenance?
Good cold room maintenance and temperature control are essential when a chiller is in use. If the specified temperature of the cold storage room is permitted to rise or fall too drastically, the products contained inside could become unfit for human consumption.
At Ian Hobbs Technical Services Ltd, we can take care of cold room installation and maintenance in Bristol, Bath and across the South West. Contact us for a free quote and expert advice from our team.