Q1: What is a cold room?
A walk-in cold room is a storage solution for perishable items that need to be frozen or chilled to a specific temperature. Think of a refrigerator, but on a much larger scale.
The temperature of a cold room is generated artificially and usually used for commercial refrigeration. Cold storage is most commonly used to keep fresh produce fresher for longer, but they are also great for stockpiling medicines and flowers.
Q2: Components of a walk-in fridge; how do they work?
Curious how a walk-in fridge or blast freezer works on such a large scale? Here are the components that make up a cold room:
Compressor; compresses the refrigerant gas
Condenser; cools hot gas into a cold liquid
Expansion Valve; controls the flow of liquid gas and expands liquid gas into vapor
Evaporator Coils; 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
Q3: Who uses walk-in cold storage?
Anyone who needs to keep large or bulk items chilled and frozen can hire a walk-in refrigeration unit for food storage, whether you are a business or an individual.
Typically, cold rooms for rent are occupied by catering or food businesses to store their back stock of supplies. Using chilled storage allows businesses to keep their kitchen fridges clear for the products they are using that day. More space within a walk-in fridge makes organization and stock-checking much faster.
Q4: How to keep up with cold room maintenance?
Adequate cold room maintenance and temperature control are vital when a chiller is in use. If the specified temperature of the cold storage room is allowed to rise or fall too drastically, the products contained inside could become unfit for human consumption or medical administration.
When you use Dephna to hire chilled storage, we conduct regular temperature and safety checks on all our rented cold storage units. By doing so, we can make sure that the room is secure, the temperature is suitable for the stored products, and it also eliminates one job for the occupier of our walk-in chillers.
Q5: What is the temperature of a walk-in cold room?
The temperature of your cold room is entirely dependent on the products you are storing and what they require. In all Dephna walk-in cold rooms, you have the option to set the unit temperature at ambient, fridge or freezer.
Ambient Cold Room Temperature
If you have chosen the ‘cool’ or ‘room temperature’ setting for your cold room – both are classed as ambient – you should ensure the mercury sits between 8°C and 25°C.
Room temperature is anywhere between 15°C to 25°C, while cold or cool is from 8°C to 15°C; so be sure you have the right setting to keep your food fresher for longer!