How to Keep Your Cold Rooms Cold In Summer

Summer is the most challenging season when it comes to keeping your cold rooms running – and these days, warm outdoor temperatures can start early in the year and persist well into the autumn. When ambient temperatures begin to rise, that’s where problems with your cold rooms start to occur…

Why Are High Temperatures So Problematic For Refrigeration Systems And Cold Rooms?

The harder your refrigeration systems have to work against the heat, the greater the flow of power and liquid and therefore the higher the risk of sudden breakdowns. Most cold rooms are built for a specific temperature range – when this is exceeded, your refrigeration system struggles.

You also run the risk of sub-par performance, even if your refrigeration system doesn’t fail outright. Struggling cold rooms can start taking on warm ambient air from the outside, decreasing their performance (increasing the stress placed on them), defrosting items, and spoiling stock as the internal temperature rises.

Sudden fluctuations in temperature can also be damaging to refrigeration systems. As temperatures steadily increase, cooling units and heat exchangers have to perform even better to cope with the stress being placed on them.

Typically, this results in your condensers going into overdrive. Other things to consider are whether the cold room door, piping, and insulation the right choices for your unit. If not, your refrigeration system will suffer further.

How Can I Keep My Cold Rooms Cold Throughout Everchanging Seasons?

The most important factor in keeping your cold room sealed, cold, and efficient is down to good cold room insulation.

If you have excellent heat transfer barriers in place, the engines and pumps refrigerating your cold room will prove much more resilient to higher temperatures, and to temperature fluctuations.

If the access to your cold room or cold room doors aren’t fit for purpose, you run the risk of air ingress and egress. Hot and cold air exchanging places can weaken condenser performance and cause icing issues as two pockets collide and trap water.

A constant escape of refrigerated air places much more stress on the temperature regulator and loop in your refrigeration systems – causing it to work overtime to maintain your desired temperature.

Make sure your cold room doors are sealed with insulation, on auto-closers, and heavy enough to resist external temperature changes. MTCSS’ expert team can always advise you on the best solution for your cold room.

You also need to ensure you have good insulating cold room panels in place to prevent temperature exchange and cold air escaping your cold room. Summers are becoming more unpredictable worldwide, and older machinery and cold room panel systems may struggle to respond to rapid shifts in temperature.

Older cold room panels can wear out too. Thermal loss will lead to everything in your cold room working harder to compensate for underperformance – resulting in wasted energy and increased running costs. Regular cold room maintenance can identify when repairs and replacements are needed.

Thermally-efficient cold room panels can help counter heat ingress. Make sure your cold room is fully enclosed by resistant insulation to protect your products

You can also refit existing spaces with suspended ceilings and double-layered insulation if they’re not performing as well as they used to.

Keeping your internal cold room temperature stable, rather than exceptionally cold, is often better for long-term cold storage as less stress is placed on your refrigeration systems

Try to limit the amount of time the cold room doors spend open and exposed to the elements, and position your refrigeration units well away from exterior heat. Consider purchasing a cold room entrapment alarm to help prevent this occurring – browse the MTCSS Shop here!

Insulated Cold Rooms And Refrigeration From MTCSS

Do you need a brand new cold room solution? Then look no further than MTCSS – we can supply and install high-quality, bespoke cold room solutions to fit your requirements.

Email us at sales@mtcss.flywheelsites.com, call us on 01886 833381 or fill in an enquiry form here!

Image source: Pixabay