Why You’re Seeing Frost In Your Cold Room & What To Do About It
Frost formation in your cold room can occur for multiple reasons – but whatever that reason is, you should find the source and try to rectify the problem as soon as it occurs. Frost formation, or ice build-up, can result in more serious issues if not addressed…
Walk-in fridges (also known as chiller cold rooms) maintain temperatures of between 0 and 8 degrees Celsius, and walk-in freezers (also known as freezer cold rooms) maintain temperature below zero degrees. This means frost formation and ice build-up is more likely to occur in walk-in freezers.
Why Does Frost and Ice Build-Up Occur?
Frost and ice build-up normally occurs in a cold room when there is excess moisture in your cold room. Condensation within cold rooms is due to ambient external air, meeting internal refrigerated air – so if air from outside is getting into your cold room, this can pose a problem.
Frost and ice most commonly appears around the cold room door frame or on the cold room floor but can also happen on other surfaces such as cold room panels. But what causes these problems?
Cold room efficiency and insulation
As your cold room ages, it’s likely efficiency will decline if not maintained, serviced, and cleaned regularly. But the age of your cold room can also have an impact on the cold room’s insulation properties – check your cold room panels and doors to confirm there is no gouges or issues with sealing.
If there is frequent ice and frost build up, we recommend a service to your cold room and refrigeration systems. But preventative cold room maintenance should be carried out every six months.
Cold room doors
If your cold room doors aren’t sealing properly due to damage to handles and seals, or your cold room door wasn’t installed correctly, its likely ambient air is entering your cold room through cracks around the door. Check your cold room door is sealing correctly to reduce this risk.
In walk-in freezers, there is a heater cable installed around the door to stop the door freezing shut – if there is ice build-up around the cold room door frame, this is another element to check.
Poor cold room management
Poor cold room management, or the day-to-day use of your cold room, can result in frost formation. If your team members are frequently leaving the door open for long periods, this will affect the internal temperature and inevitably let warm air in, and cooled air out.
Educating your team members on good cold room management is important. You can also invest in insulated curtains to help with the air transfer.
Refrigeration systems
If your cold room’s refrigeration system is not functioning correctly or efficiently, this can result in temperature fluctuations and frost formation. We recommend scheduling bi-annual services to ensure your refrigeration systems are running efficiently.
If you’re having frost and ice build-up in your cold room, and you’d like someone to review the issue to improve your cold room efficiency and safety – get in touch with our team! You can call us on 01886 833381, email us at sales@mtcss.flywheelsites.com, or fill in an enquiry form via the link below!
Looking for parts for your cold rooms and cold room doors? You can find a huge of spares and parts on MTCSS E-Commerce site, UKColdroomspares!
