What if there was one thing you can do to improve the reliability of your commercial refrigeration equipment?
Our service team experiences many disruptive and expensive failures of commercial refrigeration that could have been avoided with regular maintenance. Find below a simple tip on one thing the owner/operator can do that will improve reliability, extend life cycle, improve food safety and efficiency.
Create a temperature log for each piece of equipment and take regular readings:
We all know that information is power, but most operators do not gather the most fundamental information-temperature! At least once a day the temperature of the refrigerator/freezer should be recorded. The best time to record the temperature is before the door is opened for the first time that working day.
Most modern equipment has a digital temperature display on the outside that can be recorded without opening the door. If you do not have a thermometer on the outside then you will need to open the door and take your reading quickly before the thermometer reacts the heat coming through the door.
It is a good idea to have an analog thermometer inside the refrigerated space to back up the digital reading. This is insurance because digital displays can give false readings, do not work if there is no power and some do not register true temperature during the defrost.
If the thermometer is located inside the refrigerated space and reacts to the door opening immersion in a cup of water creates a thermal reservoir. This slows down the reaction time for the thermometer after the door is open. This is ideal for alcohol (glass) thermometer
The more readings were taken during the day the better the quality of the information. Keep the temperature log in a safe place and you can refer to it if you start getting readings that are different from what you expect. This way you can catch a problem before it affects refrigerated product quality. Generally, refrigeration failures caught earlier are less expensive to fix.
Equipment that operates close to 0°C or lower will require defrosting several times per day. It is good to know what time of day defrosts happen because it will cause temperature readings will be unusually high. If the reading is high and you suspect the reason is a defrost return and take a reading in one hour, if the temperature has returned (or is returning) to normal then it was indeed a defrost. If the defrost period coincides with an inconvenient time of the workday it can be changed.
What can be done after hours when the business is unoccupied? Sophisticated monitors are available for recording refrigerator temperatures, enabling data to be viewed remotely using a phone app or computer via the local WiFi. Contact the team at Thermo Tech today!
