If you’re running a business that depends on cool room services or requires a freezer room, you already know how much of a power-hungry beast it is. These things aren’t cheap to run, and if you’re not managing them properly, they’ll burn through your energy bill like it’s nothing.
The high energy bills are not the only downsides you’d have to deal with. If your cool room isn’t running efficiently, you’re also putting your stock, your staff, and your reputation at risk. Poor maintenance or bad setup can lead to spoiled goods, wasted energy, longer run times, and even safety hazards like slippery ice build-up on the floor.
Whether you own your unit or you’re relying on a cool room hire for temporary or overflow needs, the same principles apply: efficiency protects your bottom line.
In this article, we’ll be sharing tips on how to not only reduce your energy costs but also prolong the life of your equipment and improve the quality of your products.
Monitor Energy Usage
One of the best things you can do to keep your cool room running efficiently is to keep an eye on how much energy it uses. You might already be aware of your energy costs, but by closely monitoring usage, you can spot any unusual spikes or inefficiencies before they turn into a problem.
For example, installing a monitoring system at the power supply of your refrigeration system will allow you to track how much energy is being used at different times. This can help you notice things like increased energy consumption during peak hours, which could be a sign of a problem like a refrigerant leak or a faulty component.
And if your current setup just isn’t keeping up with business demand, or it’s constantly draining power despite your best efforts, then you should try out a cool room hire as a more cost-effective option.
Many modern hire units come with built-in energy monitoring and adaptive controls, which take a lot of the guesswork out of running costs.
Door Management
Did you know that the way your doors are used is one of the biggest factors influencing the energy costs of your cool room?
Managing the cool room doors is probably the most impactful way to reduce energy costs. The door is the most common point of energy loss, and it’s something you can control.
Every time the door opens, warm, moist air enters the cool room, forcing your system to work harder to bring the temperature back down. If this happens too often, your system can end up running non-stop to maintain the right conditions.
Here are a few ways you can manage your doors more efficiently:
- Staff training: Make sure your team knows the importance of closing the door quickly. A simple rule like “Always Close The Door Immediately After Use” can go a long way.
- Door curtains: Although not everyone loves them, door curtains are an affordable and effective way to reduce the amount of warm air that enters the cool room each time the door opens.
- Automatic forklift doors: If your cool room is accessed frequently by forklifts, you should have a cool room services provider come over and install automatic forklift doors to improve efficiency and reduce the need for human intervention.
- Inspect door seals: Over time, door seals wear out. When this happens, cold air leaks out, and warm air leaks in. You can easily check for this by turning off the lights inside the cool room and looking for daylight around the seals. If you can see light, it’s time for a seal replacement.
Temperature Management
Another critical aspect of cool room efficiency is temperature management. Believe it or not, even a small change in temperature can have a big impact on energy usage.
Your cool room’s temperature management is directly linked to its efficiency. Keeping the right balance is crucial to preventing unnecessary energy use or spoilage of goods.
Calibrate your temperature sensors
Make sure the temperature sensors are accurate. An inaccurate reading can lead to the system running too warm or too cold. For instance, a +2°C setting might consume more energy than a +4°C setting, so it’s important to check that the temperature readings are correct.
You can test the sensor by placing it in a container of ice water for five minutes to ensure it reads 0°C (±0.5°C).
Set the right differential
The temperature differential refers to the range between when the refrigeration system turns on and off. For smaller rooms, this can be a 2°C range, but for larger systems, it might be just 0.5°C.
If the differential is too wide, it might cause fluctuations in temperature, which affects the quality of your products. If it’s too narrow, the system might constantly cycle on and off, which will, in turn, waste energy and stress the components.
Also, when businesses scale up or need to temporarily expand cold storage space, they often opt for cool room hire. These hired systems should be just as efficient and reliable as permanent ones, and when set up properly, they can actually outperform older, poorly maintained units.
Defrosting
Defrosting is necessary to keep your cool room functioning at its best, but it’s important to do it in the right way. If you have an older system, it might be set to defrost on a timer, regardless of whether it needs it. This can waste energy and disrupt the cooling process.
Modern systems often come with adaptive defrost features, which means they only defrost when needed. This is more energy-efficient and prevents the system from running unnecessarily hot, which can cause moisture issues.
However, even with adaptive defrost, it’s important to monitor the process. If you’re defrosting too frequently or not long enough, it can impact the overall efficiency of your system.
Having a refrigeration professional inspect and adjust your defrost settings as part of your regular cool room maintenance is a smart move. They can make sure it’s running efficiently for the season and your specific business needs.
Lighting the Room
Lighting is often overlooked when it comes to cool room efficiency, but it can have a big impact. Regular lighting can generate heat, which makes your refrigeration system work harder to maintain a cool temperature. LED lighting is a better option because it produces much less heat and is more energy-efficient.
To further reduce energy waste, consider installing motion-sensor lighting or setting up a timer so the lights are off when the room isn’t in use. This simple change can help lower your energy consumption and improve efficiency.
Conclusion
A cool room is a high-performance system that needs just as much attention as the stock it protects. Whether you own your cool room or rely on a cool room for hire, there’s always room to improve the way it’s run.
That might mean updating how you monitor temperatures, getting proactive with your defrost cycles, or even just re-training staff on how to handle the doors properly.
At the end of the day, the more dialled in your cool room is, the better your products stay, the more confident your team works, and the more you save without even trying. That’s what smart, cool room management really looks like.
