Handy Tips When Buying Cool Rooms
Cool rooms are among the most important needs of a catering service or a food business. These rooms become storage spaces that keep the food fresh and prevent spoilage. Hence, it is essential to understand the characteristics of a good cool room when looking for a cool room for sale.
In this quick post, we’ll show you some tips in selecting and buying the right cool room for your facility. Arm yourself with this information so that you can pick the most efficient type of cool room for your business!
Determine the type of cool room you’ll need. There are various types of commercial cool rooms. Each of them has different specifications, so check them out first and pick the storage facility that meets your business’ unique needs:
Types of Cool Room for Your Commercial Purpose -
Modular Cool Room
This is a commercial-sized cold room often used in the food industry. Modular cool rooms come in an easy-to-install flat-pack format. These rooms feature panels and insulation made from food-safe materials and can effectively freeze food items at any range of temperatures.
Combination Cool Room
The combination cool room features two temperature zones inside: a chiller and a freezer. The chiller zone can store food in temperatures of 2-12 °C and is situated in the room’s front part. Meanwhile, the freezer zone has temperatures until -22°C and is often accessed via a door from the chiller zone.
Walk-in Cool Room
This one is a larger cool room type where you can actually walk inside, hence the term “walk-in”. It can either be a modular, combination, or both. Large food companies often utilize walk-in cool rooms to store their food items.
Industrial Chiller
This is an even larger cold room used mainly by ice factories. Forklift trucks and similar vehicles can access industrial chillers.
Custom-Made Cool Room
Some businesses prefer to have their cool rooms custom-made. They don’t have to look for a standard cool room for sale; they can have a cool room designed according to their unique business needs.
Now, you may need one or a combination of these cool room types. This will depend on your needs and the quantity or bulk of the food stock you must store.
Look at the cool room’s salient features.
So, you’ve decided on a cool room type that’s compatible with your business needs. Now, narrow down your search by checking each prospective cool room’s important features such as:
Dimensions – Will it fit your facility?
Special functions – This may include an adjustable thermostat, auto-defrost feature, glass shelves, removable trays, and many more.
Temperature range – Will the cool room store your food at the right temperatures?
Access for people, forklift, or vehicles
Display capabilities
Check the cool room’s energy efficiency.
Cool rooms need lots of energy to run properly. Operation costs will become higher if your cool room wastes too much energy to run. Hence, check the energy efficiency rating of your prospective cool rooms first. Look for a high energy rating – this means that the equipment consumes as little energy as possible to effectively run.
The Wrap-Up
While buying cool rooms, must check with our three simple yet essential handy tips. Always consider the cool room type, your required features, and energy efficiency when investing in a cool room for your business.