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IndonesiaWhen your business needs to store perishable items, choosing the right Walk-in cooler and freezers is crucial. These large, temperature-controlled storage units provide your business with ample space and long storage time. Ensure your items don’t spoil and maintain their quality. Below we’ll break down the different types of walk-in coolers and freezers, their main functions, and what to look out for when choosing one.
Types of Walk-in cooler and freezers
There are three types of Walk-in cooler and freezers: prefabricated coolers and built-in, outdoor Walk-in cooler and freezers. This guide will focus on prefabricated walk-in coolers, but before that we’ll provide information on all three types so you can evaluate which type is best for your business needs.
Prefabricated walk-in coolers
Prefabricated walk-in coolers are ideal for businesses looking for an efficient and convenient refrigeration solution. It uses snap-on prefabricated polyurethane panels and can be assembled within 3 days after receiving the goods. The prefabricated walk-in cooler and freezers can provide you with excellent insulation performance, fixed layout and size, so that you can choose the right cold room and reduce your design time.
And the prefabricated walk-in cooler and freezers is easy to expand. If you need more storage space, you only need to purchase additional panels and components to easily expand. Whether it is disassembly or installation, it can be easily completed.
Built-in walk-in cooler and freezers
For companies with customized refrigerated storage needs, built-in walk-in cooler and freezers is a very advantageous solution. This cold storage adopts an insulated enclosure structure, with a refrigeration system set up inside and insulation boards laid on the walls and floors to achieve the effect of lowering the temperature and preventing the loss of cold air. It can be customized according to the actual needs of the company and is easy to use.
However, the built-in walk-in cooler and freezers is an integrated system. After the installation is completed, whether it is disassembly or space transformation, it will face high moving costs. Therefore, before deciding to buy, estimate the company’s 3-5-year plan to ensure sufficient foresight.
Outdoor walk-in cooler and freezers
Outdoor walk-in cooler and freezers can be built-in or prefabricated. The advantage is that it does not need to be limited to a wider installation space than indoors. However, because it is outdoors, the environment will be worse than indoors, so the equipment needs to have antifreeze kits and anti-corrosion and waterproof to ensure that the cold storage can operate normally.
Components of prefabricated Walk-in cooler
The core components of the Walk-in cooler can be summarized as a combination of a prefabricated insulated box and a refrigeration unit. Although there are design differences among brands, their core modules all include three major parts: enclosure structure panels, ground systems, sealed door bodies and refrigeration units.
Walk-in cooler enclosure structure panel system
As a key barrier to maintain a low-temperature environment, composite panels usually use a metal skin sandwich structure. Its performance characteristics are mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Surface material selection
Economical panel solution: Aluminum panels have both cost advantages and good corrosion resistance
High-end panel configuration: Stainless steel materials have excellent performance in weather resistance and service life, but the cost is relatively high
Intermediate gradient solution: Galvanized steel plates, aluminum-steel composite materials and special coating plates form a transition zone in terms of cost performance
Reinforced panels: The surface embossing process can not only enhance the structural rigidity, but also reduce the visibility of traces of use
Insulation layer technical parameters
Extruded polystyrene (XPS) and polyurethane (PU) as mainstream insulation media, although both have excellent thermal resistance, but XPS has higher moisture resistance and continuous stable R value performance due to its closed-cell structure. In comparison, PU materials have the characteristic of thermal insulation performance decaying with age.
Walk-in cooler floor configuration plan
- The selection of the floor system needs to be combined with the actual load-bearing requirements and environmental characteristics:
- Integrated aluminum floor: Standardized prefabricated components are easy to install quickly and are suitable for conventional storage scenarios
- Customized reinforcement plan: For scenarios where heavy transportation equipment or high-density storage is frequently used, it is recommended to adopt a floorless design and pour an enhanced concrete foundation
- Thermal resistance optimized floor: When the cold storage is adjacent to a non-temperature-controlled area (such as a basement or a high-temperature workshop), an insulated floor must be configured to block heat conduction, which can not only reduce the load of the refrigeration system, but also effectively avoid safety hazards caused by condensation water.
Walk-in cooler door body functional components
As a high-frequency component of cold storage, the door system needs to focus on the following factors:
Durable sealing components: Use reinforced hinge mechanism, multi-point locking system and anti-aging sealing strips to ensure airtightness under high-frequency use
Intelligent door closing device: The configuration of automatic return door closer can prevent the loss of cold caused by human negligence and avoid the risk of cargo damage caused by temperature control failure
Functional expansion module: Additional configurations such as visual observation window and authority management system can be selected according to security needs to achieve dual optimization of storage environment visualization and access control.
Analysis of key points in space planning for Walk-in cooler and freezers
When determining the volume of the cold storage room, the actual storage needs and site conditions need to be comprehensively considered. In commercial scenarios, the cold storage space must meet the current operational needs and reserve margins for business expansion. It is recommended to evaluate the possibility of business expansion and inventory fluctuations in the off-season and peak season in advance to reserve flexible space for the future.
Volume calculation and space adaptation
According to industry experience, each cubic foot of refrigerated space can store about 28 pounds of food. The required volume can be calculated by measuring the maximum inventory. Special attention should be paid to the physical limitations of the site:
Basic parameters
- When measuring the clearance size of the installation area, the gap required for equipment ventilation should be deducted
- The conventional layout requires that the box and the building wall maintain a distance of at least 2.5cm
- The top needs to reserve more than 5cm of space to ensure air circulation
Flexible design
Preferably choose an expandable modular structure, which can not only adapt to the existing site conditions, but also expand the capacity by adding components when the business grows, avoiding repeated investment.
Special scenarios
- Customized corner design can be used for limited space
- The top space margin needs to be increased for high-rise shelf layout
- It is recommended to widen the channel size for frequent entry and exit scenarios
Walk-in cooler and freezers: the core logic of refrigeration system configuration
When selecting a refrigeration system for a Walk-in cooler or walk-in freezer, it is necessary to accurately match the equipment scale and environmental characteristics. Refrigeration equipment is usually equipped with 0.5-1.5HP compressors, while the freezing system requires 1-3HP power support.
The specific parameters need to be comprehensively calculated in combination with storage capacity, door opening and closing frequency, and regional climate. The following details the engineering characteristics and adaptation scenarios of four mainstream solutions.
1.Split remote system: a classic solution for spatial decoupling
Placing the condensing unit externally is a common choice for walk-in cooler, especially for commercial kitchens that are sensitive to indoor noise. For walk-in freezers, this solution can effectively disperse the heat load generated by high-power compressors.
Refrigeration adaptation: Medium-sized walk-in cooler (20-50m³) mostly use R404A refrigerant to maintain a constant temperature of 2-4℃
Freezing optimization: Walk-in freezers are recommended to be equipped with oil separators to extend the life of the compressor
Installation warning: When the pipeline length exceeds 15 meters, additional refrigerant filling is required
2.Prefabricated all-in-one machine: an innovative solution for rapid deployment
Prefabricated refrigeration units are changing the installation mode of walk-in cooler. This type of system is more than 90% assembled in the factory, and only the power supply and cold storage interface need to be connected on site. It is particularly suitable for walk-in freezer renovation projects that need to be put into production quickly.
- Refrigeration advantages: Walk-in freezer unit with built-in electronic expansion valve, temperature control accuracy can reach ±0.3℃
- Freezing characteristics: Walk-in freezer is equipped with hot air defrosting function as standard, and defrosting energy consumption is reduced by 40%
- Operation and maintenance points: Check the tightness of the wiring terminals of the electric control box every quarter
3.Top-mounted unit: intelligent solution for space-constrained scenarios
When the walk-in freezer is deployed in an old factory with insufficient floor height, the top-mounted solution can free up floor space through a compact layout. For walk-in freezers, the vertical air supply mode of this design can accelerate the temperature balance of the shelf area.
Refrigeration innovation: some walk-in cooler have integrated humidity control modules on the top of the unit
Refrigeration upgrade: walk-in freezers with dual evaporators can be zoned for temperature control
Space requirements: A maintenance channel of more than 80 cm must be reserved on the top of the unit
4.Side-mounted module: a special solution for flexible adaptation
- This type of system provides unique transformation possibilities for walk-in cooler through embedded installation on the side panel. In walk-in freezer applications, the side-mounted V-shaped evaporator can increase defrosting efficiency by 25%.
- Refrigeration adaptation: suitable for walk-in cooler with limited door openings
- Freezing advantages: the scalable walk-in freezer side-mounted system supports the later addition of auxiliary units
- Installation specifications: the bracket load-bearing capacity must reach 1.5 times the weight of the unit
Walk-in cooler and freezer Operation and maintenance management
Temperature calibration
The accuracy of the walk-in cooler and freezer sensor is tested with a calibrator every month. If the error exceeds ±0.5℃, it must be corrected immediately; it is recommended to configure dual redundant temperature measurement points for walk-in freezers to prevent inventory losses caused by single point failures.
Seal maintenance
The door seal of the Walk-in cooler needs to be coated with food-grade silicone grease every six months to prevent aging, and the electric heating door frame of the walk-in freezer needs to be cleaned of ice debris regularly to ensure tight closure.
Cleaning specifications
Use a pH-neutral detergent to wipe the inner wall of the walk-in cooler to avoid corrosion of aluminum shelves; the floor of the walk-in freezer needs to be thoroughly dried after defrosting to prevent condensed water from freezing again.
Phenomena when the walk-in cooler and freezer needs maintenance
The average life of the walk-in equipment is about 15 years, but it needs to be evaluated and replaced in advance when the following situations occur:
Energy consumption increases significantly, and the compressor starts and stops frequently.
The inner wall is severely frosted or the panel insulation layer is separated.
The set temperature cannot be maintained stably, and there is a food safety risk.
