Allen Air & Refrigeration Mechanic Electrical Testing an Airconditioning Unit
January 16, 2019
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What happens when you don’t get scheduled Commercial Refrigeration Maintenance?

Regular maintenance on your commercial refrigeration system is crucial for your business unless you are prepared to have a breakdown at the worst possible time. Take this example from a new client of ours.

Initially our new client had ignored just a little dust on the back of the evaporator in their cool room. It iced up and not only made the room temp too high, but the product was ruined due to water overflow and damage as the drain had iced over.


What is the risk when the evaporator coil is dirty?

⦁ Firstly, a cool room is designed to be a hygienic place to store food. If it is considered gross in your own home, the commercial catering centre is no different!

⦁ A dirty coil wastes energy and increases power bills. When the airflow can’t cleanly pass through the cold evaporator, it simply can’t get the large volumes of air cold enough blowing around the cool room. So your cool room runs longer.


OK, So I have a dirty evaporator coil and my cool room is wasting energy and running longer? What happens next?

Reduced airflow means that the evaporator coil gets so cold that it starts to ice up. Usually you won’t notice this as it kind of creeps up out of no where and then at the time you can’t afford a breakdown, it has become a massive ice block and the cool room won’t go below 10 degrees!

Don’t be fooled, ice on the evaporator is not making your cool room colder.

Ice is an insulator, so once you have it on your evaporator coil in your cool room or freezer, the room will only get warmer from there on. You need to call us now before it triples in size.

How to get the ice off the cool room or freezer’s evaporator

⦁ Get the coil defrosted by an expert as there can be live high voltage wires present. We will isolate the power and go as far as removing the evaporator fans to get the best access.

⦁ A partially defrosted coil will quickly freeze up again, so it must be perfect

⦁ Whatever you do, don’t use a knife! We have had to replace expensive coils through people doing this.

⦁ Don’t use a hair dryer either. They should only be used for hair, not melting half of Antarctica