Can you imagine the world without refrigeration? We can tell you one thing: it would be very difficult to live in it and many of the things that surround you would be practically non-existent … including your business. Implementing a cold room is an excellent improvement for the conservation of your products.

Here at PR Cool Rooms you will find a team of professionals ready to assist you with any issues or consultations you may have regarding cool rooms.

When we think of preserving products, one of the first solutions that comes to mind are the cold rooms or cold rooms. So, if you want your products to have a longer life, you should know:

What is a cold room?

A cold room or cold room is a warehouse in which a specific temperature is artificially generated. It is generally designed for the storage of products in an environment below the outside temperature. Products that need refrigeration include fruits, vegetables, seafood, meat, flowers.

The first cold stores were called snowfields. This was a well dug in the earth with retaining walls, of small or large dimensions, with openings where snow was introduced and ice was extracted. The purpose was to keep the ice even if the snow melted.

A curious data…

Cold rooms have been an essential part of the maritime industry since the late nineteenth century. These rooms are located in warmer latitudes, where the commercialization of products and the time factor play important roles for the development of specific industries that require very rigorous quality parameters.

Refrigerating chambers are also used for engineering products, for example, to store chemicals at an ideal temperature for processing or to slow down chemical reactions (for example, in processes catalysed by temperatures or in polymers).

What applications do the cold rooms have?

Regardless of what products they contain, these rooms are very useful for:

• Merchandise reception. Sanitary regulations require that businesses such as warehouses and restaurants have an adequate temperature to receive their raw materials, which will later be placed at different points. A good cooling system is crucial for these cases.
• Storage and handling of products. This allows an increase in production and commercialisation, extending the useful life and facilitating the transformation of products.
• Display of products. In these cases, it is very common to use Walk in or Reach in doors, which allow the final consumer to easily access the products, and at the same time have a much more attractive point of sale.

How does refrigeration intervene in a cold room?

Refrigeration slows chemical and biological processes in food and controls deterioration and loss of quality. Through storage, the life of fresh perishable foods such as meat, fish, fruits and vegetables can be extended several days by cooling, and several weeks or months by freezing. When making your quote for a cold room, the refrigeration engineer knows that:

• Fruits and vegetables continue to breathe and generate heat during storage
• Most should be frozen in a temperature range, instead of a single temperature.
• The quality of frozen foods is greatly affected by the freezing rate.
• The speed of refrigerated air affects the rate of moisture loss in the products.

How to choose the temperature inside a cold room?

The internal temperature depends on the material or product that will be stored. A known application is the storage of foods to preserve them, such as frozen foods, which are stored at negative temperatures. Local vegetables and fruits are stored at 0 ° C and tropical and subtropical fruits at 5 to 13 ° C.

How is a cold room designed?

A good design of these rooms considers not only the selection of equipment, but its location for a safe access of the personnel. To ensure the safety of access and manoeuvring inside the cold room, it is necessary that both contractors, engineers and owners participate in the project to determine the selection of a cooling system should be determined by analysing the life cycle cost and energy efficiency

What mistakes are made in the design of a cold room?

Although it is such a strategic tool for commercial purposes, it is surprising how common are bad practices in the design and construction of cold rooms. Among other important errors, we have found:

• The use of non-insulating material for the walls and ceilings of the rooms. Materials such as partitions, or panels without polyurethane.
• Rooms without the appropriate dimensions, which hinder the manoeuvring and storage of products.
• Rooms with a wrong cooling system for the product you want to keep.
• Rooms without an adequate access system, in which case the fluctuation of the temperature is very little controllable.

What to do?

Conserving your products properly is not an option, but a necessity. By guaranteeing this process, the profits of your company will be greatly benefited. A good start is to define what your needs are and what kind of process you require for your products, in order to quote not only the right equipment, but a specific and specialised design for your company.

When you have taken the business decision to perform the installation of a cold room or cold room, it is necessary to take into account a number of factors that depend on the proper functioning and effectiveness of the equipment.

The design of cold rooms goes hand in hand with the characteristics of your business and the objectives set for the conservation and operation of food, industrial materials or medical substances.

Nowadays, keeping the products that make your business exist is a need that must be sought in an optimal way that meets the purposes of quality, savings and environmental care.

Defining the requirements before installation is a first step to guarantee the operation and the useful life of the cold room that your business demands.

Contact us today for more information about the services we offer related to cool rooms and everything related to refrigeration.