The Challenge – Keeping Refrigeration Displays Cool
One of the major causes of refrigerator inefficiency or failure is dirty or clogged condenser coils. This results in restricted airflow throughout the system and will require the refrigerator to work harder and consume more electricity in order to maintain the optimum temperatures necessary to avoid food spoilage.
Refrigeration accounts for a major percentage of in-store electricity demand ranging from 25% – 30% for larger hypermarkets to over 60% for food-dominant convenience stores. In June 2013, during the annual Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) Refrigeration Summit in London, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker called on the UK’s major supermarkets to step up their efforts to improve energy efficiency by adopting new refrigeration technologies. In a typical supermarket the cost of refrigeration is by far and away the largest percentage of energy used and the retail display units are a 24/7 operation with high failure rates. In the event of a failure a retail outlet will lose product, revenue from ost sales and have to deal with a potentially expensive repair bill.
The Solution – External Air Intake Filter Makes Maintenance Easy
One of the quickest and simplest ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption is to ensure a regular maintenance schedule for refrigerated display cabinets and ice machines is carried out. It’s essential for condensers and evaporators to be kept clean and to ensure fans and defrost systems are working correctly.
To avoid expensive maintenance schedules, many retail outlets are recognizing the benefits of using external air intake filters, like the PreVent Model R. This allows regular retail staff to remove and clean them as part of their daily cleaning schedule. Air intake screens can be positioned on the outside of metal air intake louvers thanks to a patented and unique magnetic fixing design. The filters then become easily accessible from the outside without having to pay engineers to have the displays turned off and dismantled in order to retrieve them.
Read the entire article about the UK trials being conducted at Soho Coffee Company locations, as seen in the March 2014 online issue of Cooling Post
