Refrigeration has become not just a luxury, but a necessity in the world today. If you run a business that relies on food or other products that must be kept cold, you may want to consider moving on from multiple refrigerators and opting for a cold room.
What Is a Cold Room?
A cold room, quite simply, is a room that has a lower temperature than outdoors. This can be slightly cooler, like a refrigerator, or it could be much cooler and be more like a freezer. The amount of cooling will depend on the products being stored there.
While we tend to think of cold rooms as something for food storage and restaurants, they have a lot of applications. You’ll find them used for:
- Food
- Fresh flowers
- Chemicals
- Fruit
- Aftershave
- Cosmetics
- Seeds
As you can see, keeping things chilled is about more than food. Many industries can use a cold room.
Factors in Cold Room Design
While you can purchase ready-made cold rooms that simply need to be set up in your existing space, many are bespoke. This means you’ll need to consider several factors as you select the necessary design for your space.
Cooling Efficiency
The best cold room designs are carefully created to preserve as much cold as possible. Ideally, once the room has reached the desired temperature, it will maintain that for a long period, even if the energy goes out. This is done by ensuring the walls are very thick, with excellent insulation.
The colder the room, the more insulation you’ll want. This should be discussed ahead of time with the cooling company. They will determine just how much insulation is necessary for your needs. Keep in mind that the floor and ceiling also need to be insulated, as leaving either allows for cold to escape.
Size
The size of the room will be dependent on how much you plan to store there, as well as the amount of space you have available. Calculate the cubic meters taken up by all your product and that will give you a basic idea. However, you’ll still need space to move within the room, so it needs to be larger than the amount of product you’ll store.
Don’t forget that you also need to plan for the future. While a small cold room may be ideal right now, if you continue to expand your business, you’ll need more space. Plan and increase the size of the room until you know you can support quite a bit of growth. It’s far more expensive to rebuild your room a few months after you finished just because you expanded than it is to plan for that expansion.
Temperature
What will be stored in the refrigerated room? This will determine what temperature is required. There are four main choices for cooling.
High temp: -2 to 8ºC
Medium temp: -10 to -23ºC
Low temp: -23 to -30ºC
Ultra-low temp: -30 to -80ºC
The colder you need the space, the more costly it becomes, due to the extra energy that will be used and the additional insulation. If you need below freezing temperatures, it will cost more than a merely chilled space. It also costs more in energy just to keep the temperature steady.
Location
Where will the cold room be built? This is often one of the biggest challenges. First, look for a space in your building that has enough room to build the size you need. This could be a good option, but you also have to consider some other factors when building.
Proximity to customers: Will you need to haul the products far to show them to the clients? Even though there may be some products on the shelves in the customer area, hauling new product out can be challenging if the room is too far away.
Transportation: How easy is it to transport your product to and from the chilled space? If it is down a winding corridor or far from any loading bays, it could be very difficult to get to. Plan for transportation when you’re determining where to put the room.
Will you be able to reach everything easily once your room is built? This means you need to consider nearby doors and windows and incorporate them into your plan. Alternatively, you may build an entirely separate building to host your cold room.
Safety Measures
Cold rooms have a bad reputation, thanks to films that frequently show people getting trapped in them. Today’s walk-in freezers have safety options to prevent this from happening, but there are certainly some measures to be considered when preventing accidents.
The floor must be insulated since it can create ice otherwise. This means it is very easy to slip and fall on the slick floor, so be sure the floor is protected, too. You will also want to have non-stick mats on the floor to prevent slipping.
Cold rooms, though it seems ridiculous, are also a fire hazard. Be sure to install the proper fire protection measures, such as a smoke alarm, sprinklers, or another fire suppressant. You will need at least one fire extinguisher inside, as well.
If employees are meant to work within the cold room for any length of time, you need to outfit them with the proper protective gear, including thermal protective gear and gloves. These aren’t necessary if the employee is simply going in to grab something and bringing it right back out. However, if they will be in a freezing room for more than a few minutes, thermal clothing is necessary. The amount of care to be taken will depend on just how chilled the cold room is.
Waterproof footwear with good tread is also necessary for working in a cold room. The right footwear prevents falls and other types of injuries.
Multiple Spaces
Not all cold rooms are simply rooms. You may prefer to have several rooms connected. This would allow you to enjoy different temperatures in each space. The main cold room might be cool, but then you could have a freezer leading off of it for the frozen items you stock.
Of course, adding more rooms will increase the cost, but it also makes it much simpler to manage all your inventory when it’s right beside each other. Everything is kept in a single place, so you can easily retrieve what you need. In addition, having a chilled anteroom will help reduce the amount of energy expended on the freezer space.
Illumination
It’s essential to have good illumination throughout the cold room. Without it, your employees will find it difficult to see what they’re doing. They will also struggle to identify items within the room unless it is properly illuminated. You can either use a light with a switch or have the light go on automatically when someone enters the space.
To conserve energy, consider using LED lights which will shine brightly enough to give you a clear view of everything, but use a fraction of the energy of regular lights. They also produce no heat and last for many years.
Energy Consumption
The type of refrigeration system you select will have a big impact on how energy friendly your space is. You will also need to factor in the temperature you need, since the lower the temperature, the more energy will be used.
There are several ways you can reduce your energy consumption with a refrigerated room. In general, this will be lower energy than running multiple refrigerators. Just this change can save you quite a bit in energy consumption.
The door should also close automatically so no employee can leave it open and let out the cold air. The door should be fully insulated and will be able to be opened from either side to prevent accidents. You can also employ fans to move the cold air around and ensure there are no areas that are warmer than others.
A cold room can be a good addition to your business, but you do have to plan it very carefully. Once you’ve determined exactly what your needs are, you can talk to a company about building the room to your specifications.
If you’re currently looking to build a bespoke cold room, Mitchell’s is ready to help. Contact us for a quote.