How to Identify Energy Wastage in your Cold Storage Facility

Are you looking for ways to reduce your energy usage and electricity bill at your cold storage facility? If so, you may want to check your doors and docks for any gaps or leaks that let the cold air escape and the hot air enter.

This can cause a lot of problems, such as:

• Higher energy costs due to increased cooling demand and wasted electricity
• Dangerous working conditions due to ice build-up, mist, and slippery floors
• Reduced product quality and shelf life due to temperature fluctuations and moisture
• Increased maintenance and repair costs due to damaged equipment and doors

So how do you know when your facility is wasting too much energy? Here are some of the signs:

 

Openings and gaps on closed doors and dock loading areas

Doors and docks should be properly sealed to ensure optimum climate control within the room or building. Light shining through is an obvious sign of wastage, and is most often seen around loading docks.

Ulti Group has an infrared camera which helps to find what areas of your facility are leaking air (either cold or warm) by taking infrared photos to show where cold or hot patches are around doorways, seals, dock ways, etc.

This is the perfect tool to use in conjunction with our more general Energy Assessment Tool to show just how critical it is to your facility to have properly sealing docks and doors.

 

Door open and close times

Once the chiller door opens, the hot air goes in and condenses when it hits the cold air. This causes mist, and because the hot air rises, it goes up to the ceiling and turns into ice. The longer the door is open the more hot air gets in, and the more snow and ice is created, creating dangerous working conditions.

Manual doorways on chiller and freezers present a large risk in this area. The hassle factor to the forklift driver means they would often leave these doors wide open as they complete their work, causing significant energy loss and ice buildup.

A lot of automatic doors are also too slow and inefficient, especially those advancing in age. Minimising cycle times while increasing the productivity of the doorway is an art, and one Ulti Group has been mastering for decades.

Frequent opening and closing of doors cannot be prevented, but doors with fast cycle times save significant amounts of energy.

 

Mist going into a freezer and Ice Build-up

Mist going into the freezer and Ice build-up on the ceiling of freezers,

chillers and fans within chillers or freezers are not just indications of energy loss, but also of overwork by that equipment to maintain correct temperatures. This leads to burn-out and increased maintenance costs to keep the stressed equipment running.

 

 

 

Damaged doors and dock seals

Damage should always be repaired as soon as possible. Regular maintenance of heating, ventilation, cooling and refrigeration systems is important for good operation and to avoid energy wastage. Maintenance seems like a painful cost at the time, but if you consider how costly downtime can be at a coolstore, it’s worth spending the time consulting with experts like Ulti Group, to ensure you have the right doors and service packages to ensure you sufficiently manage your risk.

 

How can I reduce energy usage and my electricity bill at my facility?

Luckily, there is a simple solution: installing high-quality cold storage doors that seal properly and operate efficiently. Ulti Group can help you with that. We offer a range of cold storage doors that are designed to meet your specific needs and budget.

Our most common, and one of the most unique freezer doors on the market today is the Ulti Frigo 2. A dual insulated curtain door, that ensures superiors insulation and is a proven solution for reducing ice build-up. Just ask Van Dycks.

Or our very own Ulti Flex Door. A bi-parting high speed freezer door with some of the thickest insulated panels you’ll find. Check out this testimonial video of Ian Martin from Foodstuffs, telling us how upgrading to the Ulti Flex bi-parting freezer door system has improved their site.

Or for the latest innovation in Cold Storage, consider investing in a door that utilises Air Curtain technology, maintaining a thermal barrier across the opening at all times; like our Ulti Frigo 2 Air, or the one and only Ulti Air Door.

 

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