Commercial refrigerators come in a huge variety of sizes and types. For every kind of business out there, there is a commercial refrigeration unit built for that purpose. One of the best ways to save money both on equipment and energy is to make sure your refrigeration is optimized for your space and needs.
Making Sure Your Commercial Refrigerator and Freezer Is Serviceable
Serviceability is how easy it is to access your compressor and other refrigeration components to clean, diagnose, repair, and maintain them. Before you even settle in to choose a commercial refrigerator or freezer, you should make sure you are choosing those with semi-hermetic compressors that can be serviced easily.
Any commercial establishment might find itself with several different refrigerators and/or freezers, all working together. Each one of these depends on a commercial refrigeration compressor to keep it running. Just as the name suggests, it is the compressor that compresses the refrigerant gas and makes it available to other components.
Commercial refrigerators and freezers differ from those marketed to the consumer in size, power, and serviceability. Until very recently, almost no residential refrigeration systems were designed such that a compressor could be replaced. Even maintenance was difficult or impossible.
Some smaller commercial refrigeration products still use self-contained hermetic compressor units that can’t be readily serviced. When these stop working, you will find yourself buying an all-new one. As businesses grow, this can add hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional overhead.
With semi-hermetic compressors, you have more options for repair and replacement. Most compressors will last about eight to ten years with regular maintenance. When the time comes to swap in a new one, a remanufactured commercial compressor saves money and ensures you get the right make and model.
Choosing the Right Commercial Refrigerator or Freezer for Your Application
Commercial refrigeration equipment comes in many forms. It’s always a balancing act since you want enough refrigerated square footage to grow with the needs of your business, but also need to economize by keeping energy usage down. Most businesses that use refrigeration find it uses the most energy of anything in the building, with only the lights coming close in total cost.
Some popular commercial refrigerators include:
1. Dual-Temperature Refrigerators
A dual-temperature refrigerator is the one most similar to a standard consumer unit. It has two separate temperature zones for items that should or should not be frozen. These are useful directly in the kitchen area, allowing easy access to the ingredients for different meals.
2. Reach-In Refrigerators
These come in the form of front-opening refrigerators and freezers where the contents can be reached at arm’s length. Ideal for back-end kitchens, they run anywhere from about two feet to seven feet wide, typically with stainless steel or glass doors.
3. Bar Refrigerators
Bar refrigerators are used to store beverages and mixers and come in a range of form factors. Coolers are used to display alcohol, direct-draw refrigerators enable employees to pour straight from the keg, and hybrid models combine both of these functions in an attractive package.
4. Display Refrigerators
Display refrigerators are commonly used in bakeries and cafes. They allow customers to see and select goods that will usually be available for just a few hours. They do not sustain temperatures low enough for long-term food storage.
5. Merchandiser Refrigerators
Merchandiser refrigerators are glass-door refrigerators that facilitate browsing and product selection by the consumer. These are most common in grocery stores. They can be duplexed together to share their load between multiple compressors, reducing overall wear and tear.
6. Worktop Refrigerators
Worktop refrigerators equip kitchen staff for quick food preparation and storage. They are the backbone of many commercial kitchens, being necessary for line preparation. They are widely used in the fast food (also known as quick service restaurant or QSR) industry.
7. Under-Counter Refrigerators
Under-counter refrigerators are small and compact. With a modest footprint and reduced storage space, they are usually only seen in limited “front of the house” applications – for instance, the front counter at your favorite burger joint.
Remanufactured Commercial Compressors Keep Your Commercial Refrigerators in Service on a Budget
No matter what your refrigeration setup ultimately looks like, your compressors will dictate efficiency and power. Some commercial refrigerators may have certain drawbacks or recommendations, such as not stacking items beyond a certain height to ensure the compressor does not need to work too hard.
When replacing commercial refrigeration or freezer compressors, you’ll always need to use the manufacturer and model the unit originally had. Commercial compressor remanufacturing companies help businesses like yours by making a wide variety of compressors available, including those that may be harder to find.
Each remanufactured commercial compressor goes through an end-to-end engineering process where it is cleaned inside and out and any faulty components are replaced. At every step, it is tested to ensure it will deliver high performance and efficiency for another decade.
