Commercial Cold Room Maintenance | Cleaning Tips

In the food and pharmaceutical industries, whether you’re a fresh start-up or an established company, the safe and reliable storage of products is a mission-critical task. 

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Walk-in cold rooms are an impeccable solution for storing bulk orders and surplus supplies, ensuring a hygienic and professional environment. However, proper maintenance is the linchpin of maintaining a sterile atmosphere and extending the freshness and safety of your stored products. 

If your business relies on renting a cold room, ensuring its upkeep is nothing short of essential. Here are our commercial cold room maintenance and cleaning tips to help keep your space in pristine condition.

Why Cold Room Maintenance Matters

Cold room maintenance is of high importance for several reasons:

Product Safety

Proper maintenance ensures that the cold room maintains the required temperature consistently. This safeguards your products from spoilage, bacterial growth, and contamination, promoting consumer safety.

Product Quality

Maintaining optimal conditions in the cold room extends the shelf life of your goods. Freshness and product quality are preserved, reducing food waste and enhancing customer satisfaction.

Compliance

Many industries, particularly in food and pharmaceuticals, are subject to stringent regulations. Regular maintenance helps you meet compliance standards of your commercial kitchen rental, avoiding potential legal and financial repercussions.

Energy Efficiency

Well-maintained cold rooms operate efficiently, reducing energy consumption and operational costs. This benefits your bottom line and promotes an environmentally responsible food business.

Cost Savings

Neglecting maintenance can lead to costly breakdowns and repairs. Proactive maintenance minimises downtime and associated expenses.

What is the Best Cold Room Cleaning Procedure?

Hygiene is vital when it comes to the preparation and storage of food or medicine. The thorough organisation, maintenance and cleaning of your cold room is a hugely effective way of ensuring that your product stays safe to consume or administer. 

How to clean a cold storage room…

A good cold room cleaning procedure includes keeping the floor and surfaces clean and clear at all times. You can use a vacuum cleaner for any build-up of dust on the floor and tackle surfaces with a cloth, warm water, and mild detergent or specialist cold room cleaning products. Make sure you clean any spillages and discard spoiled products immediately. This will help prevent bacteria growth.

After cleaning, you should also check that the cold room is dry. Aside from causing a slippery floor, excess water can be a safety hazard by creating a buildup of ice in your cold room. 

How Often Should I Carry Out Cold Room Cleaning?

There are different levels of urgency for making sure your cold room is the safest environment possible. Some tasks on your cold room maintenance checklist should be carried out daily, while some cold storage cleaning chores can be completed on a weekly, bi-weekly or even monthly basis. 

Daily Cold Room Maintenance Checks and Cleaning

• Spillages should be cleaned up IMMEDIATELY

• Check the cold room temperature is correct for your products

• Inspect the evaporator for a build-up of ice

• Check the compressors in the walk-in cold room for oil leakage

• Check the Freon levels in the cold storage room

Weekly Walk-In Cold Room Cleaning and Maintenance

• Clean the cold room door seals and check for any cracks and general wear and tear

• Thoroughly clean all surfaces and floors with appropriate cold room cleaning products

• Neatly organise your products at the end of the week if necessary (preferable organise as you go)

Monthly Maintenance of Cold Rooms

• Calibrate the cold room temperature

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• Check the proper temperature remains when the modular cold storage has a full load

• Clean the evaporator and fins – important for temperature maintenance

• Clean the evaporator casing and all blowing fans

• Check the control valves are fully functioning

• Check the reverse blowing is working properly

• Check the defrosting function as this is crucial for an effective walk-in cold room

• Carry out a system functional test to check there is no malfunctioning

One advantage of renting a cold room with Dephna is that we regularly check and maintain cold room temperatures, so you are only responsible for interior hygiene and cleanliness of your cold room for the duration of use. 

How to Stop Mould From Growing in My Cold Room?

Mould can be common in a walk-in cold room due to the moisture in the air. Although it can be removed with some good quality cold room cleaning products and elbow grease, it’s definitely best to avoid the problem entirely. 

When warm air seeps into your cold room, condensation will form on the walls which then makes way for mould to grow. This can happen from staff not closing the cold room door correctly, but it’s more commonly caused by cracked or damaged cold room doors and seals, which is why it’s important to inspect them regularly. 

Here are some ways to keep your cold storage room mould free:

• Inspect your air tight door seals regularly and repair or replace when needed

• Ensure a fully-functioning and clean vent is available in your cold room

• Check for leaks and repair them as soon as they are identified

• Dispose of any food that is past its ‘use by’ date to stop the spread of mould spores

• Avoid using paper or wood in your cold room when possible

How Do I Safely Store my Products in a Walk-In Cold Room?

You should organise your cold room in a way that makes it easy to find products and examine their health. Check all perishable items daily to reduce food waste, and make sure to not put any of your stock directly next to a fan as this will negatively impact the flow of cold air. Be careful not to overfill the shelves as this may also affect the cold room refrigeration equipment.

Be careful not to leave the cold room door open for a significant length of time as this will cause a spike in temperature, remembering that the ideal temperature of a refrigerator is 0ºC-5ºC. Storing produce at a cold room temperature higher than 5ºC will dramatically increase the probability of the food or medicine becoming exposed to harmful bacteria.

Proper Product Storage

• Temperature Management: Maintain the recommended temperature range (usually 0°C-5°C) for optimal product safety. Avoid temperature spikes by not leaving the door open for extended periods.

• Organised Storage: Organise products in a way that ensures easy access and regular checks for perishable items. Avoid overfilling shelves to maintain proper air circulation.

What are the Benefits of Renting Professional Cold Rooms?

Since the cleanliness and maintenance of your cold room are important for ensuring high business standards, renting a commercial cold room is a great way to remove a bulk of the stress of the upkeep.

Our cold storage facilities are already certified and suitable for use in the food industries, and for any other business requiring a chilled environment to store products. They are well maintained and equipped with state-of-the-art cooling systems. Also, if you face any issues that require repair or maintenance due to technical faults – we’ll take care of it for you.

Hygiene, especially for those working in the food industry, is a top priority. That’s why our cold rooms are built from 100 mm composite hygienic panels. They are constructed to the highest standard and require no capital outlay from you, which makes them suitable for any business big or small. You can also find our frozen storage at the same locations as our commercial kitchens, delivery kitchens and dark kitchens to rent.

Renting a cold room from professionals offers several advantages:

• Certified Facilities: Professional cold rooms are certified for use in industries like food and pharmaceuticals, ensuring compliance with standards.

• Maintenance: These facilities are well-maintained, reducing the burden of upkeep on your end.

• Hygienic Construction: Professional cold rooms often feature hygienic construction, reducing contamination risks.

• Equipment: They are equipped with state-of-the-art cooling systems for efficient and reliable performance.

If you need cold rooms, you’re in luck. We have state-of-the-art cold storage rentals on site with our commercial kitchens, dark kitchens, and delivery-only kitchen rentals. Find the perfect storage solution for your needs today!

3 Critical Aspects of Cold Storage in California

1) Consider your future needs. Any time you build a new facility for your business, the challenge is to balance your current needs and expectations with long-term, projected growth. If your business is booming, and your client list growing at a rapid pace, then you need to think about a building that will address your needs today as well as 10 years down the road. To help you determine future needs, here are some important questions to review with your cold storage builders in California:

• What are your growth plans, and what kind of space do those plans require?
• How much product do you need to store? How do you anticipate that need changing in five and 10 years’ time?
• How many employees work at the facility now, and how do you foresee your workforce growing?
• What type of refrigeration do you require at your cold storage facility?

Again, your cold storage builder can help you work through these questions and their implications. 2) Determine your budget. Naturally, another key consideration is your budget. As you develop a budget for your 3) Think about environmental impact. Finally, as you consider cold storage in California, think long and hard about the different ways in which you can make your facility more energy efficient. Remember that anything you can do to offset energy costs will help you lower the total operating expense of your new facility. There are a number of ways in which you can prioritize energy efficiency during the design and build phases, such as:

• Roof and wall insulation
• Proper dock seals
• Rapid open/close doors to refrigerated areas
• Automated light sensors

Your Key Considerations for Cold Storage Construction in California As you balance all of these complex considerations, one of the smartest things you can do is enlist the services of skilled

The technology available for cold storage construction has advanced by leaps and bounds. This is great news for the processors, manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers who depend on cold storage services, yet it also presents a challenge: The construction process offers so many options that it can be truly daunting. As you think about designing and building a new cold storage facility, it can be overwhelming to know what’s necessary and what’s important. Of course, one way to gain some clarity is by working with cold storage builders in California, who can walk you through the process and help you sort out your options. Additionally, it can be helpful to think in terms of big-picture priorities. Here are three of the most significant considerations for cold storage construction in California.Any time you build a new facility for your business, the challenge is to balance your current needs and expectations with long-term, projected growth. If your business is booming, and your client list growing at a rapid pace, then you need to think about a building that will address your needs today as well as 10 years down the road. To help you determine future needs, here are some important questions to review with your cold storage builders in California:Again, your cold storage builder can help you work through these questions and their implications.Naturally, another key consideration is your budget. As you develop a budget for your cold storage design/build project, make sure you seek input from everyone who will be using the facility. Be very intentional in thinking about how the new facility needs to serve all the members of your team. As you prepare to meet with cold storage services regarding budget, specificity is key. Be prepared to answer questions like, what does the ambient temperature in your facility need to be? The difference of even two or three degrees can actually have a notable impact on final cost.Finally, as you consider cold storage in California, think long and hard about the different ways in which you can make your facility more energy efficient. Remember that anything you can do to offset energy costs will help you lower the total operating expense of your new facility. There are a number of ways in which you can prioritize energy efficiency during the design and build phases, such as:Your refrigeration construction company can help you brainstorm some additional options for improving energy efficiency.As you balance all of these complex considerations, one of the smartest things you can do is enlist the services of skilled cold storage builders . R-Cold more than meets that description. We have an incredible track record as California’s cold storage construction leaders, and we would love to talk with you further about your cold storage design and build project. To speak with one of our experts, we invite you to reach out to R-Cold at any time.

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