Freezer stuck in the ice age? | DEMM | Engineering and Manufacturing magazine NZ

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Freezer stuck in the ice age?

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

MAINTAINING temperatures of minus 25 degrees Celsius or lower in freezers is hard work.
And in the summer months, with higher temperatures and humidity, maintaining these temperatures gets even more difficult and expensive. As well as the extra energy costs, there are risks of product being damaged and rejected through temperatures not being maintained correctly. So what are the solutions?
Everyone wants a safe and energy efficient freezer, particularly your accountant! Traditionally a lot of attention has been given to refrigeration, and rightly so, but what is often overlooked is the cause of the problem – all the warm air enters the freezer via the doors.
The refrigeration units are working overtime sucking up large amounts of electricity, the evaporator is getting iced up, ice forms on the floor, walls and ceiling, etc, all because warm moist air is entering into the freezer via inefficient, slow or un-insulated doors.
This problem is often attempted to be rectified by PVC strip curtains, motorised freezer panel doors or even rapid roll doors, with limited and varying success.
Total Doors and Egmont Doors specialise in this area, and have developed a fast acting bi-parting insulated freezer door that solves these problems and is being rapidly embraced by leading players in the refrigerated food industry.
The Ulti-Flex door features 150mm thick insulated door leaves that create an air-tight seal when shut, but is flexible enough to flex if hit by a forklift.
Speed of the total opening cycle is very important to reduce ingress of warm air. The Ulti-Flex satisfies this requirement with speeds of more than two m/s and adjustable ‘hold open’ times.
Andrew Lane of Tegel Foods in Henderson had Total Doors install an Ulti-Flex Door recently into his freezer, and he is delighted with the result. “Temperatures in the freezer dropped by four degrees Celsius after the door installation. The door controls the temperature so well that temperature in the neighbouring room has risen, showing starkly how efficient the Ulti-Flex Door is,” he says.
Andrew’s story is well supported by other customers, who report a similar temperature change after the Ulti-Flex door installation – these include Tip Top Foods, Foodstuffs, Affco, Halls Transport, Watties and McCains.
If you are interested in conserving energy and solving the problems in your freezer, contact Total Doors or Egmont Doors before summer advances much further.

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