Commercial refrigeration is critical to the operation of grocery and convenience stores as well as restaurants. To get the most out of your refrigerators and freezers, be sure you have a partner who can help you effectively maintain these units.
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Here are five key tips to keeping your commercial refrigeration systems in top shape as well as the expertise and specialization to look for in a maintenance partner.
1. Conduct preventive maintenance for commercial refrigerators
Preventive maintenance is key to extending the life of your commercial refrigeration units and should be performed quarterly (or at least semiannually) following ASHRAE standards for refrigeration. Your service partner should ensure your commercial refrigerators and freezers are well-maintained and working properly.
At this time, your provider should also check refrigerant levels and temperatures, ensuring that your units are functioning optimally. They’ll also clean the units—both the interior and exterior—including removing the tray at the bottom of the unit to prevent organic growth as well as cleaning the condenser and evaporator coils and fan blades, draining pans and tubes, checking for leaks and removing water.
Refrigerator doors should be cleaned and examined, too. This includes the handles, glass and seal. Because these types of doors are prone to frequent breaks, your provider should be able to repair them and replace the seal and glass as needed as part of their service.
2. Maintain ice machines
Ice machines can be finicky and require constant maintenance. Organic growth can also be an issue with these machines as it grows faster in them than other types of commercial refrigeration units. Your service provider will need to be experienced in maintaining these machines to ensure they stay clean and in working order.
3. Get expert care for specialty refrigerants
Because not all commercial refrigeration units use a standard refrigerant, your service provider should be experienced with the type (or types) your business uses because they require different equipment. For example, R290 is a highly efficient specialty propane refrigerant that requires a higher level of expertise to maintain. Keep in mind that R290 is extremely flammable and requires expertly trained technicians. Chain Store Maintenance technicians are trained and equipped to work on standard refrigeration as well as R290 units.
4. Perform asset inventory
While knowing the key stats on your commercial refrigeration equipment is critical to extending its life, most commercial operators aren’t as familiar with those details as they should be. That’s where having a partner who can perform an asset inventory on your commercial refrigerators comes in handy. As part of your scheduled preventive maintenance, they can collect data on your units, including model numbers, age, manufacturer, manufacture date, freon used and more, to create a comprehensive, customizable inventory for your business.
Having this data can expedite repairs when they’re needed and help you build a replacement schedule (and budget) for units as they age. Asset inventory can also help you plan for replacements so that you aren’t replacing them during your peak season(s), when you want to avoid a refrigerator fail more than ever.
5. Meet your SLA requirements
Your provider should also be able to meet the requirements of your SLA for refrigeration, including rapid emergency response times, to ensure repairs or replacements can happen quickly so you don’t lose products.
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Work with a commercial refrigeration partner you can trust
Looking for an experienced, trusted commercial refrigeration service partner? Chain Store Maintenance - an MCS Company, can help you create a comprehensive preventive maintenance plan to enhance the reliability of your equipment and help extend its life, and we provide 24/7 service from experts for all your commercial refrigeration needs. Contact your Chain Store account representative or email CSMsales@ChainStore.com today to learn more.
