Acquiring a cold room is not as easy as buying a refrigerator for domestic use; cold rooms are bigger and require stricter safety guidelines. Commonly used by some industries to store perishable goods, specimens or even equipment, you should be precise and attentive when deciding on the right cold room for your business.
Cold Room Buying Guidelines:
1. Identify your needs
Before actually consulting cold room specialists, you should initially determine the role of the cold room and how it will contribute to your day-to-day operations.
a. Nature of business
Industries require the use of cold rooms to preserve goods or as a part of the manufacturing process. Here are some of the establishments that use cold rooms:
- Grocery Stores
- Hospitals, Clinics and Medicine
- Science Laboratories and Research Centres
- Information Technology and Data Centres
- Electronics
- Food Processing or Food Manufacturing
- Restaurants and Kitchens
- Storage and Warehouses
b. Types of Cold Rooms
Not all businesses require the same cold room specifications. Here are the different types of cold rooms that are available on the market:
- Modular Cold room
- Combi Cold room
- Walk-in Cold room
- Industrial Cold Room
- Custom-Built Cold room
2. Align the specification with the operational requirements
The choice of a cold room should be fully aligned with your industry’s operational requirements. Measure how much space you have and compare it with your choice of cold room facility.
Decide how much storage space you will need; this will ensure that the cold room is used to its full potential and maximising space could save money in the long run.
3. Cold room scalability
Always assume that your business will develop and grow in the future. Ask the contractor whether the cold room can be extended or suitably sized to cope with current and anticipated storage requirements. Otherwise, it could prove to be very costly at a later date.
4. Examine the running costs
Consider the energy rating of the refrigeration system. If it has a high energy rating, it is likely to consume less energy.
5. After-sales service
Look for a cold room specialist that offers after sales support. That way, if the cold room malfunctions within or after a certain warranty period, you can rest assured that the supplier will be happy to assist you.
6. Consider testimonials from past clients
Customer reviews or feedback are important. Take the time to research and read testimonials from previous customers. It will give you a good idea of their experiences of specific contractors.
1Cold offers cold room options for a variety of temperature controlled environment requirements.
Cold Store Solutions 