Cold rooms that hold temperature and prove it
Cold rooms, freezers, reach-ins and display cases maintained against the temperature record your auditor will ask for.
- Scope
- Cold rooms, freezers, reach-ins, display cases, alarms
- Every visit
- Temperature record reviewed, excursions actioned
- Doors and seals
- Registered and inspected per door
- Survey to schedule
- Within two weeks
- Plant overhaul and racks
- Managed specialist
Refrigeration maintenance keeps cold rooms, freezers and display cases at temperature: condensers, evaporators, defrost, door seals, controls and alarms, with the temperature record checked every visit. Plant overhauls, rack systems and warranty work are managed specialist work, done by refrigeration specialists we supervise.
- 01 Enquiry
- 02 Site survey
- 03 Scope and quote
- 04 Mobilisation
- 05 Planned schedule
- 06 Execution
- 07 Monthly report
- 08 Management review
- 09 Next cycle
Cold rooms that hold temperature and prove it sits at step 6 of the fm operating cycle. You receive closed work orders with photo evidence.
Stock loss is the real cost
The maintenance bill for a cold room is small. The stock inside it is not, and neither is the audit finding when the temperature record has a gap.
Most failures are ordinary. A condenser on a sun-facing wall, clogged with dust. A torn door seal letting warm, humid air in, which ices the evaporator. A defrost heater that stopped working in winter and was only noticed in May. An alarm that sounds in an empty building at 03:00 and reaches nobody.
More of it starts at the door than in the plant. Seals split, closers weaken, strip curtains get tied back because they slow the forklifts, and freezer door frames ice up when their heaters fail. It is dull, and it is where most of the ice comes from.
Condensers to alarms, the full list
| Component | What is done | Typical interval |
|---|---|---|
| Condensers | Coils cleaned, fans and mounts checked, airflow and siting noted. | Monthly in summer, quarterly otherwise |
| Evaporators | Ice build-up, drain line, fans and coil condition. | Monthly |
| Defrost | Heaters and timers proved, and the drain heater on freezer drains checked. | Quarterly |
| Doors, seals and heaters | Seal condition, closers, strip curtains and the frame heaters on freezer doors, each door on its own line of the register. | Monthly |
| Controls and probes | Setpoint against reading, and each probe checked against a reference thermometer with the offset recorded. | Monthly |
| Alarms | The high temperature alarm triggered and proved to reach a person. | Quarterly |
| Refrigerant circuit | Pressures recorded, and leaks found and repaired rather than topped up. | Every service |
| Compressors, circuit rebuilds and racks | Compressor replacement, refrigerant circuit rebuilds, supermarket rack systems and warranty work, done by refrigeration specialists. We diagnose, write the case with readings, supervise the visit and keep their report beside ours. Managed specialist work. | As diagnosed |
What sits in the cold room file
The unit service sheet
One per cold room per visit: readings, defrost, seals, condenser condition and the technician's name.
The excursion log
Every excursion since mobilisation with its cause and the action taken, which is the page a customer or regulator audit asks for.
The alarm test record
Each quarterly test: the alarm triggered, who it reached and when.
The door and seal register
Every door with its seal, closer, strip curtain and frame heater condition.
The probe check records
Each probe against a reference thermometer, with the offset, every month.
The defect list
Anything beyond the service, such as a condenser in full afternoon sun, with a recommendation and a priority.
The temperature record, every visit
An auditor does not ask whether the cold room works. They ask for the record: continuous, readable, and with an action written against every excursion.
- 01
Read the logger
The data since the last visit reviewed, gaps included, before anything is touched.
- 02
Write the action
Every excursion gets a cause and an action written against it, so the log answers the auditor's next question.
- 03
Check the probes
Each probe compared with a reference thermometer and the offset recorded, which catches a drifting probe.
- 04
Prove the alarm path
The alarm triggered and followed to the person it is meant to reach, with the test logged.
An audit finding and a phone switched off
A food distributor in Dammam's Second Industrial City runs three cold rooms and a freezer. Its last customer audit found excursions on the logger with no recorded action, and the night alarm had been ringing a phone that was switched off.
Our survey finds a condenser on the west wall in full afternoon sun and matted with dust, a torn seal on the freezer door, and an iced evaporator. The condenser is cleaned and a shade structure recommended. The seal is replaced and defrost is proved. The alarm is re-routed to the on-call supervisor's phone and tested with the warehouse manager watching.
The client holds an excursion log with a cause and an action against every event since mobilisation, an alarm test record, a door and seal register, probe offset records and a defect list with the shade recommendation priced.
Asked by warehouse and food-site managers
Can you calibrate our temperature probes?
We check them against a reference thermometer and record the offset, which catches a drifting probe. A traceable calibration certificate comes from an accredited calibration provider, which we can arrange and keep on your file.
Who answers the alarm at night?
Whoever the contract names. We set up the call path, test it quarterly and log each test. An alarm that reaches nobody is worse than no alarm, because everyone assumes it works.
Do you maintain supermarket display cases?
Plug-in cases, and remote cases on the case side, yes. Central rack plant is managed specialist work, done by a refrigeration specialist we supervise.
Is this relevant to SFDA?
For food storage, temperature records are part of what SFDA and customer auditors look at. We keep them in the form they ask for; how the whole system is judged is theirs to decide.
Can you respond when a cold room fails?
Yes. Cold room failures are written as P1 or P2 in your priority schedule, with the response window set for your site in the contract.
Along the same cold chain
HVAC
Condensers, refrigerant circuits and readings, on the building's comfort cooling.
Read moreSectorWarehouses
Cold stores, dock doors and the records a distribution site is audited on.
Read moreSectorFood facilities
Where the temperature record sits inside a food safety audit.
Read moreITF HygienixHygienix MEASURE
Thermometers and loggers specified in the zone plan.
Read morePart of one system
Every division keeps records to the same standard, so the second one you need works the way the first one did.
Book a site survey
Bring the last three months of logger data to the survey. The excursions with no action written against them are where the scope starts.