Life-Changing Rules for Well Organised Storage

Posted on: 16 June 2017

As many in the food industry know, ensuring your cool room runs smoothly is central to retaining stock that's healthy and fit for consumption. If you're benefiting from a cool room installation, taking the time to maintain it reduces the need for repairs and replacements. In addition, it makes sure your room runs at a consistent temperature, which in turn allows you to meet health and safety standards. With a few regular actions, you can ensure your cool room functions soundly.

Pay close attention to cool room hygiene

When keeping your cool room clean, consider the conditions you want to see when visiting a restaurant. This means addressing spillages promptly, keeping meat and vegetables separate, and removing items that are out of date. In addition to ensuring you meet health and safety requirements, a clean cool room is more energy efficient. When hidden mould and slime grows out of control, it can affect the filtration systems that allow the room to stay cool. In addition to ongoing maintenance, consider using a deep cleaning service periodically.

Look out for chemical leaks and stains

Your cool room installation relies on coolant to maintain a steady temperature. If you see stains you can't attribute to other spillages, consider investigating whether the refrigerant is leaking. When this happens, you must address leaks immediately to prevent a complete breakdown of the system and to reduce chemicals contaminating your products. If you're keen on vigilance, consider keeping a logbook of leaks so you can identify patterns that may indicate oozing chemicals.

Inspect your drain line

If your cool room features a drain line, inspect it once every six months to see if it's clear. Clogging may lead to an increase in temperature. which then results in products thawing. In addition to regular drain line checks, examine your products to see if they're thawing. If this starts to happen, you may find your drain line is clogged, or if there's no identifiable cause you could need a cool room repair service.

As well as looking at your drain lines and keeping the room clean, make sure your staff knows the tell-tale signs of a malfunctioning room. This includes smells you associate with rotting food, regular spillages, food that's beginning to thaw, and a noticeable drop in temperature. Should such issues arise, consider calling in a professional, who will assess whether you need a replacement or repair. To prevent reaching this point, stay on top of your maintenance duties or allocate them to others so they don't slip through the net.