Frequently Asked Questions - Commercial
Q. How do I troubleshoot my commercial
refrigeration?
A. These units may be hard to repair, and you need to
have a certification to learn the right actions, but it
doesn't take a certification to understand what may be causing the
problem. Learning some basic troubleshooting procedures may get
your refrigerator operating without repair.
- My Unit has Died - If your refrigerator is not turning
on, or seems to have no power at all, first make sure it's plugged
in. If it is a refrigeration unit that uses a
disconnect and circuit breaker, make sure that it is on. If the
unit has a power switch, check to make sure this is in the "on" position.
- My Unit's Coil has Ice on it - If your refrigerator's
coil is freezing up, with excess ice collecting on pipes or
inside the unit, check that the evaporator fan is operating. If
there is ice on the evaporator, melt it by turning the unit off
or by using hot water.
- My Unit isn't Cooling - A compressor creates the cold
air used to freeze or chill food. If it's not operating, your unit
has power, but no chill. If you believe the compressor has
malfunctioned, check to see if it's operating. It should make a
humming noise. If it is making a start-up noise, then a
loud clunk, the compressor engine is attempting to start, but is
resetting before it can do so. This may indicate an engine
issue. If it is running hot, the unit may be overloading. Check
that the compressor fan is operating and clear of debris. If it
is, you may need a service technician to examine
it out.
Q. What exactly is a Preventative Maintenance
Program?
A. "An ounce of prevention ....", and
that is especially true when it comes to food equipment. Regularly
scheduled preventative maintenance tasks keep your equipment running
properly, resulting in many benefits:
- Longer Equipment Life - properly maintained equipment
simply lasts longer and has a higher resale value
- Enhanced Operating Efficiency - ensures that the equipment
operates at peak performance levels
- Less Costly Downtime - anticipating and preventing
problems before they occur, helps avoid downtime and
dissatisfied customers.
- Reduces Maintenance Costs - catches minor equipment problems
before they have a chance to become major ones. If any necessary
repairs are found, they can often be performed on the spot,
saving you the travel charges of an additional service call.
- Ensures Proper Maintenance - scheduling normal required
preventative maintenance tasks gives you peace of mind in
knowing that they will not be overlooked or postponed, but
carried out by experts.
(See a sample Maintenance Worksheet:
If you are interested
Click here)
Q. Do you offer 24-hour emergency service?
A. We provide 24-hour emergency service for our
established commercial customers only.
- It is our policy to not run after-hours/holiday/weekend
service for anyone that has not already established a
relationship with us. It is our experience that a "cold call",
(on a weekend), does not often lend itself to satisfactory or
complete remediation of a critical failure, when the dynamics of
interacting with the public are occurring during a "first
visit". There are very many other servicers that are happy to do
this.
- New relationships are qualified from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, (less holidays).
- As an established customer of Akrit Sales & Service, you
receive preferred treatment and consideration. Since we are
familiar with your operation and requirements, we maintain our
availability to serve you when your needs are critical.
Q. Do you give free estimates?
A. It is very difficult to diagnose a problem on the
phone.
- There are some diagnostics that must happen to determine what
course of action is needed, in order to give an estimate of
the cost of remediation for a refrigeration failure. This requires a service call and a service call incurs
some cost.
Upon determination of the cause of the failure, the costs and
schedule of the proposed remediation will be presented for your
consideration.
- Often we receive a request to quote a repair that has
been diagnosed by another servicer. These dialogues could be
telling of either the servicer, or the prospective customer. We require that we make our own
diagnosis and base a plan of action according to our
findings. Therefore, a service call is required.
- If you are interested in equipment and installations, and
you have specifications, we will be happy to help you with your
selection, and provide you with a quotation or estimate.
Q. Can you convert my freezer to a
refrigerator?
A. You would think that since a freezer gets
down to zero degrees, that if you just turned the thermostat up to 35,
you would basically have a refrigerator. But it is more complicated
than this.
- You would think that the Freezer would not work as hard at
35 degrees, as opposed to zero degrees, but this is not
the case. In fact, a "low temperature" refrigeration system
operating in a "medium temperature" situation is most likely
out of its rated operating range (maximum rated
evaporating temperature), and the compressor is drawing high
amperages, and is not being cooled properly.
- Refrigeration compressors and other system components are
made to operate efficiently in the application that they are
deployed. Low temperature applications have low pressures
entering the compressor compared to the significantly higher
pressures in a medium temperature application. The higher the
evaporator temperature, the higher the return pressure to the
compressor, and the "harder" the compressor works - because the
higher the pressure the heavier or more dense the refrigerant
is.
- Compressors and condensing units are rated for efficient
operation according to the evaporating temperature of the
application that is recommended to be deployed. For example, a
typical low temperature condensing unit for a zero degree freezer
may be rated for evaporator temperatures -20 to +10degrees,
whereas a medium temperature unit may be rated for evaporator
temperatures +15 to +35. As the evaporating temperature
decreases, the condensing unit becomes less efficient (does less
work), as the evaporating temperature increases, the unit
becomes more efficient. But, if you exceed the maximum rated
evaporating temperature for the unit, you will be operating in
an overloaded condition. A refrigeration condensing unit
operating in a system that is designed above or below it's
specified operating range is doomed.
- Freezers employ controls to minimize the return
pressure to the compressor, because the system is regularly "out
of the operating range" of the compressor, after defrost for
instance. One method to control the pressure is to disable the
evaporator fan by means of a thermostat. A thermostat senses the
evaporator temperature and at the point that the evaporator
temperature is within the operating range of the system, the
thermostat will then enable the fan motor and refrigeration
commences in the space. You may have noticed this behavior in
your equipment, before. Most low temperature systems are not
designed to have the (indoor) fan running and refrigerating when
the evaporator coil temperature is above, say +10 degrees.
- In general, if you need to utilize a previously
low-temperature space for a medium temperature application,
you're best to replace the low temperature refrigeration with a
medium temperature system. The medium temperature system will be
about 1/3 less horsepower and consume less electricity, and
because it is operating within it's design (if specified
properly) you will be much less at risk of incurring losses of
product and maintenance expenses for maintaining a piece of
equipment in an application that it was never intended to be
used in.
Q. I turned the thermostat up, but that
didn't solve it....
A. The temperature
control in your equipment is really just an on/off switch. Turning
the dial to a colder temperature does not make the machinery "work
harder".
- The numbers on the control dial
indicate at what point the refrigeration will be on, and then at
which point it will turn off. The compressor is only either on
or off.
- If you notice your temperatures are
considerably out of range, and you are certain that the
temperature control setting is correct and has not been tampered
or accidentally changed, you are best to call for service, right
away.
- Chances are that turning the
thermostat to a different setting will only extend the downtime
you are experiencing and may not only jeopardize your product,
but may become more expensive if emergency service is required.
A worse situation is allowing the equipment to run in a faulty
condition that may result in more serious damage to the
refrigeration system - and additional costly repairs.
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