There are many reputable companies on the Internet who size and provide adequate refrigeration there in you will receive a competitive price and your refrigeration system will work efficiently.  On the other side of the coin you will receive and undersized system that will work well in the winter and struggle to maintain in the summer months.  So here are a few tips when dealing with an online company who you are interested in purchasing a refrigeration system from.

• Make sure they size the refrigeration to run in your ambient temperature
• Make Sure they verify the Location of the Equipment
• Make Sure they size the system so that it is a balanced system
• Make sure they allow for your humidity
• Make sure they allow for your elevation

Clear as mud?  Let us explain a little further… When we are contacted either by e-mail or by phone we want to make sure we are providing the equipment that works for you in your location.  We begin by determining the available space that you have where the walk in cooler or freezer will ultimately be installed.  Next we determine the use of the walk in rather it be a glass display walk in cooler for beverage or a display freezer or back room storage walk in cooler or freezer.  Next we determine where you are located, the refrigeration systems that we size for El Paso Texas is much different from the refrigeration sizing for a project in Maine.  The reason is Ambient Temperature, the El Paso refrigeration system will be operating in 110 degree plus while the condensing unit for the Maine walk in will be operating in at worst case 90 degree ambient temperatures, thus your refrigeration requirement is less if you live in Maine.

Another pitfall is system balance or the BTUH capacity of the condensing unit in relation to the BTUH capacity of the evaporator coil which refrigerates and circulates the air inside the walk in.  Many times to reduce costs the evaporator will be listed as a “matched” or equivalent evaporator.  Many time this means you are getting an evaporator that is undersized.  Yes it still moves air and yes it still cools the walk in however it may or may not include enough coil displacement to effectively allow for total expansion of the liquid to gas which give the coil its cooling effect.  The result is a coil that cools inefficiently an in worst case scenario sends liquid back to the condensing unit causing valve failure in the compressor!!

Humidity is another concern, why you may ask.  In applications as in lower Louisiana for instance many times people call complaining of sweating glass doors on their walk in cooler.  Yes they will sweat if the dew-point in the operating environment is reached more specifically if the dew point is reached on the surface of the glass door.  This is accelerated when applying cold air to the inside of the glass display door while the outside of the glass door has a high relative humidity.  This is a result of a humid operating environment when the store is opened up for fresh air or if the commercial air-conditioning system is bringing in fresh air and not effectively drying that air out you will have condensation on the glass doors.  A general rule of thumb is as follows you must operate your glass doors in a store environment that is +/- 37 degrees lower than the operating temperature inside the store with no more that 60%RH.  As the store humidity increases the operating temperature of the walk-in must too increase to lessen the dew point on the surface of the glass.  To prevent such occurrences one can choose to go one of two ways First Make sure your air conditioning system is doing its job by never letting the humidity in the store reach more than 65% or the fail safe proven remedy is use heated glass doors.  The second is more expensive to operate and a more expensive glass package however you will never deal with doors sweating.  The first solution saves you operating capital and reduces the cost of your glass door package!

Elevation… its on the floor right?  Wrong!!  air quality or more specifically density declines or becomes less dense at higher elevations well refrigeration works off of pressure at higher elevations you will need more refrigeration capacity!  This is called d-rating the BTUH capacity to achieve a system that is designed to work at higher elevations.

I guess to sum it all up in a tightly little package sizing refrigeration takes into account a lot of variables and IF you do not take these into account you can end up with a huge mess once your system is installed and the seasons begin to change!!  We hope this helps to clear up some of the confusion if you would like more information give us a call we will be happy to help 877-843-0183

Stay Cool!!  The Staff at JayComp…