What is a Cold Room used for?

Storage is at the heart of most business operations. Normally when the word storage is mentioned people imagine big warehouses full of goods. Though this might be true, storage refers to both dry and cold storage. There are some products out there, like perishable food, that can’t survive in normal storage conditions. These products need to be kept under cold conditions hence the need for cold storage facilities. Cold storage warehouses are commonly referred to as cold rooms / freezer rooms in commercial businesses. This guide will explain everything you need to know about cold rooms, what it does, and what kind of products it benefits.

What is a Cold Room?

A cold room is a type of refrigeration chamber or insulated space designed to maintain an artificially generated temperature or range of temperatures. Cold rooms are used for storing temperature-sensitive, perishable items, such as food items and pharmaceutical products like vaccines.

It keeps products at a set temperature, which keeps them fresh and makes them last longer.

For instance, perishable foods stored at the wrong temperature will spoil, leading to changes in color, texture, and flavor. Eating food that hasn’t been kept at the right temperature will also increase your chances of getting food poisoning.

Why the need for a Cold Room?

Cold rooms provide precise temperature control for commercial facilities where consistent, powerful refrigeration or freezing is required. For food or chemical storage, this means long-term temperature regulation for perishable or unstable products, lowered deterioration rates, and peace of mind knowing that items are preserved in the optimal conditions.

For pharmaceuticals, the current best practices for the warehousing of drugs requires them to be stored “under appropriate conditions of temperature, humidity, and light so that the identity, strength, quality, and purity of the drug products are not affected.” Cold rooms represent one of the above-mentioned requirements for cold storage of these products.

Some other benefits of Parameter’s cold rooms include:

• Energy Efficiency – Reduce energy costs for storage of samples and other materials. Cold storage units are constructed to prevent fluctuations in temperature, meaning less energy is required to balance and adjust the temperature while in use. This holds true no matter your industry.
• High Product Standards – Guarantee potency of vaccines, drugs, and other sensitive items with cold storage. This can also help improve your company’s reputation and reliability.
• Safety and Security – Medications and medical equipment are highly sensitive and expensive — ensure their safekeeping with locked, weather-proof cold storage units.

A cold room also comes in handy when a business starts to grow. At some point, as a business grows it will have more products than can fit in a small freezer.

This is the time to consider installing a cold room that will enable to the business to deal with the increased capacity. If your business needs a cold / freezer room in Gauteng then consider using the services of Isocool pty Ltd.

Isocool Cold Room Services

At Isocool pty Ltd South Africa, we do cold room supply, cold room setup, cold room service and maintenance in areas around Gauteng which include, Johannesburg North, Johannesburg South, Johannesburg West and Johannesburg East. Jump to the end of this article and check areas we cover or continue reading to learn more about cold rooms / freezer rooms.

How Does A Cold Room Work?

The design behind cold rooms that allows them to function efficiently isn’t so different from any other refrigeration system. Cold rooms use a compressor, condenser, fans, and an evaporator to maintain temperature within the unit. After a gas refrigerant gets compressed in the compressor it expands, and the gas absorbs energy. The hot gas flowing from the compressor passes over the evaporator coils and, after liquefying under high pressure, this cools the evaporator coils and the surrounding air. In order to maintain temperature, cold rooms must also be efficiently insulated.

What Is the temperature range of a Cold Room?

Most cold rooms will be able to accommodate temperatures between -2°C and 10°C. As for the specific temperature range of a cold room, that depends on what’s being stored inside. For food items such as fresh produce, an ideal cold room temperature ranges between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius. Pharmaceutical ICH storage will require a 5°C with a tolerance of ±3°C. When colder conditions are required, freezer rooms will be the preferred option, able to tune down to -30°C for storage of pharmaceutical products or chemicals. Freezers are also able to provide ultra-low storage needs at -50°C to -80°C.

What can be stored in a Cold Room?

As for their application, cold rooms can be used to store a variety of items across industries. The most common items include biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical products, textiles, tobacco products, perishable foods, flowers, delicate plants, artworks, and even rare books.

Precise temperature control of certain drugs and medical devices is especially important to prevent material corruption and guarantee usage safety. Laboratory reagents, dialyzers, disinfectant solutions, sterilizers, burn treatment products, and dental restorative materials, for example, are all highly temperature sensitive and require routine or consistent refrigeration to be effective. Cold rooms also can be utilized to process or slow down chemical reactions in engineering settings. And as mentioned above, if sensitive materials need to be temperature-regulated during transit, cold rooms can help there too.

Cold Room Experts Say

You can get professional advice from the most professional service providers to help you make the best decision. At Isocool pty Ltd South Africa we have been serving Gauteng, for more than 10 years. We have the knowledge and experience to handle quality Cold/Freezer room installations and maintenance. Call us at 078 922 2884 or contact us via email at info@isocool.co.za for more information about the specific requirements to set up a cold room or Get a quote.

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Areas we cover include;

JOHANESBURG NORTH

Darrenwood, Cresta, Northcliff. Melville, Randburg, Rosebank, Sandton, Rivonia, Bryanston, Morningside, Inanda, Chartwell, Fourways, DouglasDale, Benmore Gardens, Sandton, Sandton City,Linden, Fairland, Norwood, Houghton, Saxonworld,Hydepark, Craighall, Auckland Park, Pretoria, Bedforview, Northclif,Bramley.Rosebank, Jan Smith Sandown

JOHANNESBURG EAST:

 East Rand, Kempton, Benoni, Boksburg, and Brakpan, Bedfordview, Edenvale, Greenstone, Linksfield

JOHANNESBURG WEST:

 Randfontein to Roodepoort, Krugersdorp, Carletonville and Westonaria, Soweto, West Rand

JOHANNESBURG SOUTH:

 Bassoni,  Glenvista,  Lenasia,  Oakdene,  Winchester Hills and Mulbarton, Aeroton,  Belevue East,  Aspen Hills,  Bellevue, Berea, Betrans,  Benrose,  Braamfontain,  Yeoville,  Troyeville,  Regents Park,  Ormonde, Newtown,  Mulbarton,  Meredale,  Malvern,  Kensington,  Johannesburg Inner,  Hillbrow,  Glenvista, Denver, ElandSpark,  City Deep, Betrans,  Grow Gardens, Droste Park,  Fairview,  Randview,  Winchester Hills,  Glendale,  Highlands,  Rosettenville, Turfontein,  Kenilworth,  La Rochelle,  Mondeo,  Oakdenea, The Hill, Tulisa Park, Selby,  Vredeorp, Robertsham,  Pageview, Nasrec,  Moffatview,  Marshall town, Linmeyer, Kibler Park,  Fordburg,  Elcedes.