Commercial Refrigeration Maintenance

Commercial Refrigeration Maintenance

One of the benefits of being in business for over 35 years, is that we have been able to observe some interesting trends around commercial refrigeration maintenance. Our records have shown us how similar businesses can have very different experiences with their equipment – principally due to how they have maintained it.

 

There are two very similar businesses operating within 20 minutes of our office who we have known for a number of years. Each site has almost the same equipment, both are in the hospitality trade and have refrigerated cabinets for their goods.

However…..the way they maintain their equipment is very different.

Store “A” is very normal in their approach- they service their equipment twice a year, replacing everything that is “likely to be a problem” and always have us come in during October to check that their equipment is in good working order before the hot summer season gets underway. As this is a shoulder season for us, we can slot their service in at the most convenient time for all, and then if additional works are required – once again, there’s no rush or panic, it is scheduled for a convenient time once we have all the parts required.

Store “B” are what we call an “on demand” customer, as we typically only hear from them when something is broken. These calls generally coincide with the busier times of the year when refrigeration equipment is under the most amount of pressure. Because the equipment is already broken and stock is under threat, the call is always urgent. Parts need to be sourced quickly, so there is almost always an extra delivery cost and during hot summers some parts are hard to find.

The following table compares the call outs to each store over the past 5 years.

Store No of refrigerated cabinets No of planned service calls No of emergency breakdown calls Total Av visit per cabinet per yr.
A 6 10 2 12 0.4
B 4 2 7 9 0.4

 

As you can see for the past 5 years, store A had more visits however a low number of emergency call outs. Store B had the exact opposite. Overall however each store had the same average number of visits per cabinet per year.

Here is the kicker – due to the high number of emergency call outs (and associated return visits to fit new parts), the service charges for store B was almost twice as much as store A, remembering that they also had less machines.

Store B also had a lot more parts and equipment supplied, as breakdowns generally require replacing a whole component.

The simple moral of this story is that regular ongoing maintenance means your equipment will last longer, you will have less emergency call outs, and you save money $$$

As we are now coming into summer….NOW is a good time to consider whether you want to take a “store A” or a “store B” Approach to maintaining you commercial refrigeration equipment.

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This post was written by Alpine Heating and Cooling