The inside of an empty stainless walk-in cooler with wire shelving and an evaporator fan

24/7 for refrigeration Red Seal certified Coolers and freezers

Walk-in cooler and freezer repair

Warm boxes, iced coils, short cycling and doors that stopped sealing, looked after from a shop in Qualicum Beach.

Red Seal certified technicians 24/7 for commercial refrigeration Owner-operated by Mark Griffin Based in Qualicum Beach, BC

A walk-in is two machines and a box

Diagnosis starts with which of the three has let go, because the repair and the bill are completely different.

A box that is warm while the unit runs is a different fault from a box that is warm because the unit has stopped, and both look the same from the doorway. We gauge it, read the controls, check the defrost and look at the door before anything comes apart.

Most of the walk-ins we are called to were installed by somebody else, are older than the kitchen around them, and still have years in them once the right part goes in.

Condensing unit The half that makes the cold, and the half that usually stops. Compressors and contactorsCondenser cleaning and fan motorsRefrigerant charge and leak checks

Evaporator and defrost Inside the box, where ice tells you what is wrong. Defrost heaters, timers and terminationsDrain lines and heat tapeFan motors and blades

Doors and panels The cheapest repair on the list, and the one that pays back fastest. Gaskets, sweeps and closersHinges, latches and safety releasesPanel damage and sweating joints

Controls and alarms What holds the setpoint, and what tells you when it slips. Thermostats and pressure controlsTemperature alarmsLogging you can hand an inspector

What your walk-in has to hold

Three numbers decide whether a box passes or fails, and they are not a matter of opinion.

4 °C Cold holding, maximum Potentially hazardous food, stored or displayed.

−18 °C Frozen storage, maximum Stored, displayed or transported.

1 °C Thermometer accuracy Every piece of refrigeration has to carry one.

B.C. Reg. 210/99, Food Premises Regulation, sections 14 and 19. The regulation also requires equipment of a type and capacity able to hold those temperatures, which is what an inspector reaches for when a box has been drifting.

24/7 refrigeration repair Restaurant and food service

What owners ask about walk-ins

What temperature should a walk-in cooler be?

Under the Food Premises Regulation, potentially hazardous food has to be stored or displayed at not more than 4 °C, and frozen food at not more than −18 °C. Most kitchens run the cooler a little colder than the limit, because the door opens all day and the swing has to stay under the line. B.C. Reg. 210/99, section 14.

How much does it cost to repair a walk-in cooler?

It depends entirely on which half has failed. A gasket, a fan motor or a defrost timer is a different job from a compressor change, and the same symptom can be either. We look at it, then you hear what we found and what it takes before anyone goes further.

How long should a walk-in last?

The box and the refrigeration age at different rates. Panels and doors often outlive two condensing units, and what decides the refrigeration is duty, how clean the condenser has been kept and whether the door has been sealing. We will tell you which part of yours is near the end rather than quoting a whole new box by reflex.

Can you take over a walk-in another company built?

Yes. Put the model and serial numbers off the condensing unit and what your last service invoice says in the contact form, and we will tell you what we see before you book anything.

Gloved hands connecting refrigerant manifold hoses to the service valves of a condensing unit

New walk-ins and rebuilds

Sometimes the box is sound and the refrigeration is finished. Sometimes it is the other way round. A rebuild replaces the half that is done and keeps the half that is not, and we will say which one yours is before you price a whole new cold room.

For new work we size the system to the room and the product rather than to the last unit that sat there, and we quote the panels, the condensing unit, the controls and the commissioning as one job.

One thing to know before you price a like-for-like swap: since January 1, 2020 new commercial refrigeration imported into or manufactured in Canada is capped on the global warming potential of its refrigerant, at 1,400 for a stand-alone medium-temperature system, 1,500 for a stand-alone low-temperature system and 2,200 for centralized systems and condensing units. The old unit is not always still on the shelf.

SOR/2016-137, Ozone-depleting Substances and Halocarbon Alternatives Regulations, sections 64.4 and 65.02 with Schedule 1.1.

Installation and new systems Repair or replace

Most walk-in failures give notice

Ice where there was none, a condenser you cannot see through, a door that needs a shoulder. The box tells you first.

A scheduled visit is mostly unglamorous work: clean the condenser, clear the drain, check the defrost termination, read the superheat, put a thermometer against the shelf where the product actually sits, and write the numbers down.

The written part matters as much as the wrench part. A log of temperatures over time turns a health inspection into paperwork, and it shows you a box losing ground weeks before it gives up on a long weekend.

Walk-ins are one part of the commercial refrigeration side of the shop, and most customers end up with the coolers, the ice machine and the cases on one visit.

On a plan, the same box gets looked at before it quits

Scheduled visits, written readings and a service record you can hand to an inspector.

Maintenance plans

Walk-ins we look after

Kitchens, coolers and cold rooms across Oceanside and Nanaimo, up Highway 4 in the Alberni Valley, and out on the West Coast.

Call about the walk-in

250-797-2829 reaches the shop around the clock for commercial refrigeration. For work that can wait, book a service call through the contact form, with the model numbers off the condensing unit.

Call 250-797-2829 Book a service call

Walk-in cooler and freezer repair

A walk-in is two machines and a box

What your walk-in has to hold

What owners ask about walk-ins

New walk-ins and rebuilds

Most walk-in failures give notice

Walk-ins we look after

Parksville

Qualicum Beach

Nanaimo

Port Alberni

Tofino

Ucluelet

Call about the walk-in