A multi-deck that looks busy from the pavement can still be warm in the front row of product. Christmas trading shows the gap. Hours stretch, deliveries bunch into fewer windows, and seasonal displays land on the grilles a cabinet uses to breathe. The walk-in out the back can be holding steady while the case a customer buys from is not.
EJM designs, installs and maintains commercial refrigeration for food retail and hospitality, alongside the industrial plant the company is better known for. Packs, serve-overs, cellar coolers and sales-floor air conditioning all sit in that brief. What follows is a practical pass for the fortnight before Christmas.
Walk-in rooms have their own checks, in our article on keeping walk-in cold rooms reliable through Christmas trading. The notes below are for the cases on the sales floor and the cooler in the cellar.
What an open cabinet is actually doing
An open multi-deck or a well freezer holds temperature with a curtain of cold air. A stack of tins on the return grille, a night blind left up after close, ticket strips across the honeycomb, or a heater blowing down the aisle will break that curtain. The compressor keeps running, the case still feels cold at the back, and the product at the front drifts.
Walk the line after the Christmas dressing is up. If you cannot see the discharge and the return, the fans cannot use them. Measure product in the front row as well as at the rear, after the shop has been trading, not only at dawn when the doors have been shut all night.
Integral cases reject their heat into the sales floor. Remote cases send it to a pack in a plant room or a yard. Write down which you have before you call anyone out, because a noisy fan, a water leak and a failed compressor are different jobs. Serve-overs in butchers, delis and bakeries add glass and a refrigerated well. When the glass is misted, staff often leave it open, and the air curtain stops. Check the drain, the well gaskets, and whether trays are pushed against the coil.
Cellars are their own duty
Most cask ale is kept in a steady cellar in the low teens Celsius. Keg lager is often held cooler. A unit that coped in October can struggle when a Friday delivery arrives and the cellar door stands open for a barrel change. Warm stock needs time to come down, and it needs to sit clear of the evaporator while it does.
The condenser is usually in a yard that collects leaves, packaging film and standing water at this time of year. A coil that cannot breathe will ice, then trip, and leave the cellar warm on the busiest weekend of the month. Confirm that the door closes, that the set-point has not been nudged “just in case”, and that someone on site can tell the cellar cooler from the kitchen cold room.
Shops with a kitchen and a cellar often have three small systems on one supply. Say so when you book. EJM will talk through refrigerant choice and whether a secondary glycol circuit suits the pipe runs better than direct expansion alone. That is part of our commercial refrigeration work, with standby and life-cycle cost. It is engineering advice, not a legal opinion, and your own duties remain yours.
Shop air conditioning shares the room
Cabinets and shop heating occupy the same air. In a wet November the door heater may be on while open cases are still trying to hold chilled product. Air blown along a run of multi-decks is paid for twice: once to warm the space, and again when the pack removes that heat. Looking at where the vents point is often the useful first step.
EJM’s air conditioning and ventilation work includes office heat pumps with inverter control, as well as systems on food-production sites. On a shop, check that night setback is happening, that filters were checked after the summer, and that the office or staff room upstairs has not been missed. A blocked filter usually announces itself on the first day nobody is free to look. If the building also has production space, put both on one survey. They share doors, moisture and people.
Packs, floating head pressure and alarms
Remote cabinets usually run from a compressor pack. Floating condensing — letting head pressure fall in cold weather instead of holding a summer figure all year — is one of the energy measures EJM lists for commercial plant. It is listed alongside liquid pump amplification, so cases still receive liquid when head pressure is allowed to float. The saving in November only exists if winter mode is on and the liquid supply is still adequate. A pack left on a fixed high setting will keep the shop cold and the bill high. Changing that control is part of the engineer’s visit, with the liquid supply checked at the same time.
An alarm needs a person. A beeper in an empty shop at 6am does not save product. Test the route — sounder, auto-dialler or monitoring point — and the names who answer between Christmas Eve and New Year. Where EJM maintains the plant, Joblogic holds the asset list, job history and, where it applies, F-Gas records.
Leak checks stay with the operator. We advise, detect and log on plant we look after. There is no single refrigerant for every shop, and an article is not a certificate. If the pack charge is unknown, that is the first line of the brief. Low-GWP and natural options, where they fit, are on the natural refrigerants page.
A short list before diaries fill
The visit is short on purpose. It does not replace a maintenance contract, and it will not rebuild a store in an afternoon.
- Product temperature at the front of open cases and in the serve-over, after trading as well as before opening
- Discharge and return grilles, night blinds and ticket strips clear of the air path
- Drains and trays, including ceiling voids above integral cases, before water reaches the floor
- Cellar and pack condensers clear of leaves, film and standing water
- Shop heating and air conditioning directed away from open cabinets
- An alarm list that still works on the days the shop is shut
Fans, probes and cabinet parts take longer once December diaries fill. On an existing EJM service and maintenance schedule, ask for this pass to be brought forward. Without a schedule, a one-off survey is still worth booking while there is room.
Say what the shop actually is
A supermarket line, a butcher’s serve-over, a convenience store and a cellar are different visits. Name the town, so the enquiry can go to Durham, Derby, Ashford or Glasgow. The commercial and retail page covers the usual discussion: low-GWP selection, secondary glycol, floating condensing and standby.
Use the contact page and ask for a maintenance visit or a free initial site survey. If one cabinet alarms every Saturday, name it.
To discuss a survey, a maintenance visit or a new installation, contact EJM Refrigeration on 01429 836 161 or email contact@ejmrefrigeration.co.uk.
