Do Walk-in Cooler & Freezer Walls Wear Out?

Hi there,

Do walk-in cooler walls wear out over time?

I build restaurants and we are renovating a restaurant we built 17 years ago.  A supplier is recommending we replace the walk-in box, because they “break down”. I find that hard to believe. Could you please give me your opinion?

Thanks,

- Len Chaston

Len,

On the surface, your walk-in box probably has a few scratches, dents and slightly worn metal but overall it appears serviceable and is likely structurally sound. However, the insulation inside the panel can take a much more severe beating over the years than the exterior. The insulation has to deal with huge temperature differentials between the inside and outside of your box. Depending on the material used to insulate your box it could have absorbed a good deal of moisture, which degrades the thermal resistance of your insulation. Your old walk-in was also not built to meet modern efficiency and safety requirements and it could even contain a large amount of wood (which is a poor and water permeable insulator). If you have a walk-in freezer, one indication of trouble is ice buildup on the inside of the box. This is a sign that water vapor has been able to infiltrate the insulation.

At 17 years old, the cost of running the walk-in for several years as well as the added load and wear on your refrigeration unit will far overshadow the cost of purchasing a new walk-in unit. If you do decide to opt for a new walk-in, I want you to take a look at the inside of the panels when your old unit is disassembled. A panel that is now leaking all over the floor was no longer doing the job it was intended to.

Ice buildup in a walk-in panel

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Time is Ticking on New Equipment Tax Breaks

If you are looking at upgrading your walk-in cooler or freezer or thinking of acquiring a new one, now is the time to act. The potential tax savings may help persuade your purchase decision. Usually you have to depreciate the cost of these items out over several years.  Now, a qualifying taxpayer can choose to treat the cost as an expense and deduct it in the year the property is placed in use.

Under The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, qualifying businesses can now expense up to $500,000 of section 179 properties for tax years 2010 and 2011. Without the Small Business Act, the expensing limit for section 179 properties would have been $250,000 for 2010 and $25,000 for 2011. The definition of qualified section 179 properties includes qualified restaurant property for tax years beginning in 2010 and extending to 2011.

Now is the time to take advantage of these tax breaks on new equipment, including walk-in coolers and freezers. By taking advantage of this tax break, you can save thousands of dollars in taxes.

Consult your tax advisor for details and how to take advantage of tax benefits when purchasing new equipment.

http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article/0,,id=177054,00.html

http://www.restaurant.org/nra_news_blog/2010/10/act-soon-to-claim-tax-breaks.cfm

Building a Green Sustainable Restaurant

Green Made Easy

“Sustainability” may sound like a destination too far, but you get there the same way you get anywhere—one step at a time.

By: Mike Sherer

If you’re like many, when you think of “green” or “sustainable,” you probably think of much-publicized certification programs with strict definitions you either meet or don’t. But as concepts, green and sustainable are not like on-off switches. They’re more like dimmers. They’re gradated, and you achieve them to varying degrees in incremental steps. The important thing is to start moving and gain momentum as you go.

Most of you are already taking the early steps. You’ve changed some incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents, and you recycle glass, metal and paper. You’ve installed low-flow pre-rinse valves. But what’s all this about “reducing your carbon footprint” and “becoming sustainable”? Can you do more?

What’s Green, What’s Sustainable?
Absolutely. Being green—by which we means being environmentally friendly—is getting easier. Greener products are more plentiful and less expensive, and greener practices are more widely understood these days. And becoming sustainable—which means you can sustain your activities long-term without going broke or using up the planet—is likewise more widely understood than ever before.

“Sustainability, from a big umbrella perspective, means running an operation that doesn’t negatively impact future generations’ ability to operate a restaurant,” says Don Fisher, president and CEO of Fisher-Nickel Inc., which runs Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon, Calif. “From a practical standpoint, sustainability means staying in business when the price of oil hits $100 a barrel.”

Getting Started
As with every other aspect of your business, becoming sustainable will never happen without committing to it. And you won’t know where you’re going unless you find out where you are.

“Audit where you are,” Fisher says. “And get top-down commitment. Assess your state of sustainability unit by unit, and commit long-term to solutions that will get you to your goals one step at a time.” Read the rest of this entry »

Cutting Down On Cooler Costs

Whether your chain is gearing up for LEED certification or just hoping to save on the electric bill, instituting an energy management solution can pinpoint energy waste.

Energy reduction remains an ongoing quest for convenience store operators as they look for ways to cut costs in an effort to improve their bottom lines.

Building stores to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards and seeking LEED certification is something more chains are pursuing, including Kum & Go, Kwik Trip and Quick Chek, which just opened its first LEED-certified store last month in Bayonne, N.J.

LEED is an internationally operated program encompassing the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). It provides third-party verification that a building was designed and built by implementing strategies aimed at improving performance in areas such as: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Read the rest of this entry »

New! Colored Metal for Walk-ins

In addition to our standard metal finishes, U.S. Cooler now offers over 20 different smooth metal colors for the interior and exterior of your next walk-in. The new metal colors are available for any of our standard sized walk-ins. When designing your next walk-in project, you can now design your walk-in to blend in or become the focal point of your business.

Click on picture to view other color options.

Feds Urged To Include Green Construction Code In New Government Buildings

Citing the gap between existing construction codes and green rating systems has been filled, the International Code Council (ICC) encouraged the U.S. government to reference the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) in an effort to apply sustainable design principals to the design and construction of new federal buildings.

“Prior to this year, voluntary ‘rating’ type programs were among the only options for guiding the design of green buildings,” said Code Council CEO Rick Weiland testifying at a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) public hearing. “Such programs, including LEED, were not designed to act as regulatory language. The gap between existing codes and rating systems has now been filled…. [and] are now available to address federal goals as well as meet the needs of state and local jurisdictions.”

The Code Council also offered specific comments to improve the usefulness and measurability of the proposed rule, Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Design Standards for New Federal Buildings. The IGCC, Weiland said, is a tool available to federal agencies for efficiently and rapidly achieving measurable levels of compliance with FEMP goals.

Industry support signals a consensus of key industry leaders around the necessity of a code to guide green construction, Weiland said. In addition the Code Council, IGCC sponsors are the American Institute of Architects (AIA), ASTM International, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society. The IGCC has the support of more than two thousand organizations and individuals. Read the rest of this entry »

The Exciting World of Hinges and Latches for Walk-ins

There are many different styles of hinges and latches.

Both the hinges and latches have a number on the back.  In addition, they may say “flush” or have the offset size, e.g. 1 1/8, 1 ½, etc.  It is important to have that number on the back to ensure you get the proper replacement. Additionally, having the serial number of your walk-in (often located in the door jamb on the hinge side) can be a huge help if you’re ordering the replacement part from the walk-in manufacturer.

Let’s talk hinges!

Walk in cooler or freezer hinges are either flush or offset.  The easiest way to determine which style you have is to place your hand on the outside wall of the walk-in and slide it towards the door.  If the door stops your hand from moving across the door then you have an offset door.  If your hand slides across the door it is flush.

Determine the offset measure by measuring from the wall surface to the door surface.  The offset measure combined with the number on the back will ensure you receive the correct hinge. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Tips for Restaurants on Saving Money, Energy & the Earth

Are you investing your energy resources wisely? The following tips provide ideas for maintaining an energy efficient operation.

Track energy consumption

Tracking your monthly electricity, water, sewer, trash and natural gas consumption is a first step toward managing your impact and monitoring the effectiveness of efficiency improvements. If you’re an independent operator or local chain, get audits from local utilities and municipalities. Many organizations provide free energy, water and waste audits in addition to advice, technical and sometimes financial assistance for upgrades and program development. Take advantage of these free professional services.

Allow for air circulation around refrigerators and freezers

Refrigerators remove heat from inside the box and eject that heat through the coils on the top or bottom of the unit. When you are cleaning around these units, do not push your reach-ins into tight spaces where the heat will build up, forcing the unit to work harder and use more energy.

Defrost food regularly

Develop a frozen food pull schedule to avoid the practice of defrosting food under running hot water. If a two-gallon-per-minute faucet is used for this purpose one hour every day for a year, the cost may exceed $800. Read the rest of this entry »

New! Brew Cave Takes Beer Storage to New Level

U.S. Cooler unveils its new “Brew Cave” high efficiency cooler package to small commercial and residential customers. With the new unit’s lower price, higher efficiency, and several color choices, the new commercial grade walk-in will be of great interest to small bar/club and residential users. Unlike the usual beer cave found in Convenience Stores, U.S. Cooler has made the new “Brew Cave” to fit in a small space and still offer tons of storage for beer, soda or any cold beverage at a very competitive price. This convenient high efficiency package includes everything necessary for a walk-in beverage cooler; refrigeration, shelving and draft beer dispensing system.

The Brew Cave is now available in one standard model size, 6’10” x 4’10” x 7’6”. The small size lends itself to the ability of fitting in most basements, garages, bars or clubs. The Brew Cave can store over 30 cases of beer and 6 or more kegs, all while keeping them cold and ready to enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

Mortuary Body Coolers Available

U.S. Cooler provides mortuary coolers built to meet the demands of Funeral Directors, Coroners, Medical Labs and many other temperature controlled environments. These systems come equipped with a heavy duty stationary rack system for ease of loading and unloading. Our high quality, energy efficient mortuary refrigerators are made to meet sanitation requirements and are NSF and UL approved. Our standard sized unit is 8’ x 3’ x 6’ with a floor and is a 3 body model. U.S. Cooler can also build any custom size mortuary cooler to meet your specifications.

Visit our website for more information on our mortuary coolers.