Just like the summer heat affects your HVAC unit, high temperatures in your kitchen will cause your reach-ins, walk-in and all other refrigeration equipment to 
work harder to maintain your internal temperatures. This ‘extra’ work will also increase your electricity bills. These quick maintenance tips will help keep your coolers running efficiently.
1. Cut Idle Time
Remind your employees to shut the lids on prep-units and closing doors properly will cut down on wasted idle time. Additionally, only use your ovens only when necessary. Don’t let them ‘warm-up’ for extended periods of time, and make sure they are turned off when not needed. If possible, cook multiple things at the same time. This will reduce energy, and reduce the amount of heat in the kitchen.
2. Quick Equipment Checks
Maintaining your equipment will cut energy costs. Repairing gaskets, making sure doors shut properly and replacing knobs all help keep the cold ‘inside’ much more efficiently. The ‘energy leaks’ not only waste money, but they make your equipment work harder and could ultimately reduce the life of the equipment.
3. Alarms & Trending
Small Box Energy’s chameleon solution provides alarms when coolers are above defined set-points, giving managers the opportunity to take corrective action immediately. This saves energy and minimizes food loss.
Additionally, chameleon also provides trending analysis through real-time and historical reporting. You will see patterns when your equipment is excessively running, giving you the ability to determine the cause and take corrective action. We have seen simple repairs needed, like those listed above, or we’ve seen it be a result of people leaving the doors open unnecessarily during deliveries, and direct sun exposure during certain times of the day, among other causes.
Small Box Energy’s Refrigeration Control, Monitoring, and Diagnostics
Small Box Energy is monitors and controls refrigeration equipment, provides current and historical data on the cloud, and enables more energy efficiency than any other system on the market.
Adaptive and intelligent Walk-in freezer and refrigeration controller
- Provides energy savings 15-50% over mechanically controlled systems
- Reduces Defrost cycles up to 70%
- Maximizes energy efficiency with less compressor run time resulting from shorter defrosts
- Eliminates ice formation on floors and ceilings
- Eliminates excessive temperature swings
- Uses sensors to learn and monitor environment
Reach-in Wireless Sensors for Temperature Monitoring
- Measures temperatures in reach-in and service area equipment
- Accuracy of ±0.5 °F, measuring range of -30°F to +130°F
- Provides alarms when temperature is out of the defined range
- 10 years of battery life
- All data is recorded in the cloud and easily accessed my managers, facility managers, and owners. Temperatures recorded in the Cloud.
Real-time Equipment Diagnostics
Real-time data and alarms alert of immediate issues; but chameleon also analyzes historical trends to identify unusual equipment wear, vibration, or performance loss and alerts operations teams to perform maintenance before an imminent failure occurs. Store-to-store comparisons can also uncover equipment not working at optimum efficiency.
Are you interested in learning about how much energy Small Box Energy can save you? Fill out this quick financial analysis form and a sales representative will contact you.
