Cold Rooms & Walk-Ins
Chilled and frozen rooms for bulk storage, with the refrigeration duty derived from daily load and traffic.
Refrigeration for cold storage and distribution
Cold storage projects are decided by load and traffic, not by room size. A room that is large enough can still be under capacity if the daily load, the product entry temperature and the door traffic were never defined.
Where cold storage projects go wrong
The room is the visible part of the project, so it attracts the attention. The refrigeration duty is set by what moves through the door: how many kilograms arrive each day, at what temperature, how often the door opens, and how long it stays open. A room specified from its volume alone has no answer for any of those questions.
The failures that repeat across distribution and cold chain projects:
- Volume-based sizing. Storage volume says how much product fits. Daily load and entry temperature say how much refrigeration the room needs. Both are required.
- Freezing at the dock. Blast freezing and storage are separate duties. Product that arrives warm and is placed straight into a storage room pulls the whole room down with it, and every pallet already inside pays for it.
- Door traffic and infiltration. Picking rounds, forklift movements and propped doors add a load that is far larger than the panel calculation suggests.
- Condensing unit in a hot plant room. Heat rejected into an unventilated space is recirculated, and capacity falls exactly when the ambient is highest.
- No drainage plan. Defrost water and washdown water need a defined route before the floor is poured.
- Undefined site responsibilities. Base, drainage, power supply, panel erection, commissioning and handover boundaries are a common source of delay when they are not written down.
Equipment families that cover the workflow
A cold storage project is normally a combination of four families rather than a single room:
Blast Freezers
Rapid freezing before storage, specified from batch weight, entry temperature and the required process time.
Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers
Specialist low-temperature storage for high-value or technical product where a standard frozen room is not the right condition.
Upright Kitchen Refrigeration
Ante-room, staging and sampling cabinets that keep product in condition while it is checked in and out.
Selection parameters that decide the model
Send these as measured or written values. For a room, the refrigeration review cannot start without them.
| Room volume and usable layout | Volume, racking arrangement, aisle width and pallet or trolley handling define how much product can actually be stored and retrieved. |
|---|---|
| Daily product load | Kilograms in and out per day, and per delivery, drive the refrigeration duty more than the room size does. |
| Entry and holding temperature | Product entry temperature, target holding temperature and any pre-cooling or freezing step define the system arrangement. |
| Door type, size and traffic | Door openings per hour, whether the door is a hinged, sliding or strip-curtain arrangement, and how long it stays open. |
| Ambient at the condensing unit | Machine room temperature, ventilation and available air path. This is a design condition, not a detail to settle on site. |
| Panel, floor and construction | Panel thickness, floor construction, insulation details and finish are confirmed per project against the room duty. |
| Drainage and defrost | Defrost water, washdown drainage, floor falls and the route to the site drain are confirmed per project. |
| Power supply and site scope | Voltage, frequency, phase, cabling, protection and the split of installation responsibilities between site and supplier. |
Common procurement mistakes
- Buying a room from a volume figure without stating daily load and product entry temperature.
- Placing product directly into storage without a defined freezing or pre-cooling step.
- Installing the condensing unit where rejected heat recirculates.
- Pouring the floor before the drainage and defrost water route is agreed.
- Assuming installation is included without a written scope split.
- Planning no spare parts or service arrangement for a room that is expected to run continuously.
- Leaving the destination market and documentation requirement until after the equipment is ordered.
What to send with the RFQ
Send the room dimensions and layout, the racking and handling method, the daily load with product entry temperature, the required holding temperature, the door arrangement and traffic pattern, the machine room ambient and ventilation, the site utilities, the drainage route and the destination market. Note which parts of the installation the site will handle, so the scope split is clear before the quotation is prepared.
SHEHOPE is based in Foshan, Guangdong, China, and works through a shared manufacturing system with more than 20 years of experience, a 20,000 square meter production facility, four production lines, an annual capacity of approximately 50,000 units and an ISO 9001 quality system. Typical production planning runs 15-30 days, confirmed by model, quantity, season and customization scope. CE, CB and RoHS documents are confirmed per model and destination market, and warranty terms are confirmed per project.
Equipment families used here
Cold Rooms & Walk-Ins
Chilled and frozen rooms for bulk storage, with the duty derived from daily load, entry temperature and door traffic.
Blast Freezers
The freezing step before storage, specified from batch weight, entry condition and process time.
Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers
Specialist low-temperature storage where a standard frozen room does not provide the required condition.
Upright Kitchen Refrigeration
Ante-room, staging and sampling cabinets that keep product in condition during check-in and dispatch.
Frequently asked questions
How do we size a cold room or walk-in?
Start with the load, not the volume. The daily kilograms in and out, the product entry temperature, the holding temperature, the door traffic and the ambient at the condensing unit location together define the refrigeration duty. Room dimensions then determine layout and usable storage. The final configuration is confirmed per project.
Do we need a blast freezer as well as a cold room?
If product arrives warm, or if production output has to be brought down to a defined condition before storage, a dedicated freezing step is part of the process. Using the storage room to absorb that heat load reduces the condition of everything already inside, and it makes the room's capacity difficult to predict.
Where should the condensing unit be installed?
Where the heat it rejects can leave the building without recirculating to the unit. Machine room ambient temperature, ventilation path and clearance are design inputs, so confirm them with the site before the plant room is fixed. Final placement and clearance are confirmed per project.
What site information is needed before a room can be quoted?
Room dimensions and layout, racking and handling method, daily load and entry temperature, holding temperature, door arrangement and traffic, machine room ambient, power supply, drainage route and the destination market. The split of installation responsibilities between the site and the supplier is also confirmed at quotation stage.
Can the room be adapted to an existing building?
Panelled walk-in rooms are assembled on site, so dimensions can be adapted to the available space within the panel system. The achievable layout depends on the building, the access route for panels and the floor condition, and is confirmed per project.
Plan this project with us
Send the layout, menu or product mix, target temperatures and site conditions. We reply with the equipment list and the questions that still need answers.