Refrigeration – necessary but expensive.
If you use fridges or freezers in your business, you know this headline to be true.
Between energy costs, maintenance , breakdowns , spares and food spoilage, refrigeration operating costs are usually the single biggest necessary drain of cash flow.
Breaking these costs down into their segments we can see that while many business owners focus on the energy side, the maintenance and food spoilage elements also play a role in operational costs and losses.
Energy consumption.
For starters, the reason your fridges use so much power is because most of them are using control system that is a based on AIR TEMPERATURE , not PRODUCT TEMPERATURE.
A simple example to prove this.
You have a block of cheese and a cucumber in your fridge and you take out the cheese to make a sandwich. you leave the fridge door open for the five minutes it takes to make that sandwich.
In that 5 minutes, did the CUCUMBER GET WARMER?
No, because water holds temperature FAR more efficiently than air – about 1000 times more.
Only the AIR in the fridge got warmer as the warmer ambient air invaded the cooler fridge space – high pressure warmer air moves to low pressure cooler air – this is natural thermodynamics in action, same as the weather.
When you put the cheese back and close the fridge, the control systems registers a rise in AIR temperature and switches the compressor on to cool their AIR.
An average commercial fridge can experience up to 12-15 starts per hour – and with a 4kw motor- you do the maths on consumption here.
Reducing this to just 4 starts per hour is a 66% reduction in energy usage.
And this is all due to the focus on AIR TEMPERATURE CONTROL.
The air temperature differential.
Sounds complicated but is really simple. Basically, the fridge set temperature is set to between 2 and 5 degrees LOWER than the ideal product temperature to COMPENSATE for the air temperature.
Every one degree lower is 10% energy usage.
With most fridges and freezers set WELL below the ideal product temperature, the energy wastage is staggeringly high with most fridges never having chance to ever reach those set temperatures during normal operational function.
Maybe overnight (assuming there is no stock added) they might have some time where the compressors aren’t running.
The real consequence of this practice is food spoilage as the food is OVERCOOLED and suffers a progression of freezing and thawing cycles (especially where temperatures are in the low single figure units). This causes food to spoil faster.
The Shilliday tests proved conclusively that consistent food core temperatures extended food shelf life significantly with lower wastage and loss costs.
The product temperature varied only about 2-3 degrees while air temperature fluctuations ranged from 8-11 degrees.
With Ecube is installed, you can turn your fridges up to slowly eliminate this compensation and every 1 degree warmer is 10% energy saving!
Maintenance.
Simple really. The more times your fridges start and stop, the more maintenance they are going to require.
Changing the operating focus from AIR temperature to PRODUCT temperature significantly reduces the number of starts per hour.
Take your current maintenance costs over the past 12 months.
Take 50% off that.
What difference would that make to your bottom line?
Shift your focus to product based cooling data and save big.
How can you do this?
Simple, by installing a cheap and simple product called the Ecube or Endocube as it’s now know.
This device is non-electrical and inert, has a lifetime warranty and works by changing the source of temperature data from the air to the product.
It mimics the temperature of the fridge produce about 10mm below the product surface so the compressors ONLY switch on WHEN IT REGISTERS A RISE IN THE PRODUCT TEMPERATURE!
Do you sell cold air in your fridge? Then why pay for it?
International and local tests show conclusively that the Ecube/ Endocube will cut energy and maintenance costs as well as reduce food spoilage costs.
Compressor starts per hour from 12 – 4.
Lower maintenance and breakdowns.
Less food spoilage and waste.
In 2010, these units were installed in the full cold storage facility at Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market and in year 1, we saved R1 million in energy usage – Amos Mtephe JHB Fresh Market .
Combining the savings from energy, maintenance and food wastage can cut your operational refrigeration costs by 40% or more and they are super easy to install and require ZERO maintenance.
And more good news, right now you can get a 10% discount on your Ecubes and add more to your bottom line!