Does your fidge or freezer break down just now?

Did you just find your firdge or freezer break down? What’s the first thing to do? You gotta check around your appliance. whether there is any obstruction to electricity supplied to it or any blockage of air. Second, read the instruction manual where it shows how to trouble-shoot it. If you take some time to read the instruction carefully, it usually tells you what to do before calling up your supplier.

1st thing to do – Don’t panic

The reason why I am saying this to you is because just simply calling your supplier 99 out of 100 doesn’t give you solution straight away. Simply, you gotta wait till they get back to you. But, as an operator in the busy kitchen or a shop owner, you don’t have that much patience. isn’t it true? If say ‘yes’, please read it carefully before you realise you got no other option and call supplier for service call.

More often than not, it’s not a major issue

Most commercial fridges are built to resist harsh environment. That’s why it’s expensive to buy. However, how it’s being used and maintained can lead to break-downs. So, if you are a catering shop owner, you should know how to deal with unexpected malfunctions. You should know this thing will happen before you know it.

As a service manager, I have seen many occasions where commercial fridges recover themselve. isn’t it suprise to you? It really depends on symptoms that you notice.

If the issue is on temperature, all you need to do first is ‘turn the unit’s power off’

All the machinery can easily overheat and major components of the system can’t get through it in the right time. I understand it sounds a bit odd but it works at many occasions. when I say ‘turn if off’, I don’t mean by it should be back on right after. leave it off for at least 6 hours or long till the unit completely cools down. You will be surprised when you find it up and running next day

If the issue is short-circuit or related to power, there are few things to check

First of all, turn the power back on and see how it goes. But, maybe it’s better to try it 1 or 2 hours later because it may be caused by overheated elements in the system. Once the power is back on, keep monitoring how soon it trips again and switch off.

If your fridge turn on whatsoever, go to main switch board and check if the circuit breaker pulled down. If it did come down, then, you should pull it back up and see how it goes. Most of times, it’s back up and running.

If short-circuit occurs as soon as unit is turned on, check main switch board if the circuit swtich turned down. if it is on, then unplug the power cord from wall socket and try plugging it in different wall circuits where you think it’s different line of circuit. If the problem still persists, try other electricals on the same venue to be connected to the circuits before calling your service agents. If other electricals work well then, more than likely the problem comes from fridge.

Worst case scenario is short-circuit occurs often but not regularly. It switches off itself randomly. This is a hardest fix among all the service cases. That’s because service technicians are required to monitor it till it occurs to be able to find the cause. So, it takes very long time to monitor and diagnose. if your unit is not under warranty any more, you may need to consider buying new unit if that’s the case. The bill you will see for the job will be more or less equivalent to the price you pay to get the same unit with warranty.

Firdges are made with uncountable electric wirings and if one of those wirings caused short-circuit, it’s almost impossible to find where it was caused.

Make a habit of the below to keep it running for long time.

• Check condenser filter if it’s dusty and blocked air flow. If so, please clean it with hard brush. do not touch with your hands
• Check ambient temperature(venue temperature) is too hot. please cool it down whatsoever
• Check ventilation around condenser unit of fridge. if there is any obstruction of air flow

There are many other service issues around commercial fridges. However, it can be fixed anyway. As an end-user, you should not deal with it alone. Always seek assistance or help from someone you know.

I hope my article would help some people. if you have any question or feedback, feel free to share it with me.