Best practice guide for coolrooms

The Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating (AIRAH) is conducting a review of a best practice guide for energy efficient walk-in coolrooms and freezers.

Walk-in coolrooms are those intended to store chilled or frozen foodstuffs and other perishable items. They are accessible by at least one door suitable for people to walk through.

The guide is intended to cover walk-in coolrooms and freezers (WIC and WICF) constructed from insulated sandwich panels that form an insulated enclosure. They can be constructed onsite or factory built and pre-fabricated, ready for assembly or delivered made up and pre-assembled.

AIRAH’s Executive Manager – Government Relations and Technical Services, Phil Wilkinson, F.AIRAH, says that massive gaps have been identified in the sector.

He points to an industry and government study last year that found the potential energy waste in coolrooms and freezers is more than 25 per cent. The study also found the existing WICF supply chain is almost completely unregulated, with very minimal to no guidance for contractors and end-users regarding what constitutes minimum or good practice.

Wilkinson says the public review process is a critical part of developing new industry regulations.

“It’s an opportunity for people to review technical content for accuracy and omissions, and provide constructive evidence-based comments for consideration in the final document,” he says.

The review is open for comment until Friday, September 20. Click here to read more.