How to choose a professional refrigerator?
The choice of a new professional refrigerator is not to be taken lightly. This long-term investment represents a certain cost and it is essential to target your needs in order to correctly choose your appliance, to optimize the conservation of your foodstuffs.
There are several ways to produce cold: static cold, ventilated cold (or No Frost), and stirred cold (or dynamic). Each one has its own advantages and disadvantages, which we will describe here.
The static cold
This is the most commonly used traditional technology.
The principle of static cooling consists in the diffusion of cold air in the refrigerator enclosure, through an evaporator. The cold air then circulates freely inside.
Loaded with humidity, the cold air will first go down and then go up once it starts to warm up. Once cooled again by the evaporator, it will go back down, and so on.
As a result, the refrigerator has several temperature zones. The coldest zone is located towards the bottom of the appliance, so it is necessary that the most fragile products such as meat are placed at the bottom of the refrigerator.
Benefits: Inexpensive, quiet, energy efficient.
Disadvantages: Requires organization for the storage of foodstuffs due to temperature differences, frost formation.
The stirred cold (or dynamic cold)
In this case, the cold produced is stirred, as its name indicates, by a turbine (or fan) located in the bottom of the enclosure. The cold is distributed in a more homogeneous way in the whole appliance, and allows a conservation of foodstuffs up to 2 to 3 times longer than a traditional refrigerator with static cold, without drying them out.
For example, while the bottom of the device is about 3/4°C, the top will be 5/6°C. The temperature difference is therefore minimal and generally does not exceed 1°C. Generally the air is stirred after opening the door, allowing to restore the temperature inside twice as fast as a classic cold cabinet.
Benefits: Preservation of foodstuffs twice as long as static refrigeration, rapid restoration of temperature after opening the door, no drying out of foodstuffs as it preserves the humidity level.
Disadvantages: Causes frost to form (thus increasing energy consumption), may cause odor to mix with food (protect with cling film).
Ventilated cooling (or No Frost)
In the latter case, in addition to the fan, the principle of ventilated refrigeration is to diffuse cold and dry air directly into the compartment through a column located on the bottom wall. This refrigeration system allows to diffuse a constant and homogeneous temperature at all levels, and thus to preserve the foodstuffs up to 3 times longer.
The ventilated cooling technology is certainly one of the best developed to date. However, the dry air diffused in the enclosure can tend to dry out the food, so it is advisable to cover it with a layer of air..
Benefits: Homogeneous and constant temperature distribution in the refrigerator, preservation of foodstuffs 3 times longer, no frost formation.
Disadvantages: Risk of food drying out, high price.
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