When you walk into your walk-in cooler and notice water on the floor, your first thought may be that someone has spilled something. You clean up the water, so it does not present a slipping hazard, and move on with your day. If the water re-appears, however, there's a good chance you have a bigger problem than a sloppy chef prone to spilling. Here are three issues that can lead to water accumulation on the floor of a walk-in cooler.
1. Torn Gaskets
Gaskets are the rubberized plastic strips that run along the outside of the doors. They ensure that the door seals tightly into its frame so that air does not leak through the gaps. Gaskets do not last forever, however. They experience a lot of wear and tear as you open and close the doors, and eventually, they may start ripping or becoming detached from the door. When the gasket breaks down, the cooler mechanism will have a hard time removing enough moisture from the air in the cooler since new, more humid air is always seeping in. All of this humidity will eventually condense and drip down to the floor.
Luckily, replacing a torn gasket is pretty easy. Your refrigeration repair company will simply loosen a few screws, pull the oldest gasket out, and push the new gasket into place.
2. Dirty Evaporator Coils
The evaporator coil is designed to get cold. As air flows past the coil, the "coldness" dissipates into the air. If the evaporator coil is dirty, air that flows past the coil does not come into direct contact with the coil; it touches the dust. Thus, the coil gets colder and colder. Eventually, it ices over, and when the cooler warms up a little, the ice melts and trickles to the floor.
To fix a dirty evaporator coil, you or your refrigeration repair company may need to remove items from the cooler, let it warm up so that the ice melts, and then use a coil cleaner to remove dirt from the coil.
3. Refrigerant Leaks
Another problem that can cause the coils to freeze over and drip water is a refrigerant leak. If too much refrigerant leaks out of the coil, the remaining refrigerant in the coil will hyper-cool, causing the coil to freeze over. To repair such a problem, your refrigeration expert will need to locate the leak and patch it -- and then add more refrigerant to the coil.
Do not ignore a puddle of water on the floor of your walk-in cooler. The problem is likely easier to solve than you think! For more information, check out a website like 1800coolaid.com.
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