Walk In Freezer

If your walk in freezer problem is a frozen evaporator coil, our Freezer Repair page discusses how to troubleshoot and repair some of the common causes.

If your walk in freezer has "snow" building up, look for leaking door gaskets, look for air leaking in through a hole in the panels somewhere, and observe the end of a defrost cycle to see if the evaporator fans are blowing the last of the melted ice off the coil and out into the freezer.

If this happens, you'll probably need to replace the fan delay switch, or install a fan delay control.

You could use a 3 wire Klixon, or use a defrost timer with a built in fan delay.

If the ice just doesn't seem to melt off of the bottom of an evaporator coil, and especially if the bottom pan is full of ice and overflows during defrost, you'll have to check the heater element in the pan, you'll have to check to be sure the drain line is clear, and you'll have to make sure there's a heater on the drain line, and that it works correctly.

The drain line heater should be wired to be on all the time.

Make sure the evaporator fans in your walk in freezer are all the right size, that they all run, that they're turning at the right speed, and turning in the right direction.

If even one is turning in the wrong direction, or not running, it will decrease the capacity of the freezer, and since that will cause your compressor to run longer to reach the set temperature, it will increase your power consumption.

If your light fixtures have water building up in them, you need to seal the conduit feeding the light fixture.

You can use expanding foam, or silicone caulking.

To help your walk in freezer run efficiently, keep the condenser coil as clean as possible.

This will help maintain good air flow through the coil, which will help the condenser release the heat picked up inside the freezer, will help keep head pressure down, reduce power consumption, and contribute to a long service life for the compressor.

Also, do everything you can to prevent outside air from migrating into the box.

Keep the door gaskets in good shape, and seal any holes in the walls, ceiling, or floor.

If you're troubleshooting a walk in freezer refrigeration system, you'll find some helpful pointers in our System Evaluation Manual, which has a cycle diagram and guidelines for evaluating pressures and temperatures for air conditioning and refrigeration systems.

You might also want to take a look at our Refrigeration and Electrical Troubleshooting Chart, which is re-printed from a military training manual.

If you're in the process of selecting a walk-in freezer, any of the major manufacturers will be happy to help you get a system set up that's perfect for your purposes.

Be sure to provide accurate information about the operating conditions for the system, the products it will be holding, the temperature you want to maintain, and any accessories you want built into the box or the refrigeration system.

This will help them design an efficient system with the capacity you need.

I hope this page has helped, and please, feel free to contact us with any specific HVAC questions you might have, including questions about refrigeration on Guam, or air conditioning on Guam.