Dehumidification for energy-efficient cold storage in the UK
Humidity and condensation will impact cold room operations
Condensation, ice buildup, fog, and reduced energy efficiency are the warning signs. Moisture can make its way into cold storage facilities through loading dock doors, gaps in walls, and, ironically, through the people working in the room. Regardless of how moisture enters, it leads to operational problems and drives costs.
In cold stores (-0 °C), when warm air comes into contact with cold surfaces, it quickly freezes, resulting in frost and ice build-up on floor, shelves, ceiling, and the cooling coils. In addition, fog tends to reduce the visibility.
In refrigerated warehouses and chilled rooms (+0 °C), excessive humidity leads to condensation, which can damage both packages and products in storage, and also risks to lay the ground for mold and mildew growth.
In both cases, the cold stores as well as the chilled warehouses, operational efficiency is impacted and there is a risk for increased energy consumption. There is no rooms for condensation, fog, frost, and ice in a cold storage facility. The most cost-effective moisture control system for industrial cold storage applications is desiccant dehumidification.
With excess humidity in cold stores, you risk:
- Operational inefficiencies – Trucks delayed and damaged barcodes disrupt workflow.
- Challenging conditions – Fog limits visibility; frost removal is a constant task.
- Worker safety – Slippery floors and falling ice endanger workers.
- Excess energy use – Frost buildup on cooling coils drives up energy consumption.
"The condition of the cold store has greatly improved, and we are now snow and ice free for the first time in many years. We no longer have issues with the refrigeration equipment icing, blocking up and the cold store is now the best it’s ever been for excessive ice and snow build up on the walls and packaging."
A cold store should not contain ice
If your cold store has a moisture problem, you probably battle some of these issues every day:
- Ice and frost build-up on surfaces and packages, hindering forklift trucks
- Frozen evaporator coils, reducing their cooling efficiency
- Barcode scanners don’t function correctly, affecting operational efficiency
- Fog and reduced visibility
- Icey floors and increased safety incidents
- Frequent defrosts and maintenance needed
- Higher energy consumption
With dehumidification, you will eliminate ice from your cold store and thereby remove these issues.
Our customer Kitchen Range Foods in England, applied Munters' IceDry 1400 desiccant dehumidifier inside their cold store to target moisture at its source. In addition to a much safer conditions for the workers, keeping evaporators free of ice has resulted in a more efficient refrigeration system and Kitchen Range Foods have been able to reduce their daily defrosts from three per day down to two per day.
A chilled warehouse should not be humid
In a refrigerated, chilled, warehouse, excessive humidity and condensation risk to reduce the operational efficiency, as well as the quality of the products stored. Signs of excessive humidity include:
- Condensation on floors, walls, and the products
- Fog and reduced visibility
- Soggy cardboard cases that collapse when handled
- Mold and mildew growth
- Product quality impacted and increased product waste
Caring for sustainable solutions, seeking to reduce product waste, it’s important to focus on the source of the problem – the moisture.
For our customer Emorsgate Seeds, the oldest and largest producers of wild seeds in the British Isles, dehumidification is crucial for increasing seed longevity and preventing germination in their chilled storage facility. Compact and efficient, Munters' desiccant dehumidifier consistently maintains conditions to 45-50% RH, within a +/- 5% RH tolerance, all year round.
Industrial dehumidification for cold stores and chilled warehouses
Want to know how you can benefit from our desiccant dehumidification solutions?
Benefits of industrial dehumidification for cold storage
With a Munters desiccant dehumidification solution, you can eliminate moisture problems at their source.
Energy efficient cold storage
Energy for cooling represents one of the largest expenses that operators of cold storage facilities face, and humidity only makes cooling more expensive.
High humidity can increase cold storage energy usage in a few different ways:
- When moist air enters a cold room, it will condense and freeze on every surface it can. To remove ice, many facilities use heater stripes in areas such as doors and floors. While they do prevent ice, using these in cold storage requires more energy to power the heater stripes, and also increases cooling loads.
- One of the first places affected by frost buildup in a cold storage warehouse is the evaporator coils of the cooling system. As ice thickness increases, cooling efficiency plummets and energy usage increases.
- Even if the evaporator coils are frost free, high humidity can still increase the energy consumption, depending on the energy source.
With a desiccant dehumidification solution, moisture will be removed from your cold room or refrigerated warehouse, and thereby reduce the energy consumption. Munters' energy efficient dehumidifiers are proven to provide energy savings of up to 5% for cold storage applications in the UK.
Munters market-leading dehumidification solutions
Munters has the expertise to help you find the optimal solution that will increase operational efficiency and save big on energy. The solution might vary depending on your facility´s design. Sometimes the most efficient solution is to remove the moisture already in the cooling dock, and sometimes it’s better or necessary to focus on the cold room.
Inside the cold store: Munters IceDry 1400 AirC
Protect your cold storage from high humidity with the Munters IceDry 1400 AirC. The IceDry was designed specifically to remove moisture in cold storage facilities, refrigerated warehouses, walk-in coolers, and freezers. The IceDry works by removing moisture at the source – from the air in your cold storage, or infiltrating air at docks and anterooms.
The Munters IceDry offers industry-leading performance and energy efficiency in a stand-alone system that can be installed directly inside your cold storage. The system can operate independently in smaller cold rooms, or multiple units can be installed to protect larger warehouses.
Munters trustworthy ML series or MX series of dehumidifiers are the recommended choice when the situation calls for the dehumidifier to be placed outside of the actual cold room.
This highly customizable system is available in many sizes and configurations, engineered to meet your needs. From a smaller ML stand-alone unit or a medium-sized PLUS system, to a complete MX PLUS system for larger facilities, Munters offers energy-efficient control of temperature and humidity.
