Many businesses rely on functioning refrigerators and freezers to maintain optimal storage conditions for their products, such as perishable food items and medical supplies. Monitoring these essential appliances is therefore crucial for the success and productivity of these businesses. But how can a business monitor refrigerators and freezers? In this article, we’ll explore remote monitoring, its benefits and how to implement it for refrigeration and freezer units.
What are the Business Risks Associated with Refrigerators & Freezers?
Many businesses that rely on refrigerators and freezers are heavily impacted if their refrigerators and freezers are not working effectively.
Financial loss
Financial loss is a huge risk for businesses that rely on refrigeration appliances, especially if they stop working or experience unknown faults. Certain businesses within the food industry, such as restaurants, may not be able to operate if their fridges and freezers break overnight, resulting in a loss of earnings.
Loss of Stock
Businesses whose stock needs to be kept refrigerated or frozen will inevitably lose, or not be able to use, theirs if their refrigeration units stop working. Food and other perishable items will spoil or won’t be sold or used, due to food safety issues.
Unable to Trade
Businesses whose daily operations rely on the workings of fridges and freezers will not be able to trade if they are not working correctly. This will have a snowballing impact on other factors that ultimately result in financial loss for the business.
Not Compliant
Many industries, such as the food and medical industries, are highly regulated to ensure the health and safety of the population, especially when it comes to consumables. If a business is unaware that their refrigerator or freezer units were turned off for several hours, due to a power cut for example, then they could be unknowingly trading non-compliant products or consumables that could result in a major health and safety issue.
Harm Brand Image
Not being able to operate or trading non-compliant or potentially dangerous products is a PR nightmare for a company. This could harm a brand or company image, which could be difficult to overcome.
Why is it Important to Monitor Refrigerators & Freezers?
It is important to monitor refrigerators and freezers within businesses that rely upon them, to reduce the associated risks as outlined above. Without adequate monitoring in place, how will a business know if there has been a power cut in the night, if an electrical fault has occurred or if there has been an increase in temperature?
Monitoring these essential appliances will create an instant alert when they are off, below or above a certain temperature or not working efficiently so that businesses can have full 24/7 insight into each appliance, as well as the opportunity to fix any issues as soon as possible.
How to Monitor Refrigerators & Freezers?
With advancements in technology, remote monitoring has emerged as an effective solution for keeping track of refrigerator and freezer conditions from anywhere, at any time. Professional remote monitoring can effectively monitor refrigerators and freezers 24/7, 365 days of a year across numerous industries. Any changes in temperature or power supply issues are immediately identified, allowing for an immediate response. In turn, this helps prevent any major disruption and dramatically reduces the risks associates with refrigerator unit downtime.
Benefits of Monitoring Refrigerators & Freezers?
There are many benefits of using a remote monitoring company to monitor a site’s fridges and freezers.
- Reduce Financial Loss – and site downtime from spoiled goods.
- Improve Productivity – by reducing the risk of unknown issues.
- Real-Time Monitoring – allows for rapid response to events and issues.
- Alerts & Notifications – instant notification of any temperature changes or offline appliances to issues can be addressed promptly.
- Reporting & Analysis – have full control and insight into each unit.
- Improve Energy Efficiency – know when units are not running efficiently and make informed decisions when adjusting temperatures.
- Peace of Mind – be confident that units are monitored 24/7.
How Does Remote Monitoring for Refrigerators & Freezers Work?
To monitor refrigerators and freezers, there are a few steps to take.
Choose a Remote Monitoring Company
The first step is to choose a remote monitoring company to carry out the monitoring of your site’s refrigerators and freezers. It’s recommended to choose an NSI accredited company, to ensure they are working to the highest industry standards, as well as one that is experienced in refrigerator and freezer monitoring.
Install Temperature & Humidity Sensors
If not already, temperature and humidity sensors will need to be installed within your refrigerators and freezers, to measure and transmit data to the remote monitoring system. Place the sensors strategically to obtain accurate readings that represent the overall conditions of the fridge and freezer units.
Data Transmitted to the Monitoring Company
The monitoring company will make sure their Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) is connected to your unit sensors and that the data is being transmitted correctly. Alerts and notifications will be set based on specific conditions, bespoke to each site, e.g. a set temperature triggering an alert when exceeded.
Alert Triggered
If an alert is triggered, the relevant information will be transmitted to the ARC and a monitoring operative will quickly and efficiently look into the issue. They will alert the responsible personnel or key holder about the issue and take appropriate action. This may involve adjusting temperature settings, investigating possible equipment malfunctions, or arranging repairs or maintenance as necessary.
Reporting & Analysis
A remote monitoring company will be able to provide a site will full reporting on their fridge and freezer units and historical data of any triggered events. Sites can use these to identify trends, patterns or abnormalities, helping them to optimise cooling settings, detect potential issues, and improve energy efficiency.
Which Industries Can Benefit From Refrigerator & Freezer Monitoring?
Any industry that uses and relies on refrigerators and freezers can benefit from the remote monitoring of these units. The food industry and businesses such as restaurants, supermarkets and warehouses could all benefit from refrigerator and freezer monitoring, as well as the medical, pharmaceutical and beauty industries whereby certain medicines and products need to be kept at certain temperatures. Funeral homes, hospitals and florists are also all sites that rely on refrigerator equipment.
Refrigerator & Freezer Monitoring with RMS
At RMS, we are proud to be NSI Gold accredited and have our in-house category 2 ARC. We are experienced in all types of system remote monitoring, including that of refrigerators and freezers. We are flexible in our approach and always provide an honest and transparent service that puts our customers first.
Next Steps
If you’re interested in fridge and freezer monitoring for your sites or are looking for a new monitoring contract, get in touch with the RMS team. We can provide you with a free no-obligation quote and talk through your requirements.
Call us on 0330 002 1149 or contact us online here.
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