First things first, if you are thinking about building an A/C unit cold room, it’s time to do some planning.

There are many reasons to build a cold room for your home, farm or office.  Think about the future when you sit down to plan it out.  Many people find that after a certain time they need more space, or they did not need so much.  Next, think about budget.  If you are not prepared to do the job right the first time, it may be best to consider professional help in this project.  Building a cool house is a meticulous process that when complete will last years and decades with little maintenance.

The two biggest issues to deal with are sealing and R-Value.  With proper sealing and a good amount of R-value insulating, your project can be a money saving investment for your needs.  Doing a poor job, or going cheap on insulation will be more costly in the future, so allow your budget the most bang for your buck.   How you build the room is largely dependent on your climate.  Where you live, how much sunlight, and what weather you expect your room to endure are key elements to your planning.

Consider this, it’s not always how thick the insulation is that counts, it is also the quality.  For instance it is a complete waste of time to ever consider building a cold room with blown fibreglass or cellulous. These materials are simply not designed to withstand riggers of a well-built room.   Wall, roof and floor, all need special consideration. Some 4 inch walls will be fine, but sometimes you will need to consider a 6 inch wall.  For many applications the floor is not as important.  The best process of flooring is a layer of foam or stiff insulation, under the final layer of plywood that is painted with deck paint.

Again, sealing is key to doing it right, and the outside is just as important as the inside.  Tape, caulking and foam insulation are generally the best, each being used at specific areas.  The R-value goal should be at or above R-30 on all your application.  You will have to determine the thickness or material desired.  Some choose a Styrofoam insulation, or blown in professional foam insulation works nicely.

Be sure to choose an A/C unit that matches the space you are designing and be sure that it has the needed “breathing” room.  By planning well, and out of direct sun, your room can be safe, inexpensive, wise investment.

For an air conditioning unit to work it needs to have a refrigerant added to it. This works within the coils of air conditioning units to cool and dehumidify indoor air – which is exactly what we want air conditioning units to do. As you might expect, the refrigerant we use has changed over the years – after all, technology is always bringing us new options and air conditioning units are certainly no exception.

Previous Refrigerant: R-22

In the past air conditioners have used a refrigerant called R-22. Most (if not all) air conditioning units used to use this refrigerant. However, it was discovered just a few years ago that R-22 contains an ozone-depleting chlorine. The fact that it is a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) means that the government took steps to phase out the use of this type of refrigerant. Now you won’t find any new units with this type of coolant and even older units are having this phased out. Now thanks to the Clean Air Act of 2010 the manufacture of systems that need this has been prohibited. In fact by 2020 the production of R-22 itself will stop, so all of these systems will need to be replaced.

What We Use Now: R-410A.

Since R-22 is no longer seen as a viable option, it makes sense that there needed to be an alternative. Now you’ll see that most cooling systems now use R-410A as their choice of refrigerant. This refrigerant has no chlorine and therefore is seen as ozone-friendly – great news!

Another great thing is that this type of refrigerant used in the right way can actually be much more efficient that previous coolant products so as well as being great for the environment; it can be great for your bank balance too!

Buying a Unit

If you’re looking to buy an air conditioning unit then make sure you buy an R-410A system now. It is not possible to buy R-22 units new but there could be some second-hand systems out there. What you need to remember is that over the next few years R-22 will stop being made altogether and this could mean that you’re left with a system that doesn’t work. Instead it is far better to look ahead and buy a system that you know is going to work in the long term.

If you work in the hospitality industry then it stands to reason you are going to want to make sure that you do everything you can to keep food and drink fresh. Most people are aware of the need for decent commercial fridge and freezer set-ups to ensure that food is kept to the high health and safety standards demanded of food made for public consumption.

However, you also need to give consideration to the rest of the customer experience and make sure that everything is perfect – which includes giving them ice cold drinks. For this reason you need to look at some sort of back bar bottle cooler system, so that drinks are kept cool.

The good news is that if you look into bar coolers and refrigerators you’ll find that there are lots of different choices for you. This means that whatever you are looking for, you can feel confident that there will be something to suit you and match your needs.

Choosing The Right System

First of all you need to think about how much space you have available. Usually bars are quite limited where space is concerned so you obviously don’t want to end up with a set of back bar bottle coolers that are too big. Think about how much space you have available and make sure that whatever you do invest in is going to fit in the space available.

You’ll also need to think about how many bottles you are likely to need to store at any one time. A lot of this will come down to how busy you think your establishment is going to be, after all you’re going to want to make sure that you have enough for everyone.

When you do look into back bar bottle coolers try  to make sure you buy something that is rated as energy efficient. This can really help with running costs, after all these systems are going to be switched on all of the time so you really want to try and avoid something that is too expensive to run!

On top of all of that, you want something that is going to fit in with the style and decor of your premises. The good news is that there are lots of different types available, so finding something that looks exactly how you need it to should not be too much of a hassle at all.

We live in an age of convenience, and have access to amenities that simply make our lives more pleasant.  Ice, for example, is no longer hard to obtain.  Most refrigerators come with an automatic ice maker built-in.  Many people use independent ice machines to distribute ice in large amounts and they provide a convenient and inexpensive way to portably chill beverages and keep items cold that would otherwise spoil.

If there is a malfunction with an ice-maker it can be just as aggravating and troublesome as it is useful.

Follow these tips to efficiently locate and remedy what might be causing your ice maker to fail:

Firstly, it’s a good idea to make sure all the appropriate hoses are connected and the water supply is good.  If that’s not it, there may be frozen build-up in a hose or inside the machine.  This can be fixed easily by defrosting the ice maker (unplugging all connections and hoses) and letting it melt and drain from the hose or interior.

Check the evaporator plate. Depending on the type of machine, this may look like a plastic grid, into which water is distributed from the hose.  Check this for discoloration, such as a copper colour showing through.  If this is detected, it may mean that the lining of the plate has worn off, and the ice can no longer drop off into the reserve after the freezing process.  This piece can build up a frozen layer that will hinder the making of ice.  If that is the case, defrosting may also quickly solve this issue.  If the lining is in fact worn off, it is at the owners’ discretion whether or not to replace this piece.

Finally, there is a heating module underneath the evaporator plate that is built into the under-side of the ice-maker.  The purpose of it is to slightly melt the bottom of the finished cubes so they can be harvested into the reserve.  Without taking the ice maker apart, though, this part cannot be seen, and is located in the bottom of the unit.  Place your hand on the bottom to feel if it is hot or warm.  If you find that it is, this could mean it has over-heated and malfunctioning.  You will likely need to replace the control module that regulates this part.

There are many facets of how the automatic ice maker quickly and efficiently produces ice for our convenience.  This has been an outline of some of the most common and simple problems and fixes, and you should always consult your owner’s manual for model-specific parts and maintenance routines.

Cooling and heating a home is taxing on any budget.  The standard way to cool a home is to have a duct based condenser unit installed.  Not only are condensers often inefficient, though, but the duct work is too.  These two parts lose energy very quickly as heat exchanges happen throughout the system that normally spans the entire home.  In order to keep up with air conditioning needs, the unit constantly has to keep air within the ducts at the desired temperature.  It is a constant drag on the compressor unit.

To battle this, the industry came up with a more efficient means to deliver cool air to a home which is called Split air conditioning. The advantage of Split A/C is that it uses far less electricity, and also a lot less materials and construction resources are needed. There is still a unit that sits on the outside of a home, but the units themselves stay within individual rooms.

Split A/C gives ultimate control to the user as they can cool individual rooms or areas. This gives an advantage for the user and allows everyone to be at their comfort level at a fraction of the cost of traditional units.

Typically, there have been two ways to cool a house, the earlier mentioned standard duct unit and the smaller and much less expensive window based A/C units. If you are on a very low budge, then you may consider window units.  Split A/C will be a substantially higher upfront cost, but cannot be compared to the older duct units. The small units simply cool by using a long fan which distributes the coolness from the coil within.  This gives the home owner complete control of his or her environment.

Split level A/C is much less intrusive as it is mainly a few cables and tubes that are run out to the main unit.  The cost of the insulation and installation is far less than that of new duct work or all the materials needed to upgrade an existing unit.  Not only, will it be far more aesthetically pleasing than a window unit, it will of course be a money saving investment that will keep your home cool.

For a further incentive, these types of units are huge helpers of the environment compared to their predecessors.  Their carbon footprint is a fraction of other products.