In many years providing reactive maintenance to food retailers, one problem that came up again and again was the slimy jelly in the condensate drains. This would be revealed by leaking display chillers with back and yellow absorbent strips at the base soaking up water. What became very clear was that this problem was costing more in reactive maintenance than any other drainage problem on the whole supermarket.
What compounded the problem, was the fact that most of the drain blockages occurred above ground, in the 40mm condensate drain pipes laid on the floor. The six inches between the sales floor and the bottom of the chillers was a ‘no mans land’ in reactive maintenance on supermarkets. The refrigeration engineers would say it was a drainage issue, and the drainage contractor would say it was a refrigeration problem.This was the weak link in cost management, that six inch area between the chiller, and the sales floor.
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