Question 1

What goes into a cold room load calculation?

Accepted Answer

Five loads add up: transmission through the insulated panels (U-value x area x temperature difference), product load (cooling and freezing the goods you bring in each day), internal loads (people, lighting, evaporator fans), infiltration (air changes through leakage), and door-opening losses. A safety factor of about 10% is then applied before selecting equipment.

Question 2

Which load is usually the biggest in a cold store?

Accepted Answer

For a busy freezer store it is almost always the product load — freezing 1,000 kg of meat from +4C to -18C takes roughly 90 kWh of heat removal, far more than the panel losses of a well-insulated room. For a lightly loaded chiller holding product that arrives already cold, transmission and door openings dominate instead.

Question 3

What panel thickness does a freezer room need?

Accepted Answer

Chilled rooms (0 to 5C) typically use 100-120 mm PUR or PIR panels. Freezer rooms (-18 to -25C) should use 150-200 mm because the temperature difference across the panel is roughly double. Thicker panels cost more up front but cut the transmission load — and the electricity bill — every hour the room runs.

Question 4

Why does incoming product temperature matter so much?

Accepted Answer

Every degree the product arrives above room temperature must be removed by the refrigeration plant. Loading warm product is the most common cause of undersized cold rooms: 1,000 kg of fish at +10C needs about a third more cooling energy than the same fish at +2C. Pre-chilling deliveries or spreading loading across the day flattens the peak load.

Cold Room Load Estimator

1. Room & Insulation

2. Product Load

3. Internal Loads & Doors

4. Cooling Load Result

Load Breakdown

Karnot iCOOL Selection

Calculation Method

Built by Karnot Energy Solutions

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