Refurbished Commercial Freezers

Check the gaskets and the door first. Freezer gaskets go hard with cold and age, and a hard gasket no longer compresses flat, so warm damp air leaks in all day. Look at the hinges while you are there, because a heavy door that has dropped even slightly won't pull up square against the frame and it leaks the same way a failed gasket does.

Then check the condenser and the fan. A freezer runs at a much lower temperature than a fridge, so when the condenser is blocked the head pressure climbs and the compressor runs almost constantly. Ask how long the unit has been switched off as well. That is not a fault in itself, but a freezer that has stood idle needs a full pull-down before any stock goes near it.

Give the freezer a full day, then load it in stages. A unit that has been switched off starts warm the whole way through — shelves, walls and insulation — and all of that has to come down before the air temperature means anything. Run it empty with the doors closed and let it pull down on its own first.

Bring the stock in cold. Loading room-temperature product into a freezer that has only just reached temperature pushes it straight back up, and it can take a day or two to recover. Load over several goes, keep the door closed in between, and check with your own thermometer rather than the readout, because a display often reads the air near its sensor rather than the middle of a full cabinet.

Frost shows you where warm, damp air is getting in. A light, even coating on the evaporator is normal and the defrost cycle handles it. A thick lump of ice in one corner of the door, or a line of frost following the run of a gasket, means the gasket is not sitting flat along there, usually because it has gone hard or because the door has dropped on its hinge and stopped closing square.

Both faults are cheap to put right, and you should fix them straight away, because until you do the unit runs almost constantly and ices up again a week after you have chipped it clear. Ice forming on the back wall or on the pipework rather than the evaporator is a different problem, and that one is worth a call before you fill the freezer.

Chest freezers are cheaper to buy, cheaper to run and far more forgiving in a power cut, because cold air is heavy and stays in the box when the lid is opened. The catch is access. Stock ends up in layers and somebody has to lean in and dig for it, which is fine for bulk product you touch once a week and painful for anything needed mid-service.

Upright freezers cost more and use more power, but you can see what you have and reach it without unpacking three baskets. Most kitchens are best served by one of each.

That depends on whether you cook ahead. A freezer holds food that is already cold, while a blast chiller takes food straight off the stove and pulls it down fast, so it spends as little time as possible in the temperature range where bacteria multiply. Load hot trays into an ordinary freezer and you will warm everything already in there while the freezer fights to catch up.

If you batch cook, portion and store, or if a council inspector has asked how you cool cooked food down, a blast chiller is worth buying and it gives you records you can show. If you buy in frozen product and only hold it, you don't need one.

Yes. The terms are shown on each product page and they are not the same on every unit, because they depend on that machine's condition, history and age. A freezer that has done years of daily service will not carry the same cover as one that has barely been used, so read the terms on the model you want before you order.

Ask us whether that model is repaired on site or has to go back to a service agent, which makes a real difference on a heavy cabinet. Ask whether parts are still supported in Australia as well. On a freezer the parts that matter are the gasket, the door heater, the defrost element and the controller, and those are the ones you will want in five years.

A freezer with hard gaskets and a dust-packed condenser runs almost constantly, and that costs real money over a year. Both faults are cheap to fix. Chest freezers are the cheapest to run. Glass door uprights are double glazed, and although they may hold cold slightly less well than a solid door, the door spends less time open because staff can see the stock without opening it, so which one works out cheaper over a year depends on how the cabinet gets used.

REO prices refurbished freezers sharply. Renting is worth looking at too, because a freezer is often last on the fit-out list and first to run out of budget. Silverchef Rent-Try-Buy lets you rent the unit, keep your cash free for the rest of the build and claim the payments as an operating expense. If it turns out too small once you are trading you can upgrade to a bigger model, and if it is right you buy it out.

Most under bench and single door freezers run from a standard 10 amp plug. Larger upright freezers, glass door units and anything with a big compressor can need a 15 amp outlet, and some of the bigger machines are three phase. The details are shown on each product page, so read them before you promise the unit a spot, because a 15 amp socket or a new circuit means an electrician and a booking.

Ice cream and soft serve machines need more power than people expect. Plenty of them draw far more than a freezer of the same size, and some are three phase. Always check the supply where the machine will actually stand, not where the switchboard is.

Ask about the wear and tear components. The scraper blades, the beater and the shaft seals wear and need replacing periodically. They cost little next to the machine itself. Worn seals leak, and worn blades stop the machine scraping the barrel cleanly, so the mix comes out coarse. A unit that has had its seals replaced recently is worth paying more for.

Then ask how it was cleaned. These machines have to be stripped, washed and reassembled properly, and one that has been rushed for years shows it in the seals and the o-rings. Brullen, Carpigiani, Taylor, Pasmo Pascal and Gelmatic are among the brands REO offers in ice cream and soft serve machines, and parts are available for all of them. Get the mix and the cleaning routine settled before opening day.