To deliver a complete air-cooled supermarket would be the perfect store solution for many retailers. No pipework, no drains, a simple and cost effective installation with a low refrigerant charge in factory sealed systems that do not leak refrigerant.
But this solution would naturally raise questions around the heat rejection, the energy consumption, fixture reliability, display range and noise.
Waitrose have been successfully delivering water-cooled self-contained stores for approximately a decade and a water-cooled solution has competently dealt with all of those questions. This is evident in the remarkable uptake in water-cooled self-contained stores across the world in recent years following Waitrose pioneering this solution as their standard.
A trial store utilising doors enabled the opportunity to re-think store design. Pure Cold self-contained cases designed and engineered exclusively for door operations has realised a product solution extremely low in energy consumption and heat rejection enabling an air-cooled self-contained store. In addition to doored multideck cases, Pure Cold also supplied Air-Cooled Full Glass Door Freezers and a selection of Open Cases for Produce.
This is a great example of how the efficiencies of self-contained equipment have grown exponentially in recent years, to the extent that delivering air-cooled options around supermarket format cases becomes a reality with reduced total heat rejection values that emanate from more efficient case operation for retailers employing predominantly door fixtures to their store layouts. The simplicity was in the removal of all existing cases and the installation of all new cases over a four night period with a trading store every morning.
This is also a very cost-effective method of partial store refit and not having to fit new remote fixtures to legacy plant solutions with no compromise on energy or fixture display area.
