When choosing equipment for your business, you may be tempted not even to consider the option of a glass door refrigerator or freezer. Using glass instead of solid doors can seem like a gimmick at best, or even wasteful of energy at worst.
However, there are times when opting for the glass door option can make good business sense. For instance, this type of equipment is often chosen in a retail environment to help display products, in outlets ranging from supermarket freezer sections to drinks cabinets in pubs and bars. Here is a look at some of the circumstances where it could make sense to choose glass door freezers or refrigerators.
Is a Glass Door Refrigerator Less Energy Efficient than a Solid Door Version?
At first glance, it might appear that glass door refrigerators are indeed less energy efficient. All other things being equal, if a glass door and solid door version are run side by side, the glass door version will require more energy to run. This is because a glass door is not as efficient at insulation as a solid door.
But, as soon as door opening is taken into account, the picture changes drastically. The more often a fridge or freezer is opened, the more energy it will consume in order to maintain temperature. This means that glass door models can in practice save energy. This is because these models serve to reduce door openings. Customers can see inside and this means they don't have to open the door to see what's there. They can decide which items they require by looking from outside, and just open the door briefly to retrieve what's wanted.
When to Opt for Glass Doors
Commercial refrigerators or freezers with glass doors are often likely to be an appropriate choice in a retail setting where customers need to see products in order to make a selection. This includes not only shops, but also bars, cafes and takeaways. As well as being practical, glass doors make for a more attractive display, especially when internal lighting is included, and this is likely to boost sales.
A glass door freezer or fridge is also likely to be a good choice for any catering setting where staff need to regularly select products from cabinets. This especially applies when there are multiple cabinets holding different products, for instance with cold drinks behind a bar or with chilled or frozen ingredients which will be needed to prepare meals in a commercial kitchen.
Making it easier to find the specific item required will increase efficiency and save precious time in a busy catering establishment. Using glass doors can also help staff easily to see when stock is low, from a distance. This can help with general efficiency issues around refilling and reordering stock.
When to Opt for Solid Doors
There will be times when a solid door option will be the most sensible choice, however. This includes when food needs longer term storage, especially in the case of frozen food. Commercial freezers and fridges with solid doors are also likely to be preferable in settings where customers and staff don't need to see their contents, or where other methods of stock control are in place which make it unnecessary to check on levels visually.
Solid doors are also the best choice if you are having to work in high ambient temperatures that could compromise product quality. In the case of Porkka's range of Future and Future Plus cabinets, glass door models can cope with ambient temperatures of up to 32C, but the solid door models have even more scope to cope with heat. They can operate within ambient temperatures of up to 43C, which makes them an ideal option for hot climates or kitchens where the temperature can get very high.
When Energy Use is Paramount
Do you want your business to have the retail and time-saving benefits of glass doors, but are you also keen to minimise energy consumption? If so, Porkka's Future Plus cabinets could be the answer. Choosing a glass door refrigerator or freezer from this range means you will benefit from its innovative design features. Our Future Plus cabinets have an innovative cooling system which uses 25% less energy than our Future cabinets – thus offsetting any increase in energy consumption as a result of using glass doors.
In addition, every solid door and glass door freezer or refrigerator within both our Future and Future Plus ranges is built with top-quality features to give maximum energy efficiency and help the environment. These include low energy condensers and hot gas defrosting systems, which work fast to avoid unnecessary energy loss. When a cabinet is opened, our evaporator fan motors have an auto switch-off feature, which prevents cold air being lost and energy wasted.
Glass Door Refrigerators and Freezers – Click here to see Porkka's top quality range.
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