Rant: The whole walk-in cooler went down on the hottest day of the year

It was 98 degrees here in Austin and the compressor just quit at 10 AM. We had to move about 500 pounds of fresh cuts into the backup unit in the back, which was already half full. The repair guy took four hours to show up, and we lost a whole side of beef. Has anyone else had a cooler fail and found a good way to save the product?

3 comments

3 Comments

clark.robin1mo ago

Man, that is a brutal situation. @grantadams is right about those blue blocks being key, but have you thought about your actual airflow in that backup unit? Stuffing it full can block the cold air from moving around. We had a guy lose a whole load because he packed it tight and the middle never got cold. Maybe try to leave some space between stacks if you can, or use empty milk crates to prop things up and let the air flow underneath. It sounds simple but it makes a huge difference when you're cramming that much product in.

grantadams1mo ago

Honestly that sounds like a total nightmare, especially in that heat. Tbh we had a similar thing happen last summer and it was a scramble. What saved us was having a bunch of those heavy duty ice packs on hand, the big blue blocks. We lined coolers with them and wedged the packs between the meat to buy a few extra hours. Ngl it wasn't perfect but it kept the temp down enough to save most of the product until we could move it. A good cooler and ice pack stash is a lifesaver.

ryanburns1mo ago

Yeah those blue blocks are clutch, we keep a stack in the deep freeze for exactly that kind of emergency.