A practical guide for London food businesses on maintaining refrigeration equipment and avoiding costly breakdowns.
Most commercial refrigeration equipment should be serviced at least once a year, and ideally twice a year for equipment in high-use environments. Ice machines need more frequent attention — at minimum every 6 months, and quarterly in hard water areas.
| Equipment | Recommended Frequency | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Undercounter and display fridges | Once or twice per year | Condenser cleaning, gas checks, seal inspection |
| Cold rooms and walk-in freezers | Twice per year | Complex systems, higher consequences of failure |
| Blast chillers | Twice per year | Food safety compliance, specialist components |
| Ice machines | Every 3 to 6 months | Scale buildup causes rapid deterioration |
| Bottle coolers and cellar units | Once per year | Condenser cleaning, temperature calibration |
| Air conditioning units | Twice per year | Filter cleaning, refrigerant check, efficiency |
A standard Kept Cold planned maintenance visit covers the following for each unit:
London's F-Gas regulations require refrigerant checks on equipment containing 5kg or more of refrigerant. For cold rooms and larger systems, these checks must be carried out by an F-Gas certified engineer and documented correctly.
The most common cause of commercial refrigeration breakdown in London kitchens is a blocked or dirty condenser coil. This is entirely preventable with an annual clean costing from £60 plus VAT. Left unchecked, a blocked condenser causes the compressor to overload. Compressor replacements typically cost £400 to £800 including parts and labour.
The maths is straightforward. A £60 service that prevents an £800 repair pays for itself more than ten times over.
From £60 per unit plus VAT. Minimum 2 units per visit.
See Maintenance PricingBusinesses that run planned maintenance programmes consistently spend less on refrigeration overall. The average planned maintenance client with Kept Cold spends around £120 to £240 per year on servicing and experiences significantly fewer emergency callouts.
By contrast, businesses relying entirely on reactive repair typically spend £400 to £800 per breakdown and face the added cost of lost stock, lost service time, and out-of-hours emergency charges.
For multi-site operators and FM companies, we offer planned maintenance contracts covering all sites under a single monthly invoice, with priority response for any emergency callouts.