The Ten-Year Battle Against Ice and Frost is Over!
13 February 2007
Martin Olsson is Sweden's biggest supplier of food and drink to the catering trade. At the 1,890m² cold store in Stockholm, real problems were being experienced with the formation of ice and frost in the cold store and in the two air locks.
"We very frequently have forklift truck traffic in and out of the -26ºC cold store. Up to 50 times an hour," Lars Sandell the technical operations manager at Martin Olsson, said. "Warm, moist air was entering into the two air locks and forming frost and ice everywhere. We were probably spending a total of 15-20 hours a week removing the ice in different ways. But the worst thing was that it was just in the air locks and the ice created slippery floors. Sometimes there were actual hills of ice on the floor."
"It was difficult to move around efficiently and it led to an increased risk of accidents," foreman Roland Sacco confirmed.
Munters' solution to the problem was installing an IceDry® dehumidifier in each of the two air locks so that the air supplied to the air locks was dry and could not form frost and ice. " Soon it was completely free of ice and frost," Lars Sandell continues. "It has made a real change. The ten-year battle against the ice is finally over.
"We have achieved a greater degree of efficiency and greater service life for the cooling batteries as they are no longer iced up and therefore overloaded. We have also seen a further increase in efficiency in our work, as the floors are no longer slippery. However, we have not only gained from an operational point of view but also at least as much from an environmental point of view. We have achieved a safer and much more pleasant working environment."
IceDry:
- Prevents formation of ice
- Reduces the need for time-consuming defrosting
- Saves energy
- Reduces maintenance
- Reduces risk of damaged products
- Improves the working environment
- Reduces the risk of injuries to employees
