My walk-in cooler hit 50F during Saturday dinner rush

I was doing the pre-service walk-around at The Grotto in Austin last weekend and noticed the walk-in was reading 50F instead of 38F. Turned out the evaporator fan motor was seized up from grease buildup around the coils. Anybody dealt with a quick fix for this during service without shutting everything down?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotacraig15d ago

Hit 50F during Saturday dinner rush" oh man I feel that pain. We had a similar thing happen at my old place when our evap fan motor gave up mid-service and we just grabbed a big box fan and pointed it at the coils from outside the cooler. It wasn't pretty but it kept the temp from climbing too high for about two hours while we finished the shift. The grease buildup is always the culprit on those walk-in units, I swear it's like they attract every bit of dust and oil in the kitchen.

taylor.paige13d ago

Wait, did you actually try the box fan trick? How long did the compressor have to run after that to pull the temp back down once you got it fixed? I've heard mixed results on whether that buys you real time or just delays the inevitable crash.