“As with the other guides, the coldrooms advice can be applied to most refrigeration brands,” said Malcolm Harling, sales and marketing director for Williams.  “The key is to do it right so that the equipment is protected during the lock down and, when turned back on, it’s safe and working effectively.”

All the Williams guides are available from the information downloads pages on the company’s website, www.williams-refrigeration.co.uk.

The quick guide lists seven key points to shutting down the coldroom.  For example, door strip curtains are often fitted to coldrooms and they need to be removed, cleaned and then left flat, ideally on the room’s shelving.

The quick guide also gives an eight-point list of what to do when switching the coldroom back on – including checking that the ‘person trapped’ alarm is still operating correctly.

Alongside the key points, the coldroom guides include supplementary cautions and pieces of important information.  For example, some coldrooms have a power failure alarm, which normally runs from a nine volt battery.  Williams advises that the control panel should not be opened in order to disconnect the battery when shutting the coldroom down.  Rather, the battery should be replaced by an engineer when the unit is recommissioned.