3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Installing Strip Curtains in a Cold Storage Facility
Quality control in the food distribution industry is highly regulated with businesses expected to adhere to laid down best practices. For instance, temperature control is a critical aspect which is why PVC strip doors are typical in the cold food storage industry. However, merely installing strip doors on cold storage entryways will not guarantee adequate temperature control. Notably, avoid making the following mistakes when ordering PVC strip curtains.
Mismatching Material to Environment -- Unlike conventional doors, strip curtains help to maintain low temperatures inside cold rooms to prevent food from going bad. As such, it is common for cold storage temperatures to go below freezing point. For such a cold environment, it would be a mistake to use standard PVC strip curtains because sub-zero temperatures make standard PVC less flexible and prone to cracks. Instead, go for polar grade PVC strip doors. The doors can withstand temperatures as low as -40 degrees centigrade and still maintain their flexibility to allow smooth traffic flow. As such, make sure that you match a strip door material to the environment of usage.
Not Allowing for Overlap -- When ordering for a standard door, it is always advisable to furnish a manufacturer with the exact door frame dimensions to ensure a snug fit during installation. On the other hand, strip doors require a different treatment during installation. However, cold storage facility managers usually make the mistake of installing strip curtains inside a door frame, which results in open edges when people pass through the door. Bare sides in a strip door allow warm air into the storage area which causes quality problems. To keep warm air outside, make that the door strips are installed in such a way that they overlap with the entryway edges, both on the sides and at the top. This way, when a curtain is in use, the end strips will only move slightly, thereby preventing warm air and contaminants from getting inside a cold food storage facility.
Ignoring Application -- If you want to install curtain strips on all doors in a cold storage facility, including offices, then you need to pay close attention to application. The reason is that an office doors strip curtain will not work well in a cold storage room and vice-versa. In this case, large and heavy strip curtains are appropriate for cold storage rooms. If used on office doors, the large strips will impede the smooth flow of traffic since they are hard to push. On the other hand, light and thin curtain strips are suitable for office doors, but terrible for cold storage rooms because of limited insulation capabilities.