Refrigeration Upgrades For
Massachusetts
School Kitchens
Few things are more important to your school's kitchen's operations than the refrigeration in your walk-in cooler. When the safety of our children's food is at stake, we can't take any chances. Refrigeration upgrades for your kitchen will ensure your most critical system is always running optimally, reduce your commercial electric bill, and avoid surprise catastrophes.
NRM's mission for over 30 years has been to help institutions that rely on refrigeration improve the operation of the system in noticeable, meaningful ways. Your equipment running efficiently and free of operational issues isn't an option for your business, it's a necessity.
What kind of improvements will I see?
NRM’s unique and proven smart controls improve the operation of your refrigeration system from top to bottom. Most importantly, the smart controls adapt operations to run based on need, instead of continually. It also improves your ability to track temperatures, defrost your evaporator fans, address temperature issues, and more.
Have you ever stopped and considered why your refrigeration needs to run just as hard in the middle of January as it does in the middle of July? The short answer is: it actually doesn’t need to. NRM’s efficiency measures can reduce your system’s runtime by an average of 40-60% without jeopardizing food safety.
One of the main contributing factors to the inefficient operation of a commercial refrigeration system is old, outdated equipment components. Most systems we encounter are 10-15+ years old, which means much of the hardware can be upgraded to higher efficiency versions. This extends the overall life of the system, and improves operation.
Along with better operation and oversight, NRM delivers proven, verifiable energy savings that will lower your monthly commercial electric bill. Because the savings can be tracked and verified, the majority of our utility partners trust NRM’s results enough that they’re the exclusive vendor for refrigeration controls and measures.
"The installation was truly professional, and I give it two thumbs up. There was zero disruption to my business. I also support the idea of energy efficiency and NRM’s controls show me exactly how much better my system is performing. In the first week, it ran 58% less than before while keeping my temperatures."
— Malcolm Badger, Manager, McSheffrey’s Up North
Avoid food safety crises with a wealth of operational data and proactive insights
Whether you have 1 cold space in a single school kitchen, or 100 cold spaces spread across an entire district, our live summary page gives you an immediate overview of all your cooling activity.
Quickly consult current and 7-day runtimes, cooling status, temperature settings, and address any alarms that have been triggered.
Consider the amount of time and effort you’d save by having critical operational info all conveniently in one place.
Arm yourself with powerful and unique visual diagnostics graphs to pinpoint exactly when and where an operating issue arises. Troubleshooting becomes more efficient and effective, helping to ensure the issue is resolved on the first technician visit.
The graphs show important but often overlooked components such as amperages, compressor cycles, the solenoid valve, and things like whether a door is open or not.
The monitoring platform offers transparent runtime and temperature data that provide the measurement and verification proof for accurate recordkeeping.
These graphs also allow you to actually see how much less energy your refrigeration system is using. While also tracking that safe temperatures are always met.
Store up to 10 years of operational logs that take the human-error component out of tracking temperatures.
Going beyond a high temperature alert — which occurs only after an issue has already disrupted operations — NRM’s platform provides a suite of early detection notifications to help you be more proactive with troubleshooting.
For example, a compressor that’s short cycling will still likely be able to cool the space, but it’s dangerous, unnoticed overuse could lead to a critical system failure, jeopardizing the entire cooler’s worth of food.
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The process to get these refrigeration upgrades couldn’t be easier. It starts with a quick discussion of your basic store info such as current refrigeration layout, monthly energy costs, and what you’re looking to achieve.
From there, we’ll decide together the next best step to take. Usually, it’s a full, no-obligation refrigeration assessment to identify your actual opportunities. Then, we check if your utility provider offers any incentives for energy-efficiency projects in your area.
CoolTrol® is the backbone of every zero-finger-lift solution.
CoolTrol is more than a "new" thermostat. It gives you full control over the operation of your refrigeration system right at your fingertips. Not only that, it's as user-friendly as possible, with clear descriptions of which buttons perform which functions, and an LCD screen.
Everyone from managers to hourly workers to delivery drivers will love the refrigeration upgrades
Smart controls, on-demand defrost, and a safe, timed shutdown are a few of the refrigeration upgrades you'll receive. These help ensure your staff interact with your cooling system both more effectively and more safely.
Automated Temperature
Logging & Tracking
Eliminate the risk of human error in your temperature recordkeeping by having it logged automatically 24/7. Our system never needs to take a sick day.
On-Demand
Instant Defrost
Notice ice building up on your evaporator coils? Don’t wait for your ref. tech on a service call, start a defrost from your phone or on the controller.
Timed System
Shutdown Button
Safely turn off the evaporator fans for a short period of time while employees or delivery drivers are performing their duties in the walk-in cooler.
High/Low Temp. + Many More Alerts
Arm yourself with a wealth of operational alarms to stay ahead of expensive emergencies and at-risk product. Unique alerts like short cycling or amp. spikes.
Controls Bypass for Troubleshooting
A unique and beloved feature is the controls bypass. This treats our controls as if they aren't there so your tech. can troubleshoot issues in the system.
May Qualify for Utility-Funded Incentives
NRM’s energy efficiency upgrades are verifiable and proven over the last 25 years. As a result, they often qualify for generous utility-funded incentives.
High/Low Temp. + Many More Alerts
Arm yourself with a wealth of operational alarms to stay ahead of expensive emergencies and at-risk product. Unique alerts like short cycling or amp. spikes.
Controls Bypass for Troubleshooting
A unique and beloved feature is the controls bypass. This treats our controls as if they aren't there so your tech. can troubleshoot issues in the system.
May Qualify for Utility-Funded Incentives
NRM’s energy efficiency upgrades are verifiable and proven over the last 25 years. As a result, they often qualify for generous utility-funded incentives.
Automated Temperature
Logging & Tracking
Eliminate the risk of human error in your temperature recordkeeping by having it logged automatically 24/7. Our system never needs to take a sick day.
On-Demand
Instant Defrost
Notice ice building up on your evaporator coils? Don’t wait for your ref. tech on a service call, start a defrost from your phone or on the controller.
Timed System
Shutdown Button
Safely turn off the evaporator fans for a short period of time while employees or delivery drivers are performing their duties in the walk-in cooler.
“I really like the functionality of the controls, and the energy savings are obviously great. In fact, I love the controls so much that I recently signed up to get them in my second store done as well!”
— Mr. Patel, Owner, Rt. 6 Beer & Wine
Achieve provable, long-term energy savings
The combination of smart controls that optimize operation to run based on cooling need, hardware component upgrades, and new preventative maintenance measures lead to proven results.
We hear these questions most frequently
How can NRM's solution save so much energy?
Did you know commercial refrigeration systems are sized for the hottest days of the year? But the “hottest days” only happen about 20 times per year, which means all systems are oversized for the other 340~ days. The CoolTrol® smart controls take advantage of that fact to adapt your system’s cooling based on need. It also manages defrost more closely to what is required, and monitors temperatures. Along with those controls, NRM implements multiple other efficiency enhancements.
My refrigeration tech says it's not safe to turn off my evaporator fans. Is that true?
In an unsafe manner, yes. But with NRM’s solution, it is perfectly safe. Implemented in over 50,000 systems to-date, the smart controls keep fans running when refrigeration is ON and only cycles them OFF whenever refrigeration is OFF. Every running fan motor generates heat into the cold space, which requires the system to keep calling for cooling. Why keep what are essentially heaters running once temperature set point is reached?
What kind of guarantee can you provide me that these savings are real?
NRM has earned the utility’s trust and confidence, which is the greatest guarantee we can offer. In some programs, NRM has been providing solutions since 1997 with the local utility company’s backing. We would not continue to win these contracts year over year if we didn’t produce deliver the projected savings. But also, the smart controls track equipment runtimes and operational histories. You’ll see in plain numbers how much less your system runs.
What level of technical proficiency is required to use CoolTrol®?
CoolTrol® functions specifically for you: the end user. The smart controls are equipped with software developed by NRM and designed to intelligently operate equipment at optimum energy efficiency. It has many user-friendly features, and a superior user interface compared to traditional refrigeration thermostats that are primarily designed for technicians, not end users.