ReplyIf they are New They're easy. Most Mfgs put a Detailed Sheet of drawings and panels are numbered. Just to do It correctly follow the directions completely.
depending on size it can easily be locked together by 1 person..
Professional Member
Hello,
I have a friend/customer that is looking to add an additional walk-in refrigerator. I do residential heating and air and am very handy with building and such.
My question is how much is there to duplicating a walk-in? Having never done it, the refrigeration side of it doesn't appear to be all that different. Building the box doesn't appear to difficult. I've framed walls and drywalled and such.
Would I easily get over my head or should I even attempt it?
Any opinions welcome. Thanks
Professional Member
If they are New They're easy. Most Mfgs put a Detailed Sheet of drawings and panels are numbered. Just to do It correctly follow the directions completely.
depending on size it can easily be locked together by 1 person..
Professional Member*
It's all in the base. If its not level your gonna have a long day. Lay your panels out, in order, and make sure they are all there.
Professional Member*
X2 If you don't level that floor left to right and front to back, the walls will go up all sawtoothed. Don't be in a rush to erect the walls and forsake the floor. Other than that, it's cake.Originally Posted by Tommy knocker
Every customer you take for granted today will be someone else's tomorrow.
SDC/Educational/Membership Committee*
I think the OP was asking about building a walk-in box from scratch, not erecting a pre-fab box.
Professional Member*
How do you respond to your customers when they say "Fixing my A/C isn't that difficult"!
R I P Icemeister
Supporting our Vet’s
http://www.soldierride.org/
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
Professional Member*
I think you are right. He will have to deal with sealing it and insulating door and lots of other stuff. Not as easy s it sounds. waterproof sheet rock and maybe marlite over that, vapor barrier. Lot of stuff to think about. Lots of times it is cheaper to just buy a box all mad.
Professional Member*
Another lifetime... When I worked in So. Fla.
I worked for a chain food store called Cumberland Farms.
We had an old carpenter who used to be a coffin maker, that made our coolers.
He made the floor, walls and ceiling panels out of 2x4 and plywood.
He even made a tapered door with gaskets.
We slapped them together, slid in the doors and hooked up the reefers.
Then the fun was painting the inside with marine white paint.
I think they lasted as long as that food chain....
Life is too short, Behappy!
TFMM
Professional Member*
We have Cumberland Farms stores in Maine. I think are a Ma. outfit.
Another lifetime... When I worked in So. Fla.
I worked for a chain food store called Cumberland Farms.
We had an old carpenter who used to be a coffin maker, that made our coolers.
He made the floor, walls and ceiling panels out of 2x4 and plywood.
He even made a tapered door with gaskets.
We slapped them together, slid in the doors and hooked up the reefers.
Then the fun was painting the inside with marine white paint.
I think they lasted as long as that food chain....
SDC/Educational/Membership Committee*
I've had a number of C-Stores which were once Cumbie's. Those boxes were still in pretty good shade considering they were 30+ years old. They used some big Bohn half-round evaporators and C-Line Copeland semis on the roof as I recall.Another lifetime... When I worked in So. Fla.
I worked for a chain food store called Cumberland Farms.
We had an old carpenter who used to be a coffin maker, that made our coolers.
He made the floor, walls and ceiling panels out of 2x4 and plywood.
He even made a tapered door with gaskets.
We slapped them together, slid in the doors and hooked up the reefers.
Then the fun was painting the inside with marine white paint.
I think they lasted as long as that food chain....
Professional Member
yea, make sure the base are flat, and all the panels are aligned, if one panel came up just a CM higher or shorter than the other one, u will have a hard time securing all the panels.
Professional Member*
That's good to know!
Old Ben (the guy who built the boxes) coould not read, If they had notes on a plan we would have to read them for him. But he was one heck of a carpenter. He had three girlfriends they he lived with. He rotated staying with them for a couple of days at a time (He actually only had his Caddy to live in). He always came in late Monday morning. One Monday when we pulled into the shop all three of them was waiting for his butt. ONe of them was pretty big and I am sure she would put a wooping on him for sure. That day he was a no show (I think he saw them from around the cornor).
Out shop was right behind the milk plant. The company shipped everything down from the east coast. The coolers were insluated with plain old wall batt insluation. One day we got a call to unload an 18 wheeler reefer truck ??
It was half full of ice cream and the other half was insluation. Did you know that that stuff was crunchie when frozen...
Life is too short, Behappy!
TFMM
Professional Member
Thanks for all of the information. I have never looked into it, so I didn't know that you could buy them prefab. That seems a lot more simple.
Are there any prefab brands to avoid? Any that are highly recommended? I am in the Louisville, KY area
Professional Member
AmeriCooler is good walkin. Although I've hit the lottery twice with AmeriCooler, they gave me a wrong Panel twice when I installed their walk ins, you know the hook is on the right side, but upside down. Had to use steel pieces to frame that together with the rest of the panels, that took another 2 hours of the time. Anyone else encounter these issues, or is it just my luck?
Professional Member
I built more then a few back in the mid 80's they were mostly produce boxes built on concrete floors I just used polyethylene on the inside for a vapor barrier I use A/C grade plywood back then it was good stuff a few I built with fiberglass batt most I switched to urethane 4" they work OK they are kina labor intensive it is far easier with the pre fabs lot less labor costs
Professional Member*
Southeastern Cooler is a good one. Americooler is also a good one.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
Professional Member
In years gone by, I made side money processing deer meat for hunters. I built two extra walls in the garage making an 8x8 room with no windows except a place to put a window unit AC(an old one). With the walls and ceiling insulated to R13 and the door closed, I would relax the deer in there. It wasn't the most effecient walk in cooler, but for a couple weeks in the fall it was fine. That would be a very poorly insulated walkin for everyday year round use, but for what I did with it, it was fine.
May I recommend a prefabed box? Even if you want to use a condensing unit and evaporater that you already have, I highly recommend that you use a commercially available box.
Posting Permissions
