Walk-in not holding temp?
Five questions, one plain-English answer about what's wrong.
Warm cases, frosted coils, short cycling, and water on the floor each point to a different failure inside your refrigeration system. Answer five quick questions about the symptoms and we'll tell you whether it's airflow, a refrigerant leak, a failing compressor, or a clogged condenser, plus whether you need maintenance, a repair call, or same-day emergency dispatch.
The four things that cause a refrigeration unit to stop cooling
Commercial refrigeration fails in four distinct ways. Each one looks the same from the outside, the temperature is wrong, but they require different fixes at very different price points. Knowing which one you have before you call avoids paying for the wrong service.
What 41°F actually means
California health code (CalCode Section 113996) requires potentially hazardous foods to be held at 41°F or below at all times. This is not a guideline, it is the legal threshold for cold holding in any food service operation in the state.
A unit that drifts to 43°F or 45°F may not feel alarming. But any product held above 41°F for more than four cumulative hours enters the temperature danger zone and must be discarded, not returned to refrigeration, not used in service. That means proteins, dairy, cut produce, prepared foods, and anything that can support bacterial growth.
A Southern California health inspector who finds ambient temperatures above 41°F will issue a major violation on the spot and require documented corrective action before a re-inspection. If the same unit fails at re-inspection, the path to conditional permit status or closure becomes short.
The cost of a quarterly maintenance visit that catches a dirty coil before it causes a failure is a fraction of the cost of one shift's worth of discarded product, let alone an emergency repair call and re-inspection fee.
How often should commercial refrigeration be serviced?
Quarterly is the standard recommendation for commercial kitchen refrigeration, and the right answer for most Southern California restaurants. High-volume kitchens, particularly those with heavy fry or grill activity that puts grease in the air, should consider every two months.
What a quarterly maintenance visit covers: evaporator and condenser coil cleaning, door gasket inspection, refrigerant level and pressure check, drain line cleaning, fan blade inspection, thermostat and defrost cycle verification, and a full system test cycle. A technician who does this every quarter catches the slow failures, dirty coils, worn gaskets, refrigerant drift, before they become emergency calls.
The single most common cause of emergency refrigeration failures in restaurants is a maintenance schedule that lapsed. The compressor that fails on a Friday night during a full house almost always shows signs of stress that a quarterly visit would have caught months earlier.
Common questions
My unit is running but not cooling, what does that mean?
A unit that runs continuously without reaching temperature almost always has one of three problems: dirty condenser coils blocking heat dissipation, a refrigerant leak reducing system pressure, or a compressor that is overworking and starting to fail. All three cause the same symptom, constant running, rising temperature, but require different fixes. The diagnostic tool above will help narrow it down.
How do I know if my condenser coils need cleaning?
The most reliable way is to look at them. On most commercial units, the condenser coils are accessible from the back or bottom. If they are visibly coated in dust, grease, or debris, they need cleaning. A less obvious sign is the condenser running hot to the touch, warmer than usual. If you cannot remember the last time the coils were cleaned, they need cleaning.
Is ice buildup on the coils normal?
A light frost on evaporator coils during operation is normal. Heavy ice buildup, thick frost or solid ice on the coils or walls, is not. It almost always indicates a failed defrost cycle, a faulty defrost timer, or a blocked drain line that is allowing water to refreeze. Left untreated, heavy ice buildup insulates the coils and blocks heat exchange entirely, causing the unit to lose cooling capacity.
What is the difference between a maintenance visit and a repair?
Maintenance is scheduled, preventive service: coil cleaning, gasket inspection, refrigerant check, system test. It is performed on a working unit to prevent failure. Repair is reactive: a technician diagnoses a specific failure and fixes it, replacing a compressor, locating and sealing a refrigerant leak, repairing a defrost circuit. Boh dispatches both. If you are not sure which you need, a diagnosis visit ($180, credited toward the repair) is the right first step.
My unit was just serviced but is already off temperature. Why?
A recently serviced unit that immediately loses temperature usually has a problem that maintenance could not address, typically a refrigerant leak that was not present or detectable at the last visit, a compressor that is beginning to fail, or an issue that developed between the service date and now. It can also indicate that the maintenance visit did not include a refrigerant pressure check. A repair diagnosis visit is the next step.
Can I just turn the unit off and back on to fix it?
For minor issues, a tripped breaker, a temporary sensor fault, a restart can sometimes restore normal operation. But if the unit has been running above temperature for more than an hour, restarting it does not fix the underlying cause. It delays diagnosis and increases the risk to any product still in the unit. If the temperature is already elevated, move product to backup cold storage first, then call for service.