Planned maintenance for a cash & carry store, Charlton

The site and the brief

In October 2026 Climate Flow Limited carried out planned preventive maintenance at Duc Tien Cash & Carry, a cash & carry store in Charlton, London SE7. The scheduled visit covered the commercial refrigeration and air conditioning equipment across the site. Planned preventive maintenance (PPM) means servicing equipment on a schedule, before it breaks down, instead of waiting for a fault. Climate Flow does this work for food retailers in London and surrounding areas.

Our engineers inspected and serviced the outdoor equipment and paid particular attention to the condenser coils and airflow. The condensers were cleaned to remove built-up dirt, dust and debris.

Equipment serviced

A cassette unit is an indoor air conditioning unit set into the ceiling. The visit covered:

• outdoor condensing units serving the walk-in cold rooms and freezer rooms;
• commercial fridges and freezers;
• air conditioning made up of ceiling cassette indoor units and Mitsubishi Electric outdoor units.

Scope of work

• Inspecting and cleaning the refrigeration condensing units
• Maintaining the condensers that serve the walk-in freezers and cold rooms
• Inspecting the fridge and freezer refrigeration systems
• Cleaning the air conditioning outdoor units
• Cleaning condenser coils to restore unrestricted airflow
• Visually inspecting coils, pipework, electrical components and general condition
• Running operational checks after the maintenance
• Identifying possible defects that need further attention

Why the condenser coils got the most attention

The condenser coil is where a refrigeration or air conditioning system gets rid of the heat it has removed. When the fins are packed with dirt and debris, air cannot pass through freely. Danfoss lists a dirty condenser, a failed fan and condenser airflow problems among the checks for high pressure in a cold room system. Danfoss also notes that poor heat rejection, when the condenser cannot give off its heat properly, can reduce capacity and increase pressure (Danfoss, troubleshooting cold room faults).

On this visit the condenser coils were pressure-washed.

The cassette units inside the store

Inside, the engineers took the filters out of the ceiling cassette units. One filter came out clogged with dust; it was washed.

The result

The condensers, coils and filters were cleaned, and operational checks were run after the maintenance. Where the engineers saw a possible defect that needs further attention, it was identified for the store. The work was a maintenance visit: we claim no figures or savings for this site.

What the law asks of a site like this

Work on equipment containing F gas may need qualifications and company certification (GOV.UK, F gas in refrigeration and air conditioning); Climate Flow is F-Gas certified. The user of certain F gas equipment is responsible for getting it checked for leaks, and how often depends on the size of the charge: equipment holding the equivalent of 5 to less than 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide must be checked at least once every 12 months (GOV.UK, checking F gas equipment for leaks). For a food retailer, chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below, and GOV.UK advises setting fridges to 5°C or below (GOV.UK, chilling and freezing).

Related services

This visit drew on our refrigeration repair and maintenance and air conditioning servicing and repair work. Sites that want visits on a schedule can read about our maintenance contracts, and more on refrigeration for shops is on the retail, convenience and petrol stations page. See more jobs in Our Projects.

This guide is general information, not a survey or a quote for your site; every system is different, so an engineer needs to see yours before any work is priced.