Schools, boarding facilities, and institutional kitchens depend on reliable commercial refrigeration to safely store fresh and frozen food throughout the academic year. Unlike many restaurants where refrigeration demand varies throughout the day, school kitchens require dependable temperature control to support large scale meal preparation while keeping operating costs under control.
As refrigeration equipment ages, it becomes increasingly inefficient, consumes more electricity, and requires frequent maintenance. Rather than continuing to repair outdated systems, many institutions now choose to modernise their refrigeration infrastructure with energy efficient equipment designed to reduce operating costs while improving reliability.
This case study highlights how Glotech Group successfully completed a full cold room and freezer installation for Rhenish Girls High School in Stellenbosch. The project involved removing an ageing walk in cooler, redesigning the refrigeration system, installing a brand new freezer room, and delivering a modern energy efficient refrigeration solution capable of supporting the school’s catering operations for many years.
The project demonstrates how thoughtful refrigeration design can improve efficiency, expand storage capacity, and significantly reduce long term operating costs.
Before this project, Rhenish Girls High operated with a single ageing walk in cooler that had served the school for many years.
Although the existing cold room remained operational, the refrigeration system had become outdated and increasingly inefficient.
The school wanted far more than a simple equipment replacement.
Their objective was to completely modernise the refrigeration facilities while introducing dedicated frozen storage for food products that previously had to be accommodated elsewhere.
This created an opportunity to redesign the refrigeration system from the ground up.
Before preparing the design, Glotech Group worked closely with the school to understand its operational requirements.
Several priorities became clear.
The school required:
Electricity consumption was one of the client’s biggest concerns.
The ageing refrigeration equipment had become increasingly expensive to operate.
Reducing ongoing energy costs therefore became one of the key design objectives.
Rather than modifying the existing installation, Glotech Group recommended a complete refrigeration redesign.
The project included removing:
Starting with a clean installation allowed the new refrigeration system to be engineered according to the school’s current and future operational requirements.
One of the biggest improvements was introducing a dedicated walk in freezer alongside the new cold room.
This created two independent temperature controlled storage environments.
The cold room provides ideal storage conditions for:
The walk in freezer provides reliable frozen storage for:
Separating chilled and frozen storage improves operational efficiency while ensuring each refrigeration system operates at its optimum temperature.
Because reducing electricity consumption formed a major project objective, Glotech Group selected an energy efficient enclosed split FRIGA refrigeration system.
The enclosed split design offers several operational advantages.
These include:
Combined with correctly sized refrigeration equipment and modern insulated panels, the redesigned refrigeration system now operates far more efficiently than the previous installation.
Correct insulation plays a major role in refrigeration performance.
To maximise thermal efficiency, Glotech Group installed:
100mm polystyrene insulated panels for the cold room.
150mm polystyrene insulated panels for the freezer room.
Using different insulation thicknesses for each room ensures both refrigeration systems are optimised according to their operating temperatures.
The thicker freezer insulation reduces heat gain while helping minimise compressor run time and electricity consumption.
The complete project was delivered over ten days.
The installation included:
Every stage followed Glotech Group’s commercial refrigeration installation standards.
Despite the scale of the project, the installation was completed within the planned ten day programme.
Careful planning ensured the project progressed efficiently while maintaining high workmanship standards throughout.
Meeting agreed project deadlines is especially important within educational facilities where kitchen operations must be ready to support learners and staff.
The greatest measure of success is long term performance.
More than two years after installation, the refrigeration systems continue operating exactly as designed.
The client has experienced:
The project continues to demonstrate the benefits of proper refrigeration design, premium equipment selection, and professional installation.
The completed installation delivered numerous benefits.
These include:
Most importantly, the school now benefits from a refrigeration system designed to support daily catering operations while reducing long term operating costs.
With more than 15 years of experience, Glotech Group designs, installs, upgrades, repairs, and maintains commercial refrigeration systems for schools, universities, hospitals, restaurants, supermarkets, food manufacturers, hospitality businesses, pharmaceutical facilities, and industrial clients across South Africa.
Our services include:
Every refrigeration system is engineered around the client’s operational requirements, ensuring maximum reliability, efficiency, and long term value.
The Rhenish Girls High project is an excellent example of how commercial refrigeration should evolve alongside an organisation’s changing needs.
By replacing an ageing walk in cooler with a completely redesigned cold room and freezer combination, Glotech Group delivered significantly improved storage capacity, reduced electricity consumption, and dependable long term refrigeration performance.
Two years after commissioning, the refrigeration system continues operating exactly as intended without major issues, providing reliable support for the school’s catering operations every day.
For schools, educational institutions, hospitality businesses, and commercial organisations looking to modernise ageing refrigeration systems or install new cold rooms and freezer rooms, Glotech Group continues to deliver expertly engineered commercial refrigeration solutions backed by more than 15 years of industry experience across Cape Town and throughout South Africa.
067 153 8332
info@glotechgroup.co.za
Gotech Group offers emergency repair, replacement and installation of industrial and commercial refrigeration units restoring efficient operations in Hermanus & across Western Cape.