RETA Breeze Sep-Oct 2022

EDUCATION CORNER

INTRODUCTION TO FREEZER FLOORS

Concrete freezer floors are an integral part of efficient operations and represent a substantial investment in the construction cost of large frozen storage buildings. They support the weight of the stored product, storage racks and the pounding of lift truck traffic. Concrete floors can last more than half a century with proper maintenance care, or they can be destroyed rather quickly by the formation of ice in the underlying soil.

HOW DOES FROST HEAVE OCCUR? First a look at a freezer floor (slab temperature below 32°) and the relationship of temperature and vapor pressure. Heat wants to move to cold. Insulation cannot stop heat flow; it can only slow it down.

What is Frost Heave in Freezers? When the temperature of the earth below a freezer drops below freezing, the moisture in the soil will freeze and expand, forming large ice crystals (often called an ice lens). This formation of ice can cause floors to crack, break, buckle, and lift up or “heave”. Ice lens formation will lift roof columns and product racking support columns, push foundation walls over, and even rip open roofs.

24 RETA.com