How To Thermal Break Freezer Floor Concrete For Temperature Difference

Column base thermal break internal steel columns traditionally extend through the building envelope floor slab and insulation at their base.

How to thermal break freezer floor concrete for temperature difference.

Even if a freezer has a thermal break in the concrete to. The insulation thickness is dependent upon the freezer temperature. In low temperature buildings such as freezer rooms and cold storage facilities this creates a thermal bridge and point transmittance heat loss at the steel column base. Concrete is an even poorer insulator than wood so it will cool to an even greater degree and thereby create surface condensation.

Concrete slab design the concrete slab must be designed to resist the punching shear and weight of the pallet racks. Walk in freezer floors need to endure constant walking foot traffic heavy stacks of pallets and forklifts. The freezer slab must be insulated to retain the loss of heat from the slab and balance the vapor pressure with the warm ground below the freezer floor. What are the key design elements of a freezer floor.

Photo 3 shows the exposed concrete ceiling in a retail store below a supermarket freezer room. The pink and black coloring on the concrete is microbial growth due to constant and heavy condensation. For instance at 10 f a minimum of six inches of insulation is recommended. Floor insulation is placed between the floor warming system and the building floor slab.

If there is no thermal break in the concrete floor where a walk in cooler is installed condensation can occur on the floor near the walls of the unit. Building columns that extend through the slab have a thermal break that is equivalent to the floor insulation. Get a specific design completed from outside drill holes under the freezer add heat to these holes to melt the ice formation once melted floor can be maintained at a normal operating temperature and at normal budget costs.