Refrigeration Load Calculation Part II
"Well," I say, "what size walk-in did you have in mind?" There is a pause. When someone balks at this question I know that the ground we are about to cover will mostly be a miasma of swamp.
"I have a space in the basement under the stairs." It starts off badly.
"You want the walk-in to have a slanted ceiling to match the slope of the steps?"
"Can't they?"
"It's unusual but, yes, I suppose so."
"If that's a problem I have a completely empty seven thousand square foot building with twenty foot ceilings out back that I don't use."
“Oh,” I say like a drowning man offered a dry hand, “maybe we should think about the seven thousand square feet.” I take a breath. “Why don’t you tell me what you’re doing with this space?”
“Getting prices!”
I sigh, “No, I mean, what is it that you want to refrigerate?”
“My wife makes great apple pies!”
“Great, why don’t you tell me about the process?”
“Process?”
“Yeah, will you, I don’t know, want to freeze the pies after you bake them? Cool the separate parts of the pie and assemble them for shipment? Precook the pies? Send raw apples?”
“That all sounds good, freeze them maybe…..”
“Why don’t we start at the end? You want to sell the pies that your wife bakes, right?”
“That was one idea we had. But my Uncle Wilfred has an idea about cutting meat.”
“Okay.” I am more nervous by the minute. I have visions of Elsie with an apple in her mouth “Tell me about the meat cutting.”
“Well, Uncle Wil, wants an old fashion butcher shop, you know with the meat rails…”
“Your Uncle is going to receive sides of beef?”
“Yeah and then you know put them up on rails and run them into the walk-in.”
“And then he’ll cut the beef?”
“Well we haven’t figured that out yet!”
“Uhhh, look,” I say in a strained voice, “you really have to make some kind of decision. You know, to get prices.”
“Can’t you give me a price various ways?”
“That, “I assure him “is my specialty.” It has often been bandied about the company that we would be far ahead of the game if we charged only for the quotation and provided the equipment, material and labor gratis.
Okay, now in the Part III, I tell you what you need to know to help this guy. Definitely a bottle of aspirin is in order. The thought that comes unbidden to my brain is, “Why did I think this was funny?” Bear with me we’ll find humor somewhere, I think.