Keeping a refrigeration maintenance and temperature log

Why keep a log

• Catches slow failures early: a temperature that creeps up week by week points to a dirty condenser, leaking gasket or refrigerant loss.
• Supports food-safety audits and inspections by showing temperature control and cleaning are routine.
• Gives technicians history, so they diagnose faster and avoid repeating failed fixes.
• Holds service providers to account on visits and response times.
• Informs repair-or-replace decisions with real breakdown and cost history.

Daily temperature records

Record each unit's temperature at least twice a day, typically at opening and before close, with the time and the initials of the person checking. Note the display reading and, at least once a day, a reading from a calibrated probe thermometer in a product or a glass of water in the cabinet. Write down any action taken when a reading is out of range — moved stock, called service — because a reading without an action is a finding in an audit.

Common food-safety guidance is chilled food at 5 °C or below and frozen food at −18 °C or below. Your food-safety plan should set the limits and the action for each unit. Pharmacy, vaccine and lab units usually have stricter recording requirements set by their regulator or programme.

Maintenance records

Fault and breakdown records

• Date and time the fault was noticed and what was seen or heard.
• Time the service call was logged and the reference number.
• Time the technician arrived and the time the unit was back in service.
• Cause found, parts replaced and cost.
• Stock moved or discarded.

Start with an asset register

Give every unit a simple identity: a number or name on a label, its location, brand, model, serial number, refrigerant type and installation date, all taken from the rating plate. Keep this at the front of the log. It makes service calls quicker, keeps AMC asset lists accurate, and tells technicians in advance whether a unit uses a flammable hydrocarbon refrigerant.

Paper or digital?

A clipboard sheet on each unit works well and costs nothing; the key is to file completed sheets in one place every week. Digital loggers and connected sensors record temperatures automatically and can send alerts by SMS or app, which is valuable for freezers holding high-value stock, sites that close overnight and pharmacy units. Whichever you use, someone must review the records every week — a log nobody reads protects nobody.

Reading the log for warning signs

• Afternoon temperatures rising week by week: check the condenser and room heat.
• Readings out of range after deliveries: review restocking and door habits.
• The same fault returning within weeks: ask for the root cause, not another repair.
• Display and probe readings drifting apart: have the controller probe checked.
• Gasket test failures at the same spot: check the hinge and level.

Safety notes

Logging itself carries no risk, but the tasks it records do. Make sure the log reminds staff to isolate power before cleaning near fans and coils, and that any entry calling for work on the refrigeration system is passed to a trained technician — for hydrocarbon units, one trained for flammable refrigerants.