The UK’s chilled and frozen aisles are struggling as the country experiences hotter temperatures, but it’s not just old equipment that’s to blame. According to the report, high ambient temperatures don’t simply create a bad day for refrigeration equipment, the explanation is usually much more complex, rooted in the way an individual system was designed, where it is located, and how it has been serviced and maintained over time.
Design and Maintenance
Every refrigeration system is specified around the predicted conditions it is expected to handle over a 15–20-year period, including the local climate, likely summer peaks, building layout, and the cooling load inside the store. The issue now is that those original assumptions are outdated, and the conditions some stores are experiencing are starting to exceed the tolerance the system was designed around.
Those assumptions may have been perfectly reasonable when the equipment was installed, but UK stores are facing warmer summers and longer periods of heat than many older systems were originally planned around. In other words, the operating window is moving at pace, and some systems are being challenged to perform in conditions that sit beyond their original design.
Impact on Supermarkets
This summer’s heatwaves have pushed UK supermarket refrigeration into the spotlight, and as a result, shoppers usually see the problem first at the shelf edge, through empty cabinets or temporary notices explaining equipment faults. By that point, the issue has already moved beyond the refrigeration system itself and into the customer experience.
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For supermarkets, the challenge is therefore better understood as an estate planning issue than a seasonal inconvenience. The issue is not only how quickly a store can recover when equipment fails, but whether the most exposed parts of the estate have been reviewed before the high pressure of the next period of high ambient conditions arrive.
The public debate around ageing supermarket fridges is useful only up to a point, as age can increase exposure, especially where equipment has carried years of wear or where investment has naturally followed wider asset refresh cycles. However, age on its own does not tell the full story, and with the right maintenance history and sensible upgrades, an older system can still perform well.
Maintenance and Digitisation
Maintenance is a critical factor in heatwave resilience, and pre-planned maintenance is often managed as part of routine operational budgets. The value of maintenance only becomes obvious when a store avoids disruption during a period of higher demand, and in hot weather, a service issue that may have felt manageable in spring can become lost sales, wasted product, and additional pressure on store colleagues.
Maintenance brings a design lesson to be learned, as refrigeration systems have to balance capacity with normal operating efficiency. Designing too close to the expected load leaves less room when conditions change, and designing for rare peaks alone can leave a store carrying unnecessary redundancy for much of the cooler periods of the year.
Modernisation and Improvement
Heatwave readiness needs to start before the forecast changes, and in many cases, improvement does not require a full system replacement. At one site, shading external equipment from direct sunlight may reduce solar gain whilst maintaining ventilation for the system, and display case doors can help lower the load on the refrigeration system.
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Modernisation efforts should aim to identify which assets are already operating close to the limits they were designed for, and where intervention will reduce risk before the next period of high ambient temperature. A broad estate average will not provide that answer, because the useful detail sits at store level.
Epta has developed the ETE solution, or Extreme Temperature Efficiency, to support CO₂ refrigeration in naturally high ambient environments, allowing the system to operate in these demanding conditions. The technology was originally developed for markets with high temperature environments, including Southern Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, and is now being explored in the UK as retailers look more closely at how CO₂ systems perform in warmer operating conditions.
As the UK continues to experience hotter temperatures, it’s essential for supermarkets to prepare earlier and understand the risks associated with their refrigeration systems. They can reduce the likelihood of disruption and maintain a better customer experience, even during periods of high ambient temperature.
Experts in the field are also being called upon to share their knowledge, with events like Brand Licensing Europe providing a platform for discussion and innovation.
