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How much does it cost to install a cold storage unit?

Update time:

2025-03-04

Many people involved in wholesale vegetables, fruits, meat, and seafood, as well as those in planting and animal husbandry, consider building cold storage facilities. Cold storage prevents fruits and vegetables from spoiling easily in high temperatures, and it prevents poultry from rotting. Those considering building cold storage often search for quotes online, usually comparing prices from one or two companies. This often leads to significant price differences. So, how much does it cost to install cold storage? Today, we'll discuss common issues causing these large price discrepancies.

The cost of cold storage mainly consists of four parts: insulation costs, refrigeration equipment, installation and transportation, and auxiliary materials.

1. Refrigeration Equipment:

These components all contribute to price differences in cold storage. A significant factor contributing to these differences is the brand of equipment. For example, imported equipment versus domestic equipment. For small cold storage facilities, imported equipment can sometimes cost thousands more than domestic equipment, while large cold storage facilities can cost tens of thousands more. A large cold storage facility using several sets of refrigeration equipment can increase costs by tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan. Therefore, the brand of refrigeration equipment is a major factor affecting the cost of cold storage. Another point is the cold storage design, with different design schemes.

Normally, when designing a cold storage facility, if the customer requires a 0℃ temperature, a reputable company will set the temperature 5℃ lower. This ensures that the temperature remains within the standard range even when storing large quantities of goods. Some companies or individual operators don't do this, choosing cheaper refrigeration units. However, this can easily lead to the unit operating under overload due to prolonged full loads, resulting in damage due to insufficient temperature control.

2. Insulation Costs:

Insulation costs are divided into two types: spray coating and polyurethane insulation panels. When should these two types of insulation be chosen? If it's an indoor construction project and there's no plan to relocate, a one-time spray coating can be used. The cost is relatively lower than polyurethane insulation panels, but the aesthetics are inferior, and the insulation cannot be expanded later. If the cold storage needs to be moved, re-coating will be required. Polyurethane insulation boards are considered all-around suitable and are a relatively new type of insulation material. Currently, almost all cold storage facilities on the market use polyurethane insulation boards. Xueyi Refrigeration also recommends this type of insulation due to its advantages such as heat insulation, corrosion resistance, flame retardancy, cold resistance, and long service life.

Spray coating is cheaper than polyurethane insulation boards, but it is not suitable for micro-cold storage facilities; it is only suitable for small to medium-sized cold storage facilities.

3. Installation and Transportation Costs:

Reputable companies generally have fixed installation costs, such as the price per square meter of boards and the price per set of equipment. Professional cold storage installation companies will train their own installation teams, ensuring a more responsible approach to cold storage construction, superior installation techniques, and greater protection for the user's cold storage.

Transportation costs are generally calculated based on the distance.

4. Cold Storage Accessories:

The quality of a cold storage unit and the professionalism of the company can be clearly seen from the accessories used. Many people try to cut corners on accessories, but these are essential for cold storage installation. Reducing the use of accessories to save costs will compromise the installation quality. For example, omitting cable trays on the roof, not applying silicone sealant, or even leaving the outer paper covering the panels intact will prevent the silicone sealant from penetrating, affecting the seal. Even if it does penetrate initially, the sealant will eventually detach due to airflow inside the unit.

Asking about the cost per square meter or cubic meter for cold storage construction or installation is a common misconception stemming from a lack of understanding. The correct cost is not calculated per cubic meter, but rather based on the dimensions of the cold storage unit, the client's needs, and the selection of suitable refrigeration units and cold storage panels of appropriate thickness.

The unit cost of cold storage varies greatly depending on temperature requirements, volume, and configuration level. Generally, a 50-60 cubic meter (18-25 square meter) high-temperature storage warehouse (0-4℃) costs between 30,000 and 40,000 yuan, while a frozen warehouse (-15 to -18℃) costs between 40,000 and 50,000 yuan. Indeed, the larger the cold storage, the cheaper the unit cost, and vice versa.

Let's take a comparison as an example: a 20 cubic meter cold storage generally costs around 30,000 to 40,000 yuan, approximately 1,400 to 2,000 yuan per cubic meter. If calculated per cubic meter, building a 1,000 cubic meter cold storage would require 1.4 to 2 million yuan, which is clearly unrealistically expensive for this size. Why can't cold storage be calculated per square meter or per cubic meter? Even a small cold storage unit needs all the essential components: insulation panels, compressors, and air coolers.