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Cold storage warehouse with pallet racking

For commercial and industrial refrigeration projects (cold rooms, cold stores, process cooling) — not household fridges, home freezers or appliance repair. Results are planning estimates, not engineering design or safety advice; a qualified refrigeration engineer must confirm sizing before purchase.

Free sizing tool

Cold Store Facility Sizing Calculator

Enter how much you store, the temperature you need and any fault your current plant has — and get the required room volume, floor area and refrigeration duty. Full result, no sign-up; send it straight to the quote request when you are ready.

1. Quantity to store

2. Measured in

3. Temperature

4. Existing fault (if any)

Gross room volume

1,600 m³

~500 pallet positions

Floor area

267 m²

at ~6 m clear height

Required refrigeration duty

61.4 kW

base 51.2 kW + 20% design margin · set point -22 °C

Send this sizing to the ColdMatch project team — we prepare a brief and, after review, introduce qualified suppliers for the required capacity.

Get free supplier quotes Diagnose the fault first Worked examples guide Calculate door load

Indicative planning figures, not an engineering design. Final sizing requires a verified heat-load calculation. ColdMatch Group is a supplier-neutral procurement platform — not a contractor.

Fresh produce cold chain

Fruit, vegetables and herbs need their own temperatures.

Pre-cooling straight after harvest, chilled rooms held at +2 to +8 °C and high humidity are what keep colour, texture and shelf life. Check the product numbers before you size or price a room.

See the fresh produce cold chain Recommended storage temperatures by product

Calculation method

1. Pallet positions = pallets, or tonnes × 1.33 (≈ 750 kg per pallet)
2. Gross volume (m³) = pallet positions × 3.2 m³ (racking, aisles, staging)
3. Floor area (m²) = gross volume ÷ 6 m clear height
4. Base duty (kW) = gross volume × W/m³ band (22 chilled · 32 frozen · 90 blast) ÷ 1000
5. Required duty = base × 1.20 design margin × (1 + fault uplift 0–25%)

All calculations run in SI (m³, m², kW). The imperial toggle converts results: 1 m³ = 35.31 ft³, 1 m² = 10.76 ft², 1 kW = 3,412 BTU/h = 0.284 TR.

Worked example

New frozen store for 500 EUR pallets, no existing fault.

Inputs

• 500 pallets
• Frozen −18…−25 °C (set point −22 °C / −7.6 °F)
• No fault

Calculation

• 500 × 3.2 = 1,600 m³ (56,500 ft³)
• 1,600 ÷ 6 = 267 m² (2,870 ft²)
• 1,600 × 32 ÷ 1000 = 51.2 kW base
• 51.2 × 1.20 = 61.4 kW

≈ 61.4 kW required duty (≈ 17.5 TR · 209,600 BTU/h). With 'plant older than 12 years' (+20%) it becomes ≈ 73.7 kW.

Limitations

• W/m³ bands are averages for well-insulated rooms in temperate climates; hot sites, high door traffic or warm intake raise the load.
• Fault uplifts are planning allowances while the fault is fixed — not a substitute for repairing it.
• Assumes ~6 m clear height; high-bay or automated stores need far less floor area per pallet.
• Product pull-down (warm intake) is not modelled separately — use the refrigeration load calculator for that.

Illustrative planning result only. Confirm the final design, duty, equipment selection and performance with a qualified refrigeration engineer and supplier quotation.

Direct answer

A quick planning estimate: one stored pallet needs roughly 3.2 m³ of gross room volume including aisles and staging, and one tonne of product is about 1.3 pallet positions. Base refrigeration duty is around 22 W/m³ for chilled rooms, 32 W/m³ for frozen stores and about 90 W/m³ for blast freezing; add a 20% design margin, plus 10–25% more if the existing plant has a fault such as warm air ingress, defrost problems or an undersized compressor set. Final sizing always needs a verified heat-load calculation.

Frequently asked questions

How much cold room volume do I need per pallet?

Plan on about 3.2 m³ of gross volume per pallet including aisles and staging at roughly 6 m clear height — that is around 0.5 m² of floor area per pallet. High-bay racking reduces the floor area but not the volume.

How many kW of refrigeration does a cold store need?

As a planning figure, about 22 W per m³ for a chilled room, 32 W/m³ for a frozen store and around 90 W/m³ for blast freezing, plus a 20% design margin. A 1,000-pallet frozen store therefore needs roughly 120 kW of installed duty before any fault uplift.

How does an existing fault change the required capacity?

Faults add real load: warm air ingress or defrost problems typically add about 15%, an undersized existing plant about 25%, condenser limitations about 10% and an ageing plant about 20%. The uplift compensates until the fault is fixed — it is not a substitute for repair.

Is this estimate enough to order equipment?

No. These are indicative planning figures for scoping and budgeting. Equipment selection requires a verified heat-load calculation covering transmission, product, infiltration and internal gains for your specific building and climate.

Next steps for your project

Submit your project for expert review

Send your requirements. A ColdMatch specialist reviews every request, prepares a brief and introduces qualified suppliers — free for qualified buyers.

Calculation method

1. Pallet positions = pallets, or tonnes × 1.33 (≈ 750 kg per pallet)

2. Gross volume (m³) = pallet positions × 3.2 m³ (racking, aisles, staging)

3. Floor area (m²) = gross volume ÷ 6 m clear height

4. Base duty (kW) = gross volume × W/m³ band (22 chilled · 32 frozen · 90 blast) ÷ 1000

5. Required duty = base × 1.20 design margin × (1 + fault uplift 0–25%)

All calculations run in SI (m³, m², kW). The imperial toggle converts results: 1 m³ = 35.31 ft³, 1 m² = 10.76 ft², 1 kW = 3,412 BTU/h = 0.284 TR.

Worked example

New frozen store for 500 EUR pallets, no existing fault.

Inputs

• 500 pallets

• Frozen −18…−25 °C (set point −22 °C / −7.6 °F)

• No fault

Calculation

• 500 × 3.2 = 1,600 m³ (56,500 ft³)

• 1,600 ÷ 6 = 267 m² (2,870 ft²)

• 1,600 × 32 ÷ 1000 = 51.2 kW base

• 51.2 × 1.20 = 61.4 kW

≈ 61.4 kW required duty (≈ 17.5 TR · 209,600 BTU/h). With 'plant older than 12 years' (+20%) it becomes ≈ 73.7 kW.

Limitations

• W/m³ bands are averages for well-insulated rooms in temperate climates; hot sites, high door traffic or warm intake raise the load.

• Fault uplifts are planning allowances while the fault is fixed — not a substitute for repairing it.

• Assumes ~6 m clear height; high-bay or automated stores need far less floor area per pallet.

• Product pull-down (warm intake) is not modelled separately — use the refrigeration load calculator for that.

Illustrative planning result only. Confirm the final design, duty, equipment selection and performance with a qualified refrigeration engineer and supplier quotation.

Cold Store Facility Sizing Calculator

Fruit, vegetables and herbs need their own temperatures.

Calculation method

Worked example

Inputs

Calculation

Limitations

Frequently asked questions

How much cold room volume do I need per pallet?

How many kW of refrigeration does a cold store need?

How does an existing fault change the required capacity?

Is this estimate enough to order equipment?

Submit your project for expert review

Cold Store Facility Sizing Calculator

Fruit, vegetables and herbs need their own temperatures.

Calculation method

Worked example

Inputs

Calculation

Limitations

Frequently asked questions

How much cold room volume do I need per pallet?

How many kW of refrigeration does a cold store need?

How does an existing fault change the required capacity?

Is this estimate enough to order equipment?

Send these inputs to an RFQ

Submit your project for expert review

Send these inputs to an RFQ