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Care-facility kitchen: new defrost timers on two reach-ins

Client: Kitchen serving a nursing home
Collage of four photos from the care-facility kitchen job: the old mechanical defrost timer, the new electronic timer, the cleaned condenser coil, the thermometer reading 37.2 F
Scope
Reach-in freezer and refrigerator: mechanical defrost timers replaced with electronic timers
Timeline
Two visits, two days apart
Location
New York City
Year completed
2026
What was delivered
  • Intermatic electronic defrost timer fitted to the Continental 2F reach-in freezer
  • New electronic timer on the Hoshizaki RH2-SSB refrigerator beside it, two days later
  • Thermometer reading of 37.2°F, 40% RH

The call

A kitchen that feeds a nursing home cannot lose a freezer. This one runs a two-door Continental reach-in freezer, with a Hoshizaki reach-in refrigerator beside it.

What we found

The box is a Continental Refrigerator model 2F, a commercial reach-in freezer on 115 volts, single phase, R-404A with a 15-ounce charge. The plate rates the condensing unit at 7.9 amps running, 51 amps locked rotor, and the electric defrost circuit at 9.6 amps.

The Continental 2F data plate: 115 V single phase, R-404A, 15 oz charge, condensing unit 7.9 A, defrost circuit 9.6 A.
The Continental 2F data plate: 115 V single phase, R-404A, 15 oz charge, condensing unit 7.9 A, defrost circuit 9.6 A.

Behind the grille sits the defrost timer, and this one was the mechanical kind: a small clock motor turning a dial with trip pins, the design that has been in reach-ins for decades. If that motor stops, the timer stops where it is, and either defrost never comes or it never ends.

The original mechanical defrost timer, a clock-motor dial with trip pins, in the compressor compartment.
The original mechanical defrost timer, a clock-motor dial with trip pins, in the compressor compartment.

The work, in order

  1. Mechanical timer replaced with an Intermatic electronic defrost timer: solid-state switching with a 24-hour dial that can still be read on site.
  2. Two days later, back in the same kitchen for the reach-in refrigerator next to it, a Hoshizaki RH2-SSB, which got a new electronic timer too.
The new Intermatic electronic defrost timer: two relays, an eight-terminal block and a 24-hour dial, with no clock motor to wear out.
The new Intermatic electronic defrost timer: two relays, an eight-terminal block and a 24-hour dial, with no clock motor to wear out.
Second box, second visit: the new electronic timer in its grey enclosure mounted beside the old mechanical timer on the Hoshizaki reach-in.
Second box, second visit: the new electronic timer in its grey enclosure mounted beside the old mechanical timer on the Hoshizaki reach-in.

On the second box

The refrigerator’s condenser coil with the grille off.
The refrigerator’s condenser coil with the grille off.
Our thermo-hygrometer reading 37.2°F and 40% relative humidity.
Our thermo-hygrometer reading 37.2°F and 40% relative humidity.

Equipment and parts

FreezerContinental Refrigerator model 2F two-door reach-in, 115 V 60 Hz single phase, R-404A 15 oz, condensing unit 7.9 A RLA / 51 A LRA, defrost circuit 9.6 A, design pressures 174 / 492 psi
RefrigeratorHoshizaki RH2-SSB two-door reach-in
TimersIntermatic electronic defrost timers replacing mechanical clock-motor timers
Readings37.2°F, 40% RH

What this means if you manage the building

A defrost timer is a cheap part with an expensive failure, and it fails silently: the box just gets warmer. In a kitchen where the boxes were bought together, same-age components are worth doing together, on the kitchen’s schedule rather than the equipment’s.

From the job log: New defrost timers for two reach-ins (scheduled for 5 Nov 2026, link follows).

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