July 26, 2016 Take a Chill

Volume 5 | Issue 1

A cold wind from North Carolina blows in. Michael Terreri details the productivity of Bally Refrigerated Boxes, Inc.

Keeping cold whatever one needs to keep cold is the job of Bally Refrigerated Boxes, Inc. This Morehead City, N.C., company, led by Michael H. Coyle, its president, leads the field in the manufacture of insulated panels for industrial and institutional refrigeration applications. Quality is the watchword of the company’s product line, from preconstruction engineering to post-sales maintenance, and is evidenced by a 10-year warranty, an important added value.

Quantity is also an important aspect of Bally’s operation. The extensive line of products includes standard and custom walk-in coolers and freezers, refrigerated buildings, protective modular structures, blast chillers and various other refrigeration equipment.

Bally walk-in coolers and freezers are designed to save money and time both at assembly and during the many years of operation that follow. Simplicity of design also guarantees an easy disassembly in any future expansion or relocation. The panels are made of poured-in-place urethane — which doubles the insulating efficiency of fiberglass or polystyrene, keeping energy costs down. These lightweight panels are available in 4-, 5- and 6-inch thicknesses. Bally’s Speed-Loks join all the panels — walls, ceiling and floor — and hold the warm air out and the cold air in. The result is a complete vapor barrier system. There are 10,000 designs and configurations from which to choose, and the walk-ins are available with a complete line of refrigeration equipment, including chlorofluorocarbon (CFC)-free refrigerants.

Bally’s refrigerated buildings offer the same quality and variety. They are economical and resilient, and include a wide selection of hinged, sliding, manual and powered doors. The building heights can exceed 27 feet. The refrigerated building line also features Speed-Lok joining mechanisms, urethane insulation and varying thicknesses.

One particular product line, Bally modular structures, is designed with relocation in mind. They can be purchased factory-assembled on an easy-to-handle skid, thus facilitating an uncomplicated future move. A Bally modular structure also boasts of strength, color, versatility, adaptability and a strong finish. The structures even include panels that are bullet-resistant.

Blast for Health
Recently, blast chilling has come to the fore as an important procedure in the prevention of food-borne illnesses, which affect more than 25 million Americans each year and prove fatal in significantly more than half of these cases. The 1993 Food Code of the Food and Drug Administration requires that potentially hazardous foods must be rapidly cooled to an internal temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit or less within a maximum time of four hours. Many states have incorporated hazard analysis critical control points (HACCPs) into their inspection programs, and have reported that reach-in or walk-in refrigeration cannot effectively cool most foods to the proper, safe temperature within the four-hour time frame. They can keep food cold, but only blast chillers can cool food quickly enough, getting through the “danger zone” to less than 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Bally Northwest Blast Chiller gets food out of the danger zone in a hurry, especially those foods that are precooked for retail and institutional use. It can drop the internal temperature of most foods from 140 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit in two hours or less, half the time mandated by the FDA. These blast chillers can accommodate the rolling racks found in high-volume kitchens, and they meet the requirements of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

Cool Systems
Bally also provides the refrigeration units used in its products. These units are specifically designed for these applications. Ozone-friendly and pre-assembled, Bally precharged refrigeration systems require minimal job-site activity. They are mounted on a steel frame for easy dropin installation, requiring only electrical and drain connections.

The most recent refrigeration equipment product offering is the Bally Thermo-Plug Refrigeration System line. Maximizing the headroom of a walk-in box, the new Bally Thermo-Plug unit can be dropped into a ceiling panel’s factory-cut opening, fully piped and wired, and requiring no refrigeration technicians at the job site.

The company’s client base extends beyond the food storage industry. Environmental control in other applications often calls for certain temperatures and humidity, and other requirements. Laboratories, hospitals and even mortuaries often use Bally’s products and services. The units are custom-designed and precision-built, meeting specification and cost mandates time after time. Bally environmental chambers have served the scientific, health-care and engineering communities for more than 30 years, in such specific areas as tissue culture growth, forensic applications, industrial testing facilities, genetic research, robotics and many, many more. Temperature maintenance in blood and plasma storage, for example, is critical. When human blood and its components are stored, there is no room for error. Red cells and whole blood must be kept between 1 and 6 degrees Celsius, or they become unusable for transfusion. Bally blood coolers and freezers meet the unforgiving demands of blood center work. Constructed of steel or aluminum, the units are easily cleaned and sanitized. The refrigeration systems, primary and backup, minimize the possibility of service interruption. In the rare and unlikely occurrence of a refrigeration system malfunction, the insulating capability of the structure can maintain safe temperatures for hours until the refrigeration can get back on track. The units are equipped with multiple monitoring systems and alarms, including visual, audible and remote-notification types.

Couple the array of products, the quality of manufacture and the generous warranty with another valuable feature — one-to-three day delivery of stocked products — and Bally Refrigerated Boxes should continue to be hot items. Well, maybe not.

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