A Guide to Traulsen Milk Coolers
Milk's status as an easy source of a wide range of nutrients has earned it a place on every school lunch line around the country, which presents a unique challenge: keeping milk cold while also keeping it accessible to even the smallest of school children. School milk coolers have long been a pain point in the serving line, with many models unable to regulate the milk's temperature while the serving doors are open, leaving some milk cartons to become dangerously warm while others develop ice crystals. Durability is also an issue, with some models simply unable to withstand the daily rigors of being repeatedly loaded with crates of milk. A Traulsen milk cooler solves these problems with durable construction and an innovative design.
Simple Usage & Service
Traulsen milk coolers are made to be easy to operate, clean, and maintain, and they feature a lower entry point than most models to make serving your smallest students simple. Each of the following features comes standard on each Traulsen milk cooler.
Adjustable Casters
Before you can serve any milk out of a school milk cooler, it must be installed, and this feature makes that much easier. The casters on Traulsen milk coolers come on two rails, allowing each caster to be moved along the length of the bottom of the unit. This can aid in level installation, which is essential for any commercial refrigeration, and can also make it easy to work around irregularities in the floor, like a floor drain or broken tile.
Top-mounted Refrigeration
Traulsen milk coolers' unique design allows them to enjoy all the benefits of top-mounted refrigeration without any of the drawbacks. The compressor is kept well away from the dust and debris that settles on the floor, and because the units are only 48 inches high, it is still easy to access them for service. Its location makes cleaning the compressor coils easier. The refrigeration system is also fully accessible with removal of only only four bolts, making service calls quick and easy to help keep maintenance costs down.
Magnetic Gaskets
The gaskets in a Traulsen milk cooler are made to be durable and simple to maintain. With a snap-in design, they are easy to remove for cleaning or replacing as needed. These EZ-Clean gaskets can be sanitized with bleach without causing damage to the material or breaking the seal. When the doors are open, the top of the front door remains just high enough to protect the lower gasket from damage that might otherwise be caused by dragging milk crates across the threshold.
Floor Drain
Another feature that makes these units easy to clean is the floor drain incorporated into the design. Leaky milk cartons are inevitable, as is having to occasionally clean and sanitize the interior walls and floor of the milk cooler. A floor drain makes cleaning simple, while casters make it easy to move the unit over a drain for cleaning. A plug is also included to prevent unwanted milk leaks while the cooler is in use.
Forced Air Refrigeration
Traulsen's milk cooler design uses forced air refrigeration that helps maintain food-safe temperatures throughout the unit, even when the doors are open. The innovative air flow design from the top-mounted refrigeration unit keeps air moving throughout the interior, preventing temperature fluctuations that result in milk ending up warm or frozen.
Low Entry Point
It is important for the milk in the cooler to be accessible to children as small as preschoolers, so the bottom of the opening on Traulsen milk coolers are only 201⁄8 inches from the ground on units using the standard 6-inch casters. Casters measuring 4 inches in diameter are also available as an option to lower the opening 2 inches.
Built to Last
Traulsen refrigeration is built to last, and these milk coolers are no exception. The interiors and exteriors of Traulsen milk coolers are made with stainless steel to ensure durability and long service lives. Foamed-in-place insulation provides additional stability while helping maintain temperatures. The door design also helps ensure a long life, as the front door slides instead of swinging down, eliminating the problem of slamming doors that adds wear and tear to the unit. The doors have locks to secure products when needed.
Milk coolers have to be made to a particularly high standard due to the weight they must endure. A full milk crate weighs about 40 pounds, meaning the longest units at 58 inches long will have to hold as much as 640 pounds of product when filled to capacity. To accommodate this weight load, Traulsen's milk coolers have reinforced floors and stainless steel dunnage racks. These racks also provide the benefit of lifting the crates slightly off the bottoms of the coolers, allowing air to circulate completely around each crate to provide even cooling.
Configuration Options
The RMC series of milk coolers from Traulsen has several configurations available to meet your needs. Each size of cooler is available in single and double access, allowing students to retrieve their milk from one or both sides of the cooler as needed. The length of the unit will determine how many milk crates can fit inside. A standard crate is 13 inches by 13 inches, but 13-inch by 19-inch crates are often sometimes used. The table below shows how many of each type of crate will fit in each Traulsen milk cooler.
| Models | Length | Standard Crate Capacity | 13-in. x 19-in. Crate Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| RMC34S4, RMC34S6, RMC34D4, RMC34D6 | 34 in. | 8 | 4 |
| RMC49S4, RMC49S6, RMC49D4, RMC49D6 | 49 in. | 12 | 8 |
| RMC58S4, RMC58S6, RMC58D4, RMC58D6 | 58 in. | 16 | 10 |