Blast Resistant Glass Door Fridge for High Altitudes

Is Your Fridge Door at Risk of Exploding?
How to Make Blast Resistant Glass Door Fridge for High Altitudes?

When Rachel contacted us for the first time, she was not through email, but directly called us. That call lasted more than an hour. I can still remember her voice was a little anxious, sometimes even desperate. Rachel is the marketing manager for the Bolivian subsidiary of a beverage brand and had just been in this company for less than a year. She told us in detail that she had purchased a batch of display fridges to promote their products from the beginning. However, after the arrival of the customized refrigerators, she found that more than 30% of the glass doors had blasted. Shortly after the use of other refrigerators, Large-scale cracks also appeared in many glass doors so that these refrigerators could not be used normally. This problem still existed after the repair. “That was the worst period I have ever experienced. Every day I was worried about when’s the next blast.” Rachel said.

So when she purchased the glass door fridges for the second time, she spent a long time looking for a professional supplier and spent more money on the refrigerators. The situation had improved, but there were still 10% to 15% of the refrigerators with glass door blast. Even if the supplier provided a free warranty service, transportation is a torment for Rachel. The biggest trouble for her is that these refrigerators during the renovation of the glass door could not be put into use, which greatly affected the promotion and sales of the beverages. In addition, glass bursting can be a dangerous thing, and if someone is injured, things would get more terrible. What Rachel’s looking for was a blast resistant glass door fridge. And at a head office meeting, she met Antonio.

Antonio is the marketing manager for the Mexican subsidiary of their brand. He had the same problems as Rachel before cooperating with us for the first time. We had been very experienced in dealing with such problems at that time. So we gave him a detailed explanation of the reasons and provided him with helpful solutions. Since he first purchased our blast resistant glass door fridges from us, we have been partners for more than three years. When Antonio heard of Rachel’s difficulties, he immediately sent our contact information to Rachel. Last month, we just completed the second order from Rachel.

What Makes the Fridge Glass Door Blast?

The glass doors used in high-quality display coolers are generally made of double-layer tempered glass. This design is for two purposes. First, it effectively avoids the reduction of the operating efficiency caused by the great difference in temperature between the inside and outside of the fridge. The second is to keeps the condensation away. During the assembly process, when the double-layer glass is sealed, some air is left inside. The air pressure in this sealed space is the same as the external air pressure at the production site. However, the pressure at the place of production is not necessarily the same as the pressure at the place of delivery. Especially in the case where the production area is a plain area, if the fridges are shipped to a plateau area, the air pressure inside the double-layer glass door will be greatly different from outside. This difference in air pressure is the cause of the glass door blast. Single-layer glass door fridges generally do not suffer from this problem because the glass does not form a confined space. The pressure on both sides of the glass is the same.

Mexico City belongs to the highlands and is about 2,240 meters above sea level. Bolivia is the country with the highest average altitude, with an average elevation of 3,000 meters. In general, the higher the altitude is, the lower the air pressure is. The high pressure inside the glass door is in great contrast with the low pressure outside, and the glass door will be deformed, bulged or even burst. This is why Antonio and Rachel had such terrible experiences.

The Magic Capillary Tube

Our solution is very simple. We use a copper capillary tube to connect the hollow layer of the glass door to the outside to equalize the pressure. The capillary tube is a system combined with glass packaging to ensure that the glass door will not be deformed or blast due to pressure changes during the transportation of the refrigerators while maintaining good sealing of the glass door.

Below we will introduce you how we install the capillary tube in our blast resistant glass door fridge during the production process. If you are not interested in the text, skip to the video.

1Make a hole through the glass door frame(the same side with the handle) to the hollow aluminium slot.

2Insert the copper capillary tube into the hole to a depth of about 10-15 cm.

3Glue around the inserted capillary tube.

4Bend the capillary tube into the door frame and buckle the door frame.

Although the process does not seem complicated, not every manufacturer of commercial refrigerators pays great attention to such details. In the communication before the customers place an order, we always carefully ask about the POL. Once we know that the destination is at a high altitude, or the altitude is more than 500 meters away from our production site, we will recommend the customer to have the glass door fridges installed with capillary tubes. This will reduce the risk of glass blast for the customer. The most important thing is that all capillary tube installations and setups are completed during the production. Once the blast resistant glass door fridges arrive at the destination, you can use it directly without any operation.