True Refrigeration Service for Tampa Businesses and Homes

True Manufacturing, a family-founded Missouri company, made its name with commercial refrigeration. Its glass-door merchandisers stand in countless convenience stores and delis, and its stainless reach-ins, undercounters, sandwich prep units and bar coolers fill kitchens large and small.

Its True Residential division applies the same heavy-duty thinking to home columns, undercounter units, beverage centers and wine storage.

Commercial calls come from cafes, bars, small restaurants, convenience stores, offices and other light commercial sites where a reach-in or merchandiser never gets a rest.

We service accessible self-contained units, where the compressor and condenser live in the cabinet. Walk-in boxes and systems with a remote condenser are better served by a commercial refrigeration contractor, and we say so up front. At home, we work on True Residential units in kitchens, bars and outdoor kitchens.

True cabinets use a fan to drive cold air across the shelves, so temperature comes back fast after a door opening. Much of the range now runs on R290, a hydrocarbon refrigerant that cools efficiently with only a small charge. Coolers usually defrost while the compressor is idle; freezers melt frost with electric heaters, ended by a termination switch.

Everything depends on air moving over two coils, condenser and evaporator, and choking either one lengthens run cycles and warms the box. Because the charge is tiny, even a pinhole leak soon shows as a warm cabinet. Sealed-system work on a flammable refrigerant takes proper tools and is never an owner job.

A merchandiser near a shop entrance gulps warm, wet air each time the door swings, and a tired gasket or failed door heater shows up as fogged glass, a dripping frame and frost inside.

Lightning and outages can damage controls and fan motors, and a compressor restarting against high pressure may trip. A True Residential unit on a lanai or in a garage should be a model rated for that spot. If floodwater reached a unit, leave it unplugged until inspected; soaked controls and motors are a safety issue, and many should be replaced.

Gaskets are the top repair on busy units: traffic tears the corners and crushes the bead, and carts bump merchandiser doors. Coils clog with grease or dust, condenser fans wear out from nonstop duty, and evaporator fans turn noisy before they fail. On freezers, a burned heater, stalled timer or failed termination switch lets the coil ice solid.

These cabinets are designed for service, so the routine fixes almost always pay off, and sealed-system work often does on a solid cabinet. On newer equipment, check manufacturer coverage first. Otherwise we tell you what is on the van and what has to be ordered.