Cool the people in a butcher's shop. Do not use the split as the food temperature control. Chilled meat has its own cabinets and its own legal duties, which are not a wall-unit setpoint. HSE guidance covers reasonable comfort for staff. There is no legal maximum workplace temperature. Grease, sawdust and condensate must not drip or blow onto meat or onto a preparation surface. The indoor unit belongs over a staff or customer zone that stays clear of the product, with a drain you have watched.
The display case is not the wall unit
A comfort split recirculates shop air and holds a room setpoint. A display fridge refrigerates the product inside its own case. Mixing those jobs, by pointing a cassette at a rail and setting 16C, dries nothing useful and can drip. Leave food temperatures to the food rules and the equipment built for them. Staff in a cool prep room and staff beside a hot window are not in the same spot. Survey the place people stand. Customer side of the counter may need the air more than a chilled room that is already cold from cabinets. HSE guidance covers reasonable comfort for staff. There is no legal maximum workplace temperature.
Grease, wash-down and a visible drain
Slicing and cooking, if you cook, put grease in the air. A comfort unit in that plume becomes a drip of dirty water. Put it in the shop zone, not in the cook zone, and keep an extract over any cooking as that extract requires. The split is not the extract. Condensate pipes should run where a leak is seen and where it cannot reach food. Test them. The indoor unit should not go over the block, the rail or a prep bench.
Cabinet heat, the street door and the yard
Open-fronted cabinets spill cold air and still reject heat from their condensers into the shop or the yard. Tell the surveyor. Otherwise the shop unit is sized blind. The street door and the window add the rest. Outdoor plant for the shop must sit where the delivery van and the fridge condensers already are, with airflow left for all of them. F-gas rules apply. Size the occupied shop, not the cold store.
Frequently asked questions
Can shop air conditioning keep meat in date?
No. Product temperatures belong to the correct refrigerated equipment and food rules. The split is for people in the room.
Where should the indoor unit not go?
Not over the block, the rail or a prep bench, and not in a grease plume. A leak or a dirty coil drip must not land on food.
Our display fridge makes the shop cold. Do we still need cooling?
Maybe not. Cabinet spill and a hot window can fight. Survey the occupied spots before you buy a split the room does not need.
We hose the walls. Does the fascia change?
Say how you clean. Wash-down walls need fittings that survive water. A domestic fascia over a block is a poor choice if you hose the room.
Will one engineer sign the food hygiene visit and the split?
No. Food hygiene inspections are a different visit. Do not expect one engineer to sign both. If the comfort system is large, check GOV.UK air conditioning inspections. F-gas rules still apply to the refrigerant work.
Core buying guides
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Related guides
Sources and further reading
How this guide was prepared
This guide was written by the Local AC Installers Editorial Team. We compare official guidance, legislation and established consumer information, separate general information from project-specific advice, and show publication dates and sources. We do not accept installer accreditation claims at face value.