About Us

About Cold Change Group – Pre Cooling & Industrial Cooling Specialists

Cold Change Group is a UK-based specialist in pre cooling, industrial vacuum cooling and cold chain technology, supplying cooling equipment to growers, packhouses, food processors and horticultural businesses worldwide.

Our focus is simple: to remove heat from products as quickly and efficiently as possible, helping customers protect product quality, extend shelf life, reduce post-harvest losses and improve the efficiency of the complete cold chain.

With approximately 25 years of personal experience in refrigeration, air conditioning, mechanical engineering and vacuum cooling, our technical background extends far beyond simply supplying machinery. We understand the refrigeration systems, vacuum technology, controls and engineering required to design an effective industrial pre-cooling system.

Vacuum Cooler Manufacturer & Vacuum Cooling Specialists

One of our principal areas of expertise is industrial vacuum cooling. Cold Change Group supplies and develops industrial vacuum coolers, vacuum pre coolers, vacuum chillers and complete vacuum cooling systems for commercial operations around the world.

Our vacuum cooler range includes compact single-pallet machines through to large multi-pallet industrial systems for high-throughput growers and packhouses.

Vacuum pre cooling is particularly suited to many fresh and porous products because heat can be removed rapidly throughout a suitable load. Applications can include lettuce, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs, spinach, watercress, celery, asparagus, cut flowers, turf and bakery products.

As a specialist vacuum cooler manufacturer and supplier, we can engineer systems around the customer’s product, pallet dimensions, kilograms per pallet, starting temperature, required final temperature, cycle time and hourly production throughput.

Four Industrial Cooling Technologies

There is no single pre cooling method that is ideal for every product. Cold Change Group therefore provides access to several different rapid cooling technologies, allowing equipment to be selected according to the product and application rather than attempting to use one cooling method for everything.

1. Vacuum Cooling

Vacuum cooling uses controlled evaporation under reduced atmospheric pressure to remove heat rapidly from suitable products. It is widely used for fresh produce and is particularly effective for many leafy and porous products.

Customers can also browse our complete vacuum cooling equipment range.

2. Hydro Cooling

Hydro cooling uses chilled water to rapidly remove field heat from products that are suitable for direct water contact. Hydro coolers can be used for products including sweetcorn, cherries, carrots, potatoes, berries, peppers and other suitable fresh produce.

The correct hydro cooler configuration depends upon product type, throughput, incoming temperature, required discharge temperature and the available refrigeration capacity.

3. Blast Chilling & Forced-Air Cooling

Blast chilling and forced-air pre cooling use refrigerated air moving at high velocity to transfer heat away from the product. These systems can provide an effective solution where vacuum cooling or direct water cooling is not suitable.

Cold Change Group can help customers compare blast chilling, forced-air cooling, hydro cooling and vacuum cooling to determine the most appropriate technology for their particular product and production process.

4. Blast Freezing

Blast freezing systems provide rapid temperature reduction for products that need to be frozen rather than simply pre-cooled. These systems form part of our wider cold-chain equipment offering and can be engineered around commercial production requirements.

25 Years of Cooling & Engineering Experience

Cold Change Group has been developed from decades of practical engineering experience. Our work combines approximately 25 years of personal experience across refrigeration, air conditioning, mechanical engineering, industrial cooling and specialist vacuum cooling technology.

This experience includes equipment design, refrigeration systems, vacuum systems, international engineering projects, commissioning, technical troubleshooting and the development of energy-efficient cooling solutions.

That engineering background is particularly important when selecting a pre cooler. The physical size of a machine alone does not determine whether it will achieve the required performance. Refrigeration capacity, vacuum pump performance, product weight, packaging, airflow or water flow, starting temperature, final temperature and required cycle time all influence the design.

Award-Winning Energy-Efficient Cooling Development

Energy efficiency has been an important part of our engineering work for many years. Our experience includes the development of award-recognised low-energy and off-grid cooling technology for agricultural applications in developing markets.

This work has helped shape our approach to modern pre cooling equipment and vacuum cooling systems: cooling performance should not be considered independently from energy consumption.

Our objective is therefore to continue improving the relationship between cooling speed, refrigeration capacity, vacuum performance, electrical consumption and overall cold-chain efficiency.

Research & Development

Research and development is an important part of the Cold Change Group approach.

Our engineering experience has included collaboration and development work involving universities and professional engineering organisations, including the University of Liverpool, University of Birmingham, University of Exeter and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).

These projects have focused on areas including sustainable cooling, post-harvest technology and improving the energy efficiency of cooling systems.

We continue to apply engineering research and practical operating experience to the development of our vacuum coolers and pre cooling technology, with particular emphasis on reducing unnecessary energy consumption while maintaining rapid and consistent cooling performance.

Why Pre Cooling Matters

Pre cooling is the rapid removal of field heat or process heat before a product enters the next stage of the cold chain.

A refrigerated cold room is extremely important for maintaining temperature, but it is not necessarily the fastest or most energy-efficient method of removing large quantities of heat from freshly harvested produce.

Using a correctly designed pre cooler can bring suitable products towards their required storage temperature before they enter refrigerated storage. This can reduce the cooling load placed on the cold store and help establish the cold chain much sooner.

Depending upon the application, the appropriate technology may therefore be a vacuum pre cooler, hydro cooler, forced-air system or another specialist rapid-cooling solution.

Energy Efficiency & Sustainable Cold Chains

Cold Change Group believes the future of industrial refrigeration must combine performance with energy efficiency.

Rapid pre cooling can form an important part of this approach. Removing product heat efficiently before refrigerated storage can reduce the cooling duty placed on subsequent parts of the cold chain.

Our engineering approach considers the complete system, including refrigeration capacity, vacuum pumps, controls, operating pressures, cycle optimisation and the customer’s actual production requirements.

For further independent information about energy-efficient off-grid technology and the Global LEAP programme, visit Global LEAP Awards – Clean Energy Ministerial.

Industrial Cooling Equipment for Customers Worldwide

Cold Change Group supplies vacuum coolers, pre coolers and industrial cooling systems for customers internationally.

Our equipment can be selected for small growers through to large commercial packhouses processing significant quantities of fresh produce every hour.

For vacuum cooling applications, systems can be specified according to the actual cooling duty rather than simply pallet capacity. This includes consideration of product type, kilograms per pallet, pallets per cycle, incoming temperature, required final temperature, desired cooling time and total tonnes or kilograms processed per hour.

Choosing the Correct Pre Cooler

If you are unsure which pre cooling system is best for your product, Cold Change Group can help evaluate the application.

Depending on the product, this may involve vacuum cooling, hydro cooling, forced-air cooling or another industrial cooling solution.

Our aim is not simply to supply a machine. We aim to identify a cooling system capable of achieving the required product temperature, production throughput and energy performance for the application.

Talk to Cold Change Group

Whether you are planning a new packhouse, replacing an existing vacuum cooler, increasing production capacity or investigating a more energy-efficient pre cooling system, speak to Cold Change Group about your requirements.

Explore our industrial vacuum cooler range or browse our vacuum cooling equipment and hydro cooling systems.

Cold Change Group – engineering better pre cooling, vacuum cooling and cold-chain solutions.