Panel thickness
Short definitionThe insulation thickness of the panel. It goes up as room temperature goes down: 80–100 mm for a 0 °C room, 120–150 mm for −20 °C, 150–200 mm for a blast freezer.
The thinner the panel, the more heat comes in through the walls. The refrigeration unit gets bigger and the electricity bill goes up. The thicker the panel, the higher the initial cost. The right thickness is the balance between the two.
What sets the thickness is the temperature difference between inside and outside. The same −20 °C room needs thicker panels on an open site at 35 °C than inside an enclosed building. Walls and roofs exposed to the sun are assessed separately.
Where two rooms sit side by side, the shared wall between them is a single panel, selected for the needs of the colder room.
Heat entering through walls, ceiling and floor
Example room: 8 × 4.5 × 3.5 m, −20 °C, 35 °C outside, insulated floor. Calculated by ColdPlans.