The replacement cycle of smaller chillers

Anyone who's had an ice bath for longer than 12 to 18 months understands the typical replacement cycle of chillers, especially the smaller ones.

Months 1-3: it's humming.

Months 3-6: it can't hit the temp it needs to but still running. A good amount of upkeep, but not the end of the world.

Months 6-12: this is when the problems start. Shut downs, faults, breakdowns, trying to find someone to come out and fix it. The ice bath is out of commission more often than you or your members would like.

If it makes it to the 12 month mark, it'll be time to start looking for a new one.

We don't often see many chillers out there over 18 months old. Then you're up for another one, another $6000-$10,000.

Another chiller that will fall into the same lifecycle.

So by the end of year two, you'll break even on a proper commercial chiller just on repairs and replacements, not including ice, lost memberships and labour to keep the tubs cold.

I understand why this happens though.

When people see the upfront cost of trying to start a recovery centre, especially ice baths, the cost cutting comes in. The chiller is usually the first one that gets changed out.

On paper, the commercial ones look almost the same as the cheap ones - so how bad can they be?

The one piece of advice I give to recovery centres who are asking this question - call ten existing recovery rooms and ask what they use, what they have used and their experience with each of them.

Those that are honest will paint you this same picture.

It's so much easier and cheaper to side step it from the beginning, and if that time has already come and gone, don't keep falling into the groundhog day of chiller replacements.

I'll do a full breakdown on the ROI comparison in next week's newsletter.