Cold-storage zones commonly run 0 to -18°C, and blast freezers even to -25°C; warehouse cages certainly work, but the steel, casters and surface treatment must be reselected for low-temperature duty. An ordinary workshop cage moved into a blast freezer will become brittle and crack, with wheels smashing, within a single winter.
Choose cage steel of Q235B or better — ordinary mild steel loses toughness at low temperature, so key load-bearing parts such as stacking feet and forklift slots need low-temperature-grade material or extra thickness. Choose hot-dip galvanizing; powder coat cracks and peels after repeated frosting and defrosting, and stainless-steel cages are more common in seafood cold stores.
Casters are the most failure-prone part. Ordinary PU wheels turn hard and brittle below -10°C and shatter when pushed. In low-temperature stores, choose low-temperature-resistant nylon or rubber wheels, 6 inches or larger in diameter, with sealed bearings in the wheel brackets to keep moisture out and prevent freezing.
The temperature swing between inside and outside the cold store is large, so condensation and frost form on the cage surface; watch that outer packaging does not get damp — use moisture-barrier film inside the cage or cardboard dividers. Do not stack cages high right after they leave the cold store; wait until the surface frost thaws and dries before stacking, to keep the bottom cages from sliding and losing stability. Do not mix numbering between cold-chain and ambient cages, to avoid repeated temperature-zone crossings that speed up condensation.
Nanjing Tongnuo Warehouse Equipment Manufacturing Co., Ltd. can build low-temperature-resistant warehouse cages for cold-store temperature zones, fitted with low-temperature casters, and provide structural and surface-treatment solutions for different zones, supporting customers to trial sample cages first in the -18°C zone.