Commercial Refrigeration and Equipment Repair in DFW
Reach-ins, prep tables, back-bar coolers, walk-ins and ice machines. Every hour a box is warm is product you cannot sell — and a health-code exposure if temperatures slip. Priority dispatch for restaurants, hospitality, retail and multi-location operators across Dallas–Fort Worth.
Commercial Refrigeration Is a Different Trade From Appliance Repair
Most companies that answer a “commercial fridge repair” search in DFW are residential appliance shops taking the call because the phone rang. They will change a thermostat and a door gasket. They will not find a refrigerant leak in a back-bar cooler, and they will not touch a sealed system without handing it to a subcontractor who books you into next week.
We run both lines, and we keep them separate on purpose. This page is the commercial one: self-contained and remote refrigeration, the back-of-house line, and the equipment a facility manager is responsible for keeping cold. Sealed-system work — compressor replacement, leak location, recovery and recharge, evaporator and condenser work — is done by our own technician, not brokered out.
Two pages sit under this one, each going deeper on the equipment class it names: walk-in cooler and freezer repair and commercial ice machine repair. If you already know which box is down, go straight there. If you are not sure, or you have several types of equipment on one site, stay here.
Equipment We Service
Refrigeration first, because that is where the money and the health-code risk live — then the rest of the equipment that keeps a location trading.
Most of this work looks like this
Not a brand badge and a parts catalogue — a panel off, a coil exposed, and a fault that has to be named before anything is quoted. Every photo on this page is from an actual DFW service call.
Walk-in coolers and freezers
Remote and self-contained condensing units, evaporator icing and defrost faults, refrigerant leaks, contactors, probes, drain lines, doors and gaskets. The deepest coverage on the site — full failure-mode breakdown on its own page.
Reach-in coolers and freezers
Single, double and triple-door upright units. Temperature drift, icing, compressor and start-component faults, failed fans and dampers, door heaters, gaskets and hinges. True, Traulsen, Turbo Air, Beverage-Air, Continental, Delfield.
Prep, sandwich and pizza tables
The unit that fails the inspection most often. Pan wells running above 41°F while the cabinet reads cold, evaporator icing under the rail, condenser fouling from being tucked against a wall, lid gaskets nobody has replaced.
Back-bar, undercounter and merchandisers
Glass-door back-bar coolers, undercounter refrigeration, bottle coolers and glass-door merchandisers. Door heater and condensation faults, fan failures, cramped condensers that foul fast in a bar environment.
Commercial ice machines
Scotsman, Manitowoc, Hoshizaki. Low or no production, failed harvest cycles, scale and water-quality faults, water-inlet and pump failures, dirty condensers, bin controls. Modular head, self-contained and undercounter.
Beverage and wine refrigeration
Commercial wine cabinets, keg and draft coolers, glass chillers. Dual-zone control faults, condenser and fan failures, seals and door alignment on glass fronts.
Cooking and warming line
Ranges, ovens, fryers and holding equipment on the back-of-house line. Ignition and thermostat faults, control and element failures — diagnosed and repaired where parts are available.
What Actually Fails on Commercial Refrigeration
Self-contained commercial equipment fails in a short and predictable list. Which fault you are looking at decides whether this is fixed on the first visit or waits on a part — and it is worth knowing before someone tells you the compressor is dead.
Fouled condenser
The single most common cause of “it runs but it is not cold.” Kitchen grease and flour blanket the coil, head pressure climbs, and capacity falls off long before the unit actually quits. This is the failure a maintenance contract exists to prevent.
Iced evaporator and defrost faults
A failed defrost timer, heater or termination thermostat lets frost build until the coil stops moving air. Running but warm usually points here, not at the compressor. On prep tables the ice hides under the rail where nobody looks.
Start components mistaken for a dead compressor
A failed capacitor, start relay or overload imitates a dead compressor exactly: a hum, a click, and no cooling. We check start components, contactor and incoming voltage before condemning anything — the difference is an order of magnitude on the invoice.
Refrigerant leaks
Vibration-cracked lines, failed schrader cores, corroded evaporator tubing. Low charge shows as long run times and a coil icing in one spot only. Topping a system off without locating the leak is money burned twice.
Condenser and evaporator fan failures
A seized or slowing fan motor takes the whole system down with it — no airflow across the condenser means no heat rejection, no airflow across the evaporator means the box stratifies and ices. Cheap part, expensive if it is left running.
Drifted thermostats and temperature probes
The fault that gets operators written up, because the display looks fine. A drifted probe reports 36°F while the pan wells sit at 47°F. If your product feels wrong, trust the product and a calibrated thermometer over the readout.
Blocked condensate drains and pans
A clogged drain line or failed heat tape backs water into the cabinet, ices the floor of a freezer, and puts a slip hazard in front of the door. Common where the line runs cold through an exterior wall.
Doors, gaskets, hinges and closers
The cheapest repair on this list and the most ignored. A torn gasket or a door that will not latch runs the system continuously and ices the coil. If a door needs a shoulder to close, the refrigeration is paying for it every hour you are open.
Commercial Refrigeration and Equipment Brands
Brand is rarely what decides a commercial repair — the compressor, the metering device and the control board come from a short list of suppliers no matter whose badge is on the door. What decides it is the fault, the refrigerant and whether parts are still made. If your equipment is not on this list, call anyway; the answer is usually yes.
How Fast We Get There, and What the Truck Carries
Technicians dispatch Monday to Friday 8 AM–4 PM and Saturday 8 AM–1 PM. A call placed before 2 PM on a dispatch day gets a same-day visit; after 2 PM or on a Sunday you pick the next open slot rather than waiting on a callback that never comes. The callback form on this page accepts requests around the clock — a Sunday submission is scheduled first thing Monday.
Commercial equipment with product in it is not queued like a residential appointment. Say so on the phone, give us the temperature and what is in the box, and you will get an honest answer about whether it is today or first thing tomorrow. Contract accounts go first by design — that is most of what the contract buys.
On the truck: contactors and relays in common sizes, start components, defrost timers and termination thermostats, fan motors, thermostats and probes, gasket stock, leak detection, recovery and charging equipment, refrigerant. Sealed-system work is performed by us — the shops that subcontract it are the ones who diagnose Tuesday and return the following Monday.
Every visit produces a written service record: equipment, fault found, work performed, temperatures on arrival and at completion. That is the document a health inspector or an insurance adjuster asks for, and the reason to call even when the product is already lost.
Every Hour Down Is Revenue Lost — Or Worse, a Health-Code Violation
A dead reach-in or walk-in cooler doesn't just cost you sales. Texas Food Establishment Rules follow the FDA Food Code, and the number that matters is 41°F. If product temperature slips out of range, you're one inspection away from a citation — or a full loss of inventory.
- Priority dispatch for restaurants, hotels, and multi-location accounts
- Same-day diagnosis before spoilage or a failed inspection
- Flat-rate quote before any work starts — no surprise invoices
- Written service record for the health department or an insurance claim
Can't Call Right Now?
Submit anytime — if it's outside dispatch hours, we'll follow up and get you on the schedule for your next convenient day.
Why an Appliance Company Is Usually the Wrong Call for Commercial Refrigeration
Residential appliance repair and commercial refrigeration are different trades that happen to share a word. A company that swaps ice-maker valves in kitchens is not equipped to chase a refrigerant leak in a walk-in at 11 PM with of product on the shelves. Here is what we bring to the second job, stated plainly enough that you can check it before you book.
Commercial refrigeration is a named service line, not an afterthought
Walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers, reach-in coolers and freezers, prep and sandwich tables, commercial ice machines, and the rest of the back-of-house line. Scotsman, Manitowoc, Hoshizaki, True, Traulsen, Beverage-Air.
Sealed-system work is done by us
Compressor replacement, refrigerant leak location and recovery, condenser and evaporator work — in-house, not handed to a subcontractor who books you into next week. See how compressor faults are actually diagnosed.
Dispatch hours a manager can schedule around
Monday–Friday 8 AM–4 PM, Saturday 8 AM–1 PM. A call placed before 2 PM on a dispatch day gets a same-day visit. After 2 PM or on Sunday you pick the next open slot instead of waiting on a callback that never comes.
Multi-site accounts are normal here
We hold standing service and preventive-maintenance agreements with multi-location operators across DFW — coworking, restaurant and hospitality groups — covering dozens of sites under one point of contact. Contracts start at $349/year per location.
Nine built-in brands on the residential side too
Sub-Zero, Wolf, Viking, Thermador, JennAir, GE Monogram, Dacor, Miele, Bosch. Useful when a property has a commercial line downstairs and executive-suite kitchens upstairs — one vendor, one invoice.
Local, with a fixed address
AC/DC Refrigeration & Appliance Repair, based in Grapevine, TX. Seven years in DFW, 430+ Google reviews at 4.8★. Not a national call center routing your ticket to whoever answers.
Pricing works the same way for commercial as residential: a $90 on-site diagnostic credited back in full when you approve the repair, and a flat-rate quote before a single part is ordered. We do not quote commercial refrigeration over the phone — the fault, the age of the unit, and the refrigerant it runs all change the number.
Repair or Replace Commercial Equipment
The residential rule of thumb — half the price of new, throw it out — costs you money in both directions on commercial equipment. Three things actually decide it.
What failed, not how old it is. A ten-year-old True reach-in with a failed fan motor, contactor or start component is a cheap repair on a cabinet built to outlast three of them. The same cabinet with a burned-out compressor and a corroded evaporator is a different conversation. Age alone condemns nothing.
Refrigerant decides more than age does. R-22 has not been produced or imported in the US since 2020 — only reclaimed stock, priced accordingly. A significant leak repair plus a full R-22 charge on an aging unit is often the moment to move to R-448A/R-449A, or a self-contained R-290 unit on smaller equipment. Already on a modern refrigerant? Repair almost always wins.
Parts availability, not the parts price. On discontinued control boards and proprietary evaporators the question stops being what it costs and becomes whether it exists. We tell you that before you spend the diagnostic, not after the part is on order.
You get the comparison in writing before anything is ordered: repair cost, remaining life, and what replacing would actually run. If replacing is the better spend we say so — the same way we do on compressor jobs, where the honest answer is often not the bigger invoice.
Manage Multiple Properties or Locations? Stop Buying Emergencies.
Nearly every expensive commercial failure starts as a cheap one nobody looked at. A fouled condenser becomes a dead compressor; a torn gasket becomes an iced evaporator; a slow drain becomes a floor of ice. From $349 per year per location: scheduled coil cleaning, gasket and door inspection, defrost verification, temperature-log checks and drain-line service — plus priority in the queue when something goes wrong anyway, and one point of contact across every site.
What Our Clients Say
4.8★ rating · 430+ verified Google reviews
Showed up on time. Resolved the issue quickly. Also he was a nice person. Would recommend them again
My refrigerator stopped cooling. Victor did a very professional job not only repairing it but taking the time to make sure the new parts repaired the issues. Will definitely use him in the future.
The repairman is clean, polite, respectful, friendly, punctual and knowledgeable. He arrived and fixed my washer fast. I am so happy with the results. I feel that this company has honest workers.
Victor was very creative in figuring out a way to level a new refrig.
Left on our Google Business Profile by real customers. Read all 430+ reviews on Google.
Questions Operators and Facility Managers Ask
What does a commercial equipment repair cost?
The $90 on-site diagnostic is credited back in full when you approve the repair. After the diagnosis you get a flat-rate quote before a single part is ordered. We do not publish a range for commercial work and do not quote it by phone — a welded contactor and a sealed-system leak repair on an R-22 unit are an order of magnitude apart, and any number given before someone has seen the unit is a guess.
How fast can you get here if a box goes down mid-service?
Dispatch runs Monday to Friday 8 AM–4 PM and Saturday 8 AM–1 PM, and a call before 2 PM on a dispatch day gets a same-day visit. Tell us the temperature and what is in the box when you call — commercial equipment with product at risk is not queued behind residential appointments, and contract accounts go first.
Do you work with multi-location operators and restaurant groups?
Yes. We hold standing service and preventive-maintenance agreements with multi-site operators across DFW — coworking, restaurant and hospitality groups — covering dozens of locations under one point of contact. Contracts start at $349 per year per location and include priority response.
Do you do sealed-system work, or do you subcontract it?
We do it. Compressor replacement, refrigerant leak location, recovery and recharge, evaporator and condenser work are performed by our own EPA-certified technician. This is the practical difference between a two-day repair and a two-week one, and it is the first question worth asking any commercial refrigeration vendor.
Can you give me documentation for the health department or an insurance claim?
Yes. Every visit produces a written service record: equipment, fault found, work performed, and temperatures on arrival and at completion. That is the document an inspector or an adjuster asks for — and the reason to call even when the product is already lost.
My product may already be spoiled. Is it still worth calling today?
Yes, and quickly. The loss is already fixed, but the equipment has to be back at temperature and documented before you restock — otherwise you repeat the loss on the next delivery. Discard decisions are yours and your health authority's; we supply the arrival temperature in writing.
Which brands do you service?
On the commercial side: True, Traulsen, Turbo Air, Beverage-Air, Continental, Delfield, Randell, Master-Bilt, Norlake, and Scotsman, Manitowoc and Hoshizaki ice machines. On built-in residential equipment in the same buildings: Sub-Zero, Wolf, Viking, Thermador, KitchenAid, JennAir, GE Monogram, Dacor, Miele and Bosch.
Do you service HVAC for commercial sites too?
Diagnostics and maintenance, yes — see HVAC diagnostics. We are not a full HVAC installation contractor, and we will tell you that before taking a job that belongs to one.
Current Priority Cities
Elsewhere in the Commercial Line
Walk-In Cooler & Freezer Repair
Failure modes, what a warm box costs per hour, emergency response, and the repair-versus-re-power decision on an aging condensing unit.
HVAC Diagnostics
Diagnostics and maintenance for commercial sites — airflow, cooling performance and system checks. Not full installation, and we say so up front.
Ice Machine Repair
Scotsman, Manitowoc and Hoshizaki. Low production, harvest failures, scale and water quality — residential undercounter through modular commercial heads.
Compressor Repair & Diagnosis
How a compressor fault is actually confirmed, what start components imitate, and when replacement genuinely is the answer.
Guides & Troubleshooting
What to check before you pay for a service call — walk-ins, ice machines, ovens and built-in refrigeration, written by the technician who runs the calls.
Contact & Dispatch
Hours, service area, callback form. Or call (469) 224-0577 and describe what is down.
Equipment Down Right Now?
Tell us what the box is reading and what's in it — you'll get an honest answer about when we can be there, a fast diagnostic, and a flat-rate quote before any work starts.