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The Do’s & Don’ts of Hydro Cooling

The Do’s & Don’ts of Hydro Cooling

High Quality Hydro Cooling Systems

An effective post harvest cooling system is the best way to keep your farm produce fresh and sustainable for a long time. Local growers need to ensure that their product is reaching the market and customers in an equally fresh and sustainable condition.

What is Hydro Cooling?

Hydro Cooling is the process of removing excess heat from farm-fresh produce by showering ice-cool water inside a hydro cooler for a superior and extended shelf life of the fruits and vegetables. This process helps to slow down the degradation process of food from the time they are harvested to the time they reach out to the market and consumers.

Why is Hydro Cooling Necessary?

There is a term called “Field Heat” that refers to the temperature of the produce freshly harvested off the field. The “Field Heat” can get excessively high for crops due to two main factors including the plant’s respiration and other external factors. Heat and humidity present on the field during harvest has an immense impact on the temperature of the fruits and vegetables.

Functioning of Hydro Vacuum Coolers

Hydro coolers use chilled water to remove excessive heat out of farm-fresh produce and keep them intact for a long period of time.

Quik-Cool Hydro coolers have a fully insulated tank at the base of the unit to store the chilled water, this water is then pumped up over a refrigeration coil using a specially designed system to ensure good even spread of water and minimize the blocking of spray nozzles. This chilled water is then distributed over the produce. The chilled water is then passed over filtration trays to remove debris before the water is returned to the base tank.

Benefits of Hydro Coolers 

Hydro Cooling is a post-harvest process that allows the harvested produce to cool rapidly right after harvest. There are a number of benefits of using hydro coolers. Some of them are as follows:

The process helps to suppress enzymatic and respiratory activities of the crops post harvest to prevent softening.

Hydro Cooling helps to prevent water loss from farm-fresh crops.

This process increases the shelf life of crops and keeps them at a high quality by reducing the growth of microorganisms.

Hydro Cooling reduces the production of ethylene in crops that can cause over-ripening.


Australian-made stainless steel hydro vacuum cooling systems offer energy and cost savings. Quik-Cool products are designed and built in Australia to meet harsh Australian conditions and designed to stand the test of time.