True is the most common name on commercial refrigeration in this county for a plain reason: the boxes are simple, honest and priced to be everywhere. Simple also means they fail in predictable, fixable ways — most True calls we run end the same visit they start, because the failure list is short and the parts are commodities.
The True boxes we see everywhere
- T-49 and T-23 reach-ins — the two-door and one-door workhorses of every line.
- TSSU sandwich/salad prep tables — cold rails working over warm kitchens all day.
- TUC undercounters and worktop boxes tucked under every station.
- GDM glass-door merchandisers — the drink boxes earning impulse margin out front.
How a True box asks for help
- Top shelves warm, bottom fine — the classic dead evaporator fan motor. Cheap part, same-day fix, and the single most common True repair we perform.
- Compressor clicking on and off — start relay and capacitor. Fixed early it's a modest bill; ignored, the compressor dies of the effort.
- Doors that won't stay shut — gaskets, hinges and cartridges beaten by swinging-door duty on a busy line. A True bleeding cold through a torn gasket will run constantly and still read warm.
- Condenser matted solid — prep tables and undercounters breathe at ankle height, where flour and grease live. In Florida heat a dirty coil is a countdown.
- Controller and thermostat faults — newer electronic controls and older cold controls each with their own tells.
The R-290 shift — worth knowing as an owner
Newer True equipment runs R-290 (propane) refrigerant: tiny charges, sealed-system discipline, and legally different handling than the old R-134a boxes. It's good equipment — often colder and cheaper to run — but it means your service company needs to be genuinely current on hydrocarbon refrigerants, not improvising. We are, and we'll tell you which refrigerant your box runs and what that means for any sealed-system work before it starts.
Repair or replace?
Fan motors, relays, gaskets, controls, coil cleanings: always repair — these parts are fast, cheap and everywhere. The honest conversation arrives with a sealed-system failure (compressor or leak) on an older R-134a box: sometimes the repair still wins, sometimes a new box costs little more than the fix and runs cheaper for a decade. We price both and let the numbers talk.
The entire secret to True longevity
Monthly coil cleaning. That's most of it — plus gaskets checked before they tear and temperatures verified against a real thermometer rather than the display. It's exactly the sort of thing our maintenance plans exist to make automatic across a whole cold line. Independent True service, Jupiter to the Gardens to downtown West Palm: (561) 695-9808.
Palm Beach Restaurant Repair is an independent service company. We repair and maintain True equipment but are not an authorized dealer for, or affiliated with, True.