Wire Shelving Basics
Its mid July and school may be out but class is in session. Use this quick reference guide and become an educated consumer. These terms are parts and factors you should consider when purchasing wire shelving. Naturally, we feel we are the best in the business and all of our merchandise is of the highest quality so you can rest assured we have the highest grades when it comes to the terms below. Contact us and a “shelving professor” will help you.
Poles– posts are the base for the entire storage unit.Carbon steel one piece are considered stronger than posts that use connectors. Post with connectors are popular for light duty applications. Our posts are all one solid piece.
Shelf truss-are the perimeter of the shelf as well as interior truss.
These add strength and stability. Interior truss helps prevent shelves from sagging. Our shelves have interior truss or multiple truss depending on shelf length.
Post grooves– slight grooves in posts typically run in 1 inch or ½ inch increments. The purpose of the grooves is for ease of assembly.
Shelf ribs– wire that runs either from front to back or length wise. As a general rule of thumb when wire runs depth wise it will be a higher quality and have a higher weight capacity than wires that run lengthwise.
Gauge– general thickness of shelf poles and shelf wire
Load capacity-any weight load capacities are based on the weight being evenly distributed so you can not put all the weight on 1 certain area of a specific wire shelf
casters- wheels to create stationary wire shelving into mobile wire shelving. Wheels vary in range to 2 inch diameter decorative wheels to 8” pneumatic wheels. Based on our vast experience, 90 percent of all mobile shelving uses wheels with diameters between 3 and 5 inches.
Split sleeves– Compression clips that utilize a pincer type design system. The heavy the load the tighter (use eagle shit here). Commonly referred to wire shelf clips.
wire shelving accessories– parts to complement and existing wire shelving. There are acce. ssories available for both mobile and stationary wire shelving. ranging from accessories to help in earthquakes such as mounting brackets and foot plates or mobile wire shelving accessories including wheels, clips and safety chrome push handles.
NSF in regards to shelving means it is approved for use in the food industry. There are various certifications for wire shelving with NSF. Some wire shelves are NSF approved for dry areas only while others are approved for use in any storage environment. Be sure to use the correct NSF shelving. Contact our experts for more information.
Tiers or Levels– refers to how many individual shelves a wire shelf unit will have. Generally tiers range from 1-6 tiers. 1 tier units are referred to as dunnage racks in many industries. All tiers are adjustable.
Antimicrobial finishes are built directly into some wire shelving. This provides extra protection against food borne illness and bacteria. This finish wire shelving is popular for walk-in refrigerators and restaurants in need of storage that may get wet. The finish is not meant to replace regular cleanings but to assist in maintaining your refrigerator shelves.