OT: Best Freezer Temperature.

e

I do 34F and adjust the crisper drawers accordingly.

it may very well be a different fruit, afaiu all the bananas you normally get is a clone of the same tree, chosen only because it has few seeds and is last longer in storage and transport

-Lasse

FWIW, as you may remember I have 13 freezers that I monitor from my computer. I run them as low as they will go, just to give me a day or so to save my shrimp from thawing if a freezer fails. As I write I have one that showing an alarm at 0.84*F, I have one at

-5.12*F and the others are from -11*F to -20*F. I don't have consistent placement of the temperature sensors so there is some difference in measurement because of that. I'll followup on the freezer that reads 0.84*F in the morning when I fire up the computer, to make sure it has went back down below 0.00*F. The alarm (the indication turns red) is set at -0.4*F or -18*C, the program only allows the alarms to be set in Centigrade. I have a "One Wire" system with Maxim sensors and interface. I had a learning curve with the program called Lampomitari. I have had the unit running since the end of 2008 with few hiccups. When I changed computers I had to get a new interface, I think I changed from a DB9 to a USB plug in. The "One Wire" is kind of neat, all the sensors are in parallel and each sensor has its own 16 digit ID #. I wouldn't recommend Lampomitari, I don't think it has had any updating since 2006.

Mikek

Does the software *just* watch to see if the temperature climbs above some limit (-0.4F)? Your comments suggest once alarmed, *you* have to take an active role in monitoring (actual?) temperatures thereafter (i.e., verify that the alarm essentially "goes away").

Presumably, you don't watch for alarms when you are loading/unloading them?

I watch temperature and compressor power (on/off... not actual power consumed). So, if temperature is climbing while compressor is on, something is broken. Likewise, if compressor is NOT on when temperature exceeds some limit, then something is also broken.

Eventually, I will actually control the compressor mainly to help me manage power consumption (e.g., when I am powering "essential devices" off of a genset -- limited available power so you want to manage loads carefully).

It's taken some effort to filter the "disturbances" out of the alarms. E.g., defrosting the freezer throws alarms because the temperature climbs *and* the compressor doesn't turn on. I'll have to instrument the "defrost" switch (or provide a means where I can manually say, "I am defrosting the freezer, now".

I htink watching the lid switch to sense when it is open (because someone is accessing its contents) is also worth consideration.

[It's hard to make things smart enough to know what you are (likely) doing and not interfere -- or, get confused!]

hard to step on the wall, and prefer not to.

plus only seems to make 'em mad.

they can crawl under a door, through sliding windows,and sliding doors!

found that if we line those spots with Raid Bug Barrier that lasts for a year [can't use around pets] the scorpions that do make it in are so weakened, you can just pick them up with the seizers. Absolutely lackluster. But still make it all the wya through the house to wherever they're going.

somebody told me, along with the 'insecticide' characteristic, but can't remember the circumstances now.

especially lemon trees!!

I've never encountered them on the walls -- just floors.

Yes. What is amazing is just how *thin* a gap they can pass through!

I've never been able to sort out where they come from nor where they are headed to. I can understand being outdoors and hunting crickets, etc. ...

Ah.

Yes. I was carting many tons of stone into the back yard via a wheelbarrow. Had to pass by the lemon tree in the side yard with each load. Didn't think anything of pushing the load *through* the low branches.

Next morning, discovered one arm was slliced raw! Couldn't figure out why one arm was so brutally beat up while the other was intact. Replaying the earlier activities made it clear that the sliced arm was the one that was "exposed" to those branches!

Took a closer look at the tree and realized the source of my wounds...

The program presents the temperature of all freezers on the computer monitor. If a freezer goes above 0.4*F the the temperature indication turns red. Here's a screen print,

Note, I have categories of sensors I can setup. I have just two, Full Freezers and Empty Freezers. In the Empty Freezers I have one empty freezer and a sensor I have to monitor outdoor temperature. They are both red because the are above 0.4*F.

No, just want to know if a freezer has died or is dying.

I don't need to be that involved, however the next time I make any changes, I'll find a common sensor position in each freezer, as it is now, they wire just gets pushed this way or that as we load it. The sensor that was red last night happened to get positioned against the wall near the compressor and runs a but warmer there.

I put a power meter on the line feeding all freezers, the 12 freezers use on average about $200 per month. Mikek

Fast Food Rules from 1990s, Big Nationwide Chain. My College Job.

Completed Salads for Customers, prepped for use, 12 Hours at 30F +0 / -2

Outer Freezer, Lettuce (bagged and cut), Milk and Shake Mix and Foods being "thawed" for use 28F +0/-4

Inner Freezer, -20F

Bagged lettuce actually arrived frozen in huge cardboard boxes. If its slic ed, packed in heat sealed bags with N2 (1 ATM) and off the "head" it does not do so bad frozen. In fact that is what gives the Burger one of is dist inct "crunchy" flavors. So said the training video.

Steve

+1 to this basic trick. Works with oranges and lemons, and I suspect most other citrus fruit as well.

Simply bending some fresh peel to spray out the volatile oils, towards any crack or crevice where ants or etc. are entering, works beautifully. Ants which are present are killed pretty quickly, and the ant colony stops infiltrating through that area. If it's a location that's not visible (e.g. behind a 'fridge or inside a cabinet), leaving a bit of the peel sitting right by the crevice seems to extend the effect.

D-limonene seems to be the active ingredient.

Den tirsdag den 25. november 2014 20.12.14 UTC+1 skrev snipped-for-privacy@null.net:

ng "thawed" for use 28F +0/-4

iced, packed in heat sealed bags with N2 (1 ATM) and off the "head" it doe s not do so bad frozen. In fact that is what gives the Burger one of is di stinct "crunchy" flavors. So said the training video.

and TV commercials tell you that the frozen pizza you get from Nestle is ju st like that one you would get under candle light at a restaurant in Italy. ..

-Lasse

Do you make that decision as: if temperature is above 0.4F, start watching it. If it climbs "too close" to 32F, PANIC?

I.e., do you get any sort of "early warning" that a freezer is failing? Like instead of maintaining -11F, it slowly starts maintaining -5F (assuming outdoor conditions are the same, similarly loaded, etc.)?

Or, does it just *die*, abruptly?

[I am looking for information to give me a heads up that "trouble lies ahead"... having to unload the freezer NOW because it is suddenly at 40F would not be A Good Thing.]

OK. So, put it in one place, *firmly*, to avoid variations. E.g., our freezer chest sees much warmer temps at the top even when kept closed. (but, then again, the garage is often well above 100F)

I'm not as concerned with cost to operate as I am budgeting "available power" during outages. E.g., Letting refrigerator and freezer each decide ON THEIR OWN when to engage their compressors stands a greater chance of overloading genset. By contrast, *gating* the controls to each so that only one can run at a time is more likely to NOT overload the genset -- and, leave some capacity for other household loads.

I can assure you that if any of them get to 31.99F then they will freeze and be reduced to green slime. We had that problem with our Village Hall fridge which is normally set to minimum temperature to quickly chill white wine and beer at events. Left on overnight with cheese and celery in it on minimum setting as a *FRIDGE* it managed to freeze the entire contents. The celery looked like slimy seaweed afterwards - the cheese was just rather crumbly but tasted OK.

They are being somewhat over cautious and giving advice which would be safe even for an American hypochondriac with compromised immune system. The heuristic of food stored below 40F or 4C is basically sound. How long you can allow things to stay above 4C depends on what it is.

What is really dangerous is going through the freeze thaw transition.

Game like pheasants and hares are tough and don't taste right unless they are well on their way. A decent butcher will hang meat for at least

21 days. UK supermarkets throw out their delicatessen cheeses at last day reduced prices *BEFORE* it is mature enough to be worth eating.

Some of the nasty variants of E. coli like O157 is particularly bad.

One heuristic (that is usually right - though not always) is that slimes are very bad and furry things usually edible with trimming. Many cheeses rely on various fungi to mature and ripen. But you can come unstuck with something as simple as an apple with the wrong rot.

Infamous counterexample being the ergot fungus - very nasty.

Another one that is a serious risk at home is reheating cooked rice since the stuff cools too slowly and can harbour spores of B. Cereus

--
Regards, 
Martin Brown