Freezer Temperature Poll

[dougweibel]

10 now

[sailorboy1]

12 now

I would like to see the higher temp users post about their experience with the food. As i have posted, I think my freezer was running in only the 20s back before I separated the boxes and added the frig side system). I didn't have a way then of knowing the temp unless i put in a thermometer. But my food always seemed fine and i tried to put the more temp sensitive things in the colder bottom.

[dougweibel]

We run ours with upper and lower set-points of 10F and 13F. Our system runs a lot more than we would like in hot weather so we don't set it lower. At 12F frozen food stays frozen and ice cream stays solid, though soft.

[sailorboy1]

I changed my control from10-15 to 20-25 last week. Didn't seem to change cycle times at all once everything equalized. So I may as well turn it back down lower and have more food safety margin.

I also have ordered a new condenser fan for the system. I currently have a super quiet 60 cfm fan and am going to try a regular quiet 120 cfm fan and see if than makes any difference.

[chris mac]

We set ours at 0 f. We also turn it off at night to conserve power. By morning it reads 15 -20 and takes less than an hour to hit 0 again. Everything stays rock hard.
12 volt "wynter" brand with the insulated shell. All off amazon

[sailorboy1]

I have been controlling my freezer for months now at 11-16F. This appears to be a lot more power efficient than 10-15F was. Recently i needed to mtor most of day so turned it down to 5-10 to see how lng it would take. After 7 hours it had managed to get to 6.5 (half full freezer) and iI gave up and went back to the 11-16. It didn't take long to return that control and cycle on/off

[Paul L]

Have you experimented with using a wider range? We use 5-15*F or 10-20F depending on what we put in the freezer and how long we plan to keep.
Our system is a holding plate, so that makes a difference.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Have you experimented with using a wider range? We use 5-15*F or 10-20F depending on what we put in the freezer and how long we plan to keep.
Our system is a holding plate, so that makes a difference.

Cant even get to 5. Even getting to 10 from 11 seems to take a lot of run time. My sensor is measuring air temp in an upper corner. It is probably warmer there than in the center of the freezer and food stays very hard. I also have my ice trays in an upper shelf along the wall. They freeze, but after getting emptied into a bag the cubes freeze more because the bag is away from the edge.

Fyi- this is just info, i don't have any problem

[BillKny]

-5F to 0F

We are full time, long distance traveling liveaboards, and the freezers are expected to keep most of our protein foods for longer periods of time. It makes no sense to keep the boat freezer warmer than you would keep a home freezer.

20F is not a temperature where frozen food lasts very long, and is not considered safe for long term storage. It's probably OK for keeping leftovers for a weekend, I'd not use it for storing food longer than I'd refrigerate it. Getting sick from eating food that has gone bad when I am on passage is just not something I want to experience.

Letting food temperature cycle just below the freezing point is a great way to turn it to unpalatable mush as ice crystals keep growing and shrinking.

We catch a LOT of fish, and it just stays fresher, longer, and better, when it's really cold. It really makes a difference. Yes, it costs us in terms of power usage, but it's worth it for better tasting food that stays safe to eat.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Cant even get to 5. Even getting to 10 from 11 seems to take a lot of run time. My sensor is measuring air temp in an upper corner. It is probably warmer there than in the center of the freezer and food stays very hard. I also have my ice trays in an upper shelf along the wall. They freeze, but after getting emptied into a bag the cubes freeze more because the bag is away from the edge.

Fyi- this is just info, i don't have any problem

I understand that. I was commenting on the posdible value of using a 10* range versus a 5*range, not absolute tempetature. So make it the difference between 10-15 vs 10-20. In other words leaving the compressor off for a longer period and then on for a longer period.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I understand that. I was commenting on the posdible value of using a 10* range versus a 5*range, not absolute tempetature. So make it the difference between 10-15 vs 10-20. In other words leaving the compressor off for a longer period and then on for a longer period.

I understood. I tried the wider range and it of course cut cycles in half, but had no real measureable change in power use. So decided cold was better.

Btw- the temp was in the 20s for years. Been a full time cruiser over years and food always was just fine for the 3-6 month time took to use/replace. We also vacuum seal/bag our food.

[Paul L]

I think a lot of this depends on where you put the thermostat. I have ours in a purpose made metal sleeve on the side of the holding plate. I suspect if you had yours down low, nearer the food you really want to keep solidly frozen your numbets would look very different
.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Paul L

I think a lot of this depends on where you put the thermostat. I have ours in a purpose made metal sleeve on the side of the holding plate. I suspect if you had yours down low, nearer the food you really want to keep solidly frozen your numbets would look very different
.

Without doubt

My frig measuses in an upper corner and controls 36-39. But if air flow gets blocked food on bottom freezes

[Coolerking]

The 134a temp at whatever the low side psi is running at, is what determines the lowest temp your box can reach.
Measure plate temp, add 15 degrees and there you are.

[sailorboy1]

Maybe. But my system has a HUGE evaporator plate in the freezer as it was originally a spillover system. Now that it is just a stand alone freezer it still has a hard time getting below 10 degrees. I am sure I could do it if I was willing to trade off the double power use than goes with it.

Sine I have taken out the mechanical thermostat and installed one of the programmable electronic ones the compressor is also running at slow speed. I could speed it up by adding a resistor. It is a balance of cold food/electrical power.