Freezer Alarms?
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: Lark Bunting
07-Sep-17
Do any of you use a freezer alarm? I've lost meat in the past due to my stupid POS rental house having some weird wiring. My master bath GFCI is on the same circuit as where my freezer is plugged in down in the garage. Apparently when my wife unplugs the hair dryer before turning it off it trips the GFCI and turns off the freezer. I lost a LOT of deer meat a few years ago.
Now that I have a LOT of elk meat in there I am going to buy a freezer alarm. Any recommendations?
Also, we are buying a house in the next two months so I will have a dedicated circuit for the freezer and hopefully not have to worry about it. Figured if power goes off for an extended period of time the alarm will do its job and I can plug it into a generator.
From: Coyote 65
07-Sep-17
Just make sure that they don't put one of those arc fault circuit breakers in your dedicated circuit. I have had lightning strikes near the house trip them.
Terry
From: Scar Finga
07-Sep-17
I am my freezer alarm, I walk by it every day and check it to make sure it's on and running ok, I also get alarmed that I am running out of elk meat!
Scar.
From: Lark Bunting
07-Sep-17
When I have game meat in my freezer I don't allow anything else in there. I've seen my kids go into it before for a Popsicle and not close the lid properly because a bicycle handlebar was in the way. My wife isn't too happy right now since all the frivolous crap that was in my meat freezer is now stuffed into the kitchen fridge/freezer. I've checked on it every day since I got home...I'm still going to get an alarm though.
From: wildwilderness
07-Sep-17
I've lost a nice blond bear hide to my wife unplugging a freezer. It was an extra one I had on the side of the house with an extension cord plugged into the garage. We were leaving out of town for a weekend and she just pulled the plug not knowing what it was for.
It was the worst smell ever when we came back since had left over bear bait (pig head and guts) in addition to the bear I was going to take to the taxi. Luckily just dry heaving and a teenage son and his friend helped dispose of it.
From: Glunt@work
07-Sep-17
I lost one recently. Its the second time I've had to clean one and its almost impossible to get it back to useable. I'm freezerless now. Figure I'll just buy one whenever I fill my next tag. Alarm is on the list.
From: wackmaster2
07-Sep-17
I have alarms on all freezers. Look at them every time I open the door going outside. Just a habit.
From: TD
07-Sep-17
TD's Link
Last week had my dead head freezer go out. Caught it just in time as I wanted to measure a rack to see if it would fit in a new beetle box I made.... noticed it wasn't nearly as iced up as it normally was..... compressor quit running. I checked it out, starter relay on compressor went out. Back up and running, but got lucky.
Have one of these coming in the mail. Have no idea if it's any good but for the most part good reviews. (Always take bad reviews with a grain of salt. There are a good number of people in this world that can't get ANYTHING to work right.....)
From: tobywon
07-Sep-17
Yes I do and look at it in the cellar just about every morning.
From: Jethro
08-Sep-17
TD, that Acurite is a good one and what I was about to recommend that Lark get. I got one last year and it works good. I have the sensors in 2 freezers in my basement and the monitor screen stuck on the outside of the kitchen refrig. I have tested it and the alarms went off when they should. Got one for myself, dad, and hunting bud. Everyone should have it. Got mine from Amazon as well.
From: smarba
08-Sep-17
I installed freezer alarms on my two freezers in the garage. Good insurance!
From: longbeard
08-Sep-17
Great idea. Didn't know they existed. Two seasons ago I lost all my wild game when we had a power glitch that popped the GFI in my garage that my freezer was plugged into. Since then I changed out GFI to regular outlet, but an alarm seems like a better idea
From: Grubby
08-Sep-17
I looked at the acurite on amazon, they have a dual sensor one but it says one is for refrigerator. I assume you could use both as freezer alarms? How far will these read? If I have the monitor upstairs, one freezer downstairs and one in the garage will it read them?
From: Orion
08-Sep-17
you can also buy freezers that have built in alarms in them. I bought one from Lowes works great
From: hardcore247
08-Sep-17
I have the one that TD has a link to.
It works OK, but concerned about batteries dying in the sending units you put in the freezer and not realizing it until it is too late.
If you put it right on the side of the freezer it works pretty good though.
I will probably also be getting a loss of power alarm that would be more reliable if there was a loss of power vs compressor going out.
From: smarba
08-Sep-17
I should add that the alarm I got is basically a loss of power notification at the outlet. It plugs into the outlet, freezer plugs into it. Upon loss of power it sounds off.
From: Rut Nut
08-Sep-17
Didn't even know there was such a thing.
From: Grubby
08-Sep-17
I had one go out in my garage, it had 100 gallons of emerald shiners in it, I duct taped it shut and hauled it to the dump! It was horrible!
From: Orion
08-Sep-17
The freezer I bought with the built in alarm is temperature sensitive and alarms when the internal temp of the freezer gets too high and will continue alarm. It also alarms on loss of power.
From: Lark Bunting
08-Sep-17
What temperature do you all store your meat in the freezer? I am ordering today but was reading that you have to set the alarm for a specific temp.
From: Orion
08-Sep-17
just go this route it does it all for you. On sale at Lowe's right now Whirlpool 21.7-cu ft Chest Freezer with Temperature Alarm (White) . . . Item # 646971 Model # WZC5422DW . .
From: Jethro
08-Sep-17
Lark, you set a high and low temp that you want the alarm to sound if it goes outside that range. Don't have to pick a specific temp. I don't know what range I have mine set at, but my long term storage chest freezer stays between 0 and 10 degrees F.
The display shows current temp and records a high and low for each sensor. I'm sure if you play with it a little, you'll figure it out.
From: Surfbow
08-Sep-17
I've been looking into this as well. Back in June I had a GFCI in my garage fail and I lost about 40lbs of elk and deer left over from last fall, total bummer!!
From: TD
08-Sep-17
The sensors are supposed to have a 75 foot range, but I'd guess that was measured the way they measure walkie-talkie range. Seems plenty of folks had no problems at 50 feet or so, some had issues at 75 through walls and such. You can set them to two separate freezers, my understanding is they come programed up with generic settings, one for fridge and one for freezer in whatever 90% of folks have their units set for. But you can custom program the unit for pretty much anything you want.
GFCI's have spoiled more meat than any other thing there is. About 10-12 years ago had one on a garage circuit with the freezer in the garage. Coach decided to pressure wash the lanai and got one of the outside outlets on the same circuit, those covers are "weather proof" not pressure washer proof. Tripped the GFCI and a week later...... it was puke on your shoes disgusting..... Replaced it with a regular outlet. Nearly had to replace the freezer too. Gallons and gallons of vinegar helped a lot.....
From: eddie c
08-Sep-17
if the contents spoil due to the plug being pulled or power goes out, plug it up and let it freeze back up. helps with the smell and easier to handle the mess for cleanup and throw out. if the freezer just quit working and power is good, just SOL.
From: Burt
08-Sep-17
I got one after a breaker tripped from a burned out sump on the same circuit. It was not pretty - lost two turkeys and a bunch of pork. Since then I have found the remote sensor gets issues with the batteries freezing. Lost signal chirping, take out the sensor and it starts blinking again once it thaws out. I moved the freezer so i have to walk by it every day when we get the feed for the horses. I put it in the same circuit as a ceiling light that is normally left on all the time. So if the light is out, we have a problem. (Upright frost free so doesn't take up too much space).
From: woodguy65
08-Sep-17
Had a freezer full of salmon get tripped by GFI. It smelled so bad, I literally gave the freezer away. I put ad on Craigslist, free freezer, explained in detail they were taking the rotting fish still in it as well. Had a guy at my door within 2 hours of posting, bet I got 20-30 calls before I deleted it.
From: Hugh
08-Sep-17
Hugh's Link
here's what I use on my freezers.
From: jims
08-Sep-17
Hugh, I'm curious how the freezer alarm you mentioned above work? It looks like there is a cord that attaches somewhere inside the freezer. How do you run the cord to the outside where the temp gauges and alarm are located? It's probably simple?
From: t-roy
09-Sep-17
Maybe a dumb question, but, is there such a thing as an app that can be programmed to your phone that notifies you? They seem to have apps for everything else under the sun, (if you left your garage door open, etc) so why not something like this?
From: Lark Bunting
09-Sep-17
T-roy, Amazon has alarms that will send an alert to your phone.
From: Hugh
11-Sep-17
Jims, It is very thin and you just close the lid on it. you can tape it down to keep it in place.
From: Mad_Angler
12-Sep-17
Mad_Angler's Link
This is a wifi one. You can constantly check your freezer temp from you phone. You can also get alarms if the temperature is bad.
But... there is a $12/year fee to get the online access...
