How to Eliminate False Temperature Alarms in Freezer Monitoring

 

False alarms on freezers are annoying, but worse than that they lead to ignoring all alarms. This makes you vulnerable to equipment failure and loss of inventory. The steps below will walk you through how to eliminate false alarms while improving your freezer monitoring system.

Nearly every freezer has a defrost cycle, and every freezer needs to be accessed and stocked. Between defrosting and restocking, poorly implemented alarms will trigger regularly - even when there are no problems whatsoever.

There are two basic ways to prevent these false alarms: the first are time delays, and the second is installing the temperature sensor in a thermal mass.

 

Time Delay

Most ControlByWeb devices have a user programmable time delay. Instead of sending an alarm immediately, the device starts a timer. If the temperature hasn’t recovered by the end of the time delay, the alarm will be sent.

 

Thermal Mass

A thermal mass is usually a bottle that holds the temperature sensor, surrounded by either glycol or glass beads. It has a major disadvantage: it’s the slowest way to get an alarm. Its job is to change temperature slowly the way that food or liquids would. Therefore, it’s great for simulating food temperature for the purposes of record keeping.

 

The Best Method for Alarms

The Time Delay method is recommended for alarms. It lets you fine tune your settings to eliminate false alarms while giving you the earliest valid notification of a problem. This method is the best of both worlds and will give you more time to react to an issue before it becomes a disaster.

 

Setting up a time delay on a ControlByWeb 400 series

1.     First, create a timer that runs slightly longer than a typical defrost cycle or restocking event, which is typically 25-40 minutes in length.

2.     Then create two conditional tasks: one that starts the timer when the temperature rises above your threshold, and one that sends an alarm if the temperature is still above the threshold when the timer expires.

 

We’d love to discuss your temperature monitoring system needs. Contact our sales department to discuss your application.