How power loss can affect refrigeration performance
Ireland has witnessed three major storms in recent months, resulting in widespread power outages. These events have consequences for all sectors of society including farming right through to the safe storage of products on the shop floor.
With accurate weather warnings now in place people are made aware of the dangers in advance and this leads to behavioral patterns changing. They stock up on food and there is a high demand placed on the retail sector with staff also being stretched.
Power outages typically last from one hour to one day depending on weather conditions. This last storm proved very difficult with snowdrifts hampering accessibility for crews.
So how are stores ensuring that the food stored in their hundreds of thousands of refrigerators is safe to consume when the rush by customers starts directly after the storms? The answer is simple: by using the Zeto platform.
Monitoring
One of our customers, a major supermarket chain, is doing just that. Zeto independently monitors every refrigerator in their estate on a minute-by-minute basis, alerting them immediately should there be an issue and ensuring, at all times, that the products they sell are safe to consume.
We provide accurate, certified data on the temperature performance of refrigeration to our customers. This allows them to make instant decisions that could affect your health.
Here are some screen shots that demonstrated what occurred with one store that suffered a power loss. With three different types of refrigeration equipment, the rise in temperatures varies significantly but all are vital for making the right decisions.
Bear in mind that power was lost to this store at 21.35pm on the 2nd of March and restored at 8.40am on the 3rd, which is 11 hours and 5 minutes.
The temperature is at -21.9 degrees when power is lost. It peaks to -9.4 degrees before power is restored.
Starting temperature is normal at 0.1 degree and within 30 minutes it is above 5 degrees. It peaks to 12.3 degrees and returns to a safe temperature of 3.6 degrees at 8.50am
Temperature is at -22.5 when the power is lost peaking to 10.2 degrees. It was in a positive temperature from 1.30am to 9.20 am which is 8 hours 50 minutes.
Using this data, our customer knew to remove all their affected products from sale. They did this safe in the knowledge that it was the right thing to do based on what the Zeto platform gives them.
Originally published at www.zeto.ie on May 11, 2018.
