Hi Stuart, I do have experience with massive freezing of collections prior to a move to a new facility. In 1999, we moved a natural history collection from an older building, with some serious pest problems, into the new facility with new cabinets. We used a -20°C walk in freezer to process all organic materials. Collections placed in their new drawers in the old facility, the drawers were stacked and wrapped in plastic and moved into the freezer (located off site) for 2 weeks. Then rotated out and moved to the new facility where they were examined and put directly into their new cabinets. There was no noticeable damage to the collections, and the infestations were eliminated. There are minor outbreaks at this time, but that is 20 years after the initial infestation. There was one batch of boxes that did not go through the process and that lead to a localized infestation of Tineola bisselliella, controlled through additional freezing and improved housekeeping. Our procedures are documented in Moving the Museum: the Science Museum’s Guide to Moving Collections , available in a free download at https://www.smm.org/collections/moving.
At that time, -20°C +/- 2 was the recommended critical temperature and we were not able to justify the cost of a colder one. There is also the time factor. Without the ability to verify the internal temperature of every load we decided to go with the standard 2 week, just to be sure critical temperatures were reached. A colder freezer might have reduced the time, but there is still an element of guessing. Hope this helps. Gretchen Anderson Conservator Carnegie Museum of Natural History From: pestlist@googlegroups.com <pestlist@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Fuller, Stuart (DPC-ARTS) Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2021 10:12 PM To: pestlist@googlegroups.com Subject: [PestList] Benefits of Freezers for Pest Treatments which operate at around -30C or -40C. OFFICIAL Hi All, Does anyone have any experience with large scale walk-in Freezers running at around -30°C to -40°C for pest treatments? We are curious to know if the benefits of shorter treatment times, outweighs potential WHS issues, and costs the associated with their design, construction, and operation. It would be great to hear from you, as we are trying to determine if there is enough benefit for us to specify temperatures of below -20C for the construction of a newly built large scale walk-in freezer. Many thanks, Stuart Stuart Fuller Preventive Conservator Artlab Australia Department of the Premier and Cabinet T +61 (8) 8207 7528 | F +61 (8) 8207 7529 E stuart.ful...@sa.gov.au<mailto:stuart.ful...@sa.gov.au> | W artlabaustralia.com.au<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fwww.artlabaustralia.com.au%2f&c=E,1,e16aZlEE4RvF1GZm91SEVNt45PnnLxw3PHu-WsLp52eRbooRmux9yuwdyBPm4qOqnrB66fNFj_cza-WMXejK2Xf1liFpOlusjPcTiKjVmTYKaktNkRRZ&typo=1> 70 Kintore Avenue, ADELAIDE SA 5000 [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] [X] The Department of the Premier and Cabinet acknowledges and respects Aboriginal people as the state’s first people and nations, and recognises Aboriginal people as traditional owners and occupants of South Australian land and waters Information contained in this email message may be confidential and may also be the subject of legal professional privilege or public interest immunity. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, disclosure or copying of this document is unauthorised. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/ME2PR01MB56194BACF0FDC6D627FF448CBD4D9%40ME2PR01MB5619.ausprd01.prod.outlook.com<https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fgroups.google.com%2fd%2fmsgid%2fpestlist%2fME2PR01MB56194BACF0FDC6D627FF448CBD4D9%2540ME2PR01MB5619.ausprd01.prod.outlook.com%3futm_medium%3demail%26utm_source%3dfooter&c=E,1,QXH6c7i-lu0VnssPVVn2-3W9iflu1_Jp7DTMkM5IfHphb8_-oX0_qe6dl5yznGCKKciIp87uTdluXbKkmAB_eiQn5goCei7WewSyiph93MX62Q,,&typo=1>. The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MuseumPests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/MN2PR02MB69124B1DEE22053A5927F0DEBC4D9%40MN2PR02MB6912.namprd02.prod.outlook.com.
