Megan, I hope others can give their input on the door problems, but until a solution appears is it possible to have the freezer off as the default? It seems like the daily attention and effort you've already put in has added up to to a lot of staff time and $$$. Our walk-in freezer is kept off until we need it, though I understand factors like frequency of use and how easy it is for you/your team to turn off/on can impact the feasibility of adhoc runs.
Julie Julie McInnis Collection Care Specialist Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco On Friday, August 6, 2021 at 2:41:49 PM UTC-7 mcinnis wrote: > Hello and Happy Friday to all, > > For those of you who use walk-in freezers for pest extermination, have you > ever had to deal with ice build up around the frame of your freezer door or > the unit itself? We've been having this issue for the last two years (our > freezer box is about 10 years old) to the point where we now have to open > and de-ice the freezer doorway (interior) every day so that it can be > opened without strain. The freezer technicians we work with are perplexed > and the manufacturer of the box (Imperial Brown) and the unit (Heatcraft) > aren't sure what to do. Imperial Brown suggested replacing the door > entirely ($$$) in case it's been warped, but there's no obvious warpage and > they're not certain that will help. We're all the way in Hawai'i so they > haven't sent out a representative to check it out. > > Here is what we have done so far which has not helped the issue at all > (some of these were done with the hopes of solving the ice build up issue > and some were necessary repairs to faulty parts): > > -Replaced the door heater with one that is hotter (this actually might > have made the problem worse) > -Installed a plastic strip curtain to reduce air exchange when the door is > opened- we took it off because ice was just building up at the top of the > curtain > -Replaced the gasket on the door > -Installed a new hydraulic door closure > -Repaired an evaporator leak > -Replaced a faulty evaporator board/changed sensors/transducer > > The technicians can't find any air leaks in the freezer box and there's no > sign of sweating on the freezer box exterior. Our freezer runs 24/7 and has > a brief unit-defrost cycle 4 times each day. It usually maintains -25F > according to the freezer's own thermostat. Our PEM2 inside the freezer > itself reads -18F and 75% RH. The room just outside of the freezer door is > pretty warm and humid (67-70 degrees F and about 67% RH) but we never leave > the door open for more than a couple minutes each day. > > Have you had any similar experiences? Do you have any suggestions for us? > Feel free to email me privately if you'd prefer, at mci...@hawaii.edu. > > Thank you for your time! > > Megan > > -- > *Megan McInnis* > > *Preventive Conservation Specialist (Preservation Department)* > *University of Hawai'i at M**ānoa Library* > 2550 McCarthy Mall > Honolulu, HI 96822 > Office: 808-956-5734 <(808)%20956-5734> > mci...@hawaii.edu > -- 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/b238b05f-ef27-4b1c-a006-40d2911654edn%40googlegroups.com.
