Idea: Make Your Own Defrost-Monitor To Check Your Freezer Works Constantly While You Are Away
I have been away from my house for a few weeks and have just pulled some food out of my freezer with the aim of defrosting it ready for supper tomorrow.
As I pulled it out of the freezer I wondered if this food was OK to eat. Had my freezer been working for all the time when I was away? Or had my empty house suffered a power cut for three weeks?
So I came up with an idea for a ‘defrost monitor’. Next time I go away I might just do this.
Function
- The defrost monitor will indicate if your freezer’s contents have defrosted at one or more times while you were away.
Theory of Operation
- Set up a frozen device that sits in the freezer compartment with your food.
If defrosted:
- It should change its appearance
- It should maintain that defrosted-appearance even if it is re-frosted
When you return:
- Check whether its appearance indicates that it has been defrosted at least once.
Implementation
I suppose the easiest device is “an ice cube in a bag”.
If defrosted, the ice will turn to water and will lose its cube-shape.
So, upon your return, if it aint a cube, sniff hard before consuming food in that freezer compartment.
A cooler version would be “two icecubes next to each other in a bag. One coloured with food colouring”.
I guess you might be able to ’see’ the extent of defrosting by seeing how much colour is shared between the two cubes.
Anyway…enough speculation. For now, without being able to check any ‘defrost monitor’, I will just have to use my nose.
