The 240v Safety cut off switch in the TeePee that is.
I have been doing a house sit for the last 2 weeks and as I had to be in the house the TeePee was not needed so had arranged to safely leave behind. I had turned off water and gas and released pressures but left 240v power on as the inside fridge/freezer and a little freezer I use outside under cover still had heaps in and didn't want to get rid of anything and not needed at house sit. My Solar system looked after the batteries.
On my return I had a look inside outside freezer and BUGGA! Everything had thawed out, EVERYTHING! I checked inside fridge/freezer and same thing. Also, as I opened the freezer section, inside smelt like a dead animal. Meat I had in there had thawed and a lot of smelly thickish liquid was sitting on bottom. YUK!
Turns out there had been a few really bad storms and a power surge while I was away and on checking the Safety Switch it had tripped off. BUGGA!
Luckily the outside freezer was OK with no smells etc. So set about cleaning inside freezer with Vanilla and leaving a small container of Bi Carb or Soda in there to try and absorb the smell. I plan to wipe out each day with vanilla for the rest of the week and not use the inside freezer until the smell has gone or at least much better.
I have left TeePee behind a couple of times before and all was OK. Just unlucky this time. Insurance would cover but the excess was more than cost of food replacement.
Never again! I will make sure stock has run down and or finished and leave doors open with power off, if TeePee is not needed again for any length of time.
So, at least I know the safety Switch works.
Keep safe out there everyone.
Whenarewethere said
05:04 PM Nov 21, 2022
A few years ago we had a few whole suburb blackouts. I spoke to one of the workers in Coles. Because the power had been out a bit too long, the fridge temperatures were a touch above the allowable setting, they had to throw out everything from the fridges.
It's strange seeing an empty supermarket. Not the norm here, even during Covid.
We had the same blackouts & they were only a few hours.
There would be nothing wrong with the food, but it all went in the skip.
Radar said
08:26 PM Nov 21, 2022
Hi Douglas,
That's not a lot of fun, so sorry hear of you adventure.
Southern Cruizer said
08:30 PM Nov 21, 2022
Well Radar the upside to it is he come and saw me while he was doing the house sit, must have liked me because he saw me twice
msg said
03:40 AM Nov 22, 2022
So sorry Doug. Hopefully it will come good. Vinegar may help as well.
An argument could be made I guess for 12/240v absorption fridge. (Not sure how Engle(etc.) car fridges work)
My fridge runs on the batteries. In the situation above, the fridge runs off the batteries and the 240v is only keeping the batteries topped up. Therefore in the case of a 240v power outage it makes no difference. Hopefully the solar will operate sufficiently until the 240v comes back on.
Probably, I wouldn't leave unattended for too long anyway in case there was no sun for extended periods (not impossible at the moment) and the power outage was out for days thus running down the batteries and wrecking them.
Sorry if this is a bit of a rigmarole and you can't understand. Don't know how to explain any better.
86GTS said
05:00 AM Nov 22, 2022
That's the advantage with beer & white wine, it can thaw out & you don't have to chuck it away!
Possum3 said
08:46 AM Nov 22, 2022
Real kick in the arse Doug. But on the bright side you now have a sparkly fridge.
Dougwe said
10:20 AM Nov 22, 2022
Southern Cruizer wrote:
Well Radar the upside to it is he come and saw me while he was doing the house sit, must have liked me because he saw me twice
I didn't get away until 9.45am Sunday Graham. All good though. Until I got back that is :(
Dougwe said
10:22 AM Nov 22, 2022
msg wrote:
So sorry Doug. Hopefully it will come good. Vinegar may help as well.
An argument could be made I guess for 12/240v absorption fridge. (Not sure how Engle(etc.) car fridges work)
My fridge runs on the batteries. In the situation above, the fridge runs off the batteries and the 240v is only keeping the batteries topped up. Therefore in the case of a 240v power outage it makes no difference. Hopefully the solar will operate sufficiently until the 240v comes back on.
Probably, I wouldn't leave unattended for too long anyway in case there was no sun for extended periods (not impossible at the moment) and the power outage was out for days thus running down the batteries and wrecking them.
Sorry if this is a bit of a rigmarole and you can't understand. Don't know how to explain any better.
It's a Thetford 3 way fridge Mel. I left it on 240v while away. I reckon it was off for a good part of the 2 weeks away judging by the smell.
Dougwe said
10:24 AM Nov 22, 2022
Possum3 wrote:
Real kick in the arse Doug. But on the bright side you now have a sparkly fridge.
Always clean but a lot cleaner now BUT SMELLY. Possum :(
Dougwe said
10:25 AM Nov 22, 2022
86GTS wrote:
That's the advantage with beer & white wine, it can thaw out & you don't have to chuck it away!
The craft beer was the only thing that didn't suffer 86.
Whenarewethere said
10:32 AM Nov 22, 2022
I had a leaking battery in a UPS which triggered the RCD.
So probably the best solution is 12v fridge, running off large battery, running off multiple MPPT controllers for maximum redundancy.
Our fridge will run for a week off batteries. If I connected up my 2 MPPT controllers off multiple solar panels with bridging & bypass diodes it should be pretty right.
Probably worth going a 5 stage redundancy setup at every stage to minimise risk.
Dougwe said
09:36 AM Nov 23, 2022
Quick update.
I am currently in a CVP where I left the TeePee and the owner put me onto what is in the pic. She uses it in the fridges in cabins if left bad by workers staying for a few weeks or longer. She said to leave Bi Carb of Soda in a small container as well.
After just 2 days, I think I'm winning.
Southern Cruizer said
08:36 PM Nov 23, 2022
Gee Doug, you'll be smellin as fresh as a daisy soon. Just don't show a limp wrist or people will start thinking.......................... Mmmmmmm leave it at that
The 240v Safety cut off switch in the TeePee that is.
I have been doing a house sit for the last 2 weeks and as I had to be in the house the TeePee was not needed so had arranged to safely leave behind. I had turned off water and gas and released pressures but left 240v power on as the inside fridge/freezer and a little freezer I use outside under cover still had heaps in and didn't want to get rid of anything and not needed at house sit. My Solar system looked after the batteries.
On my return I had a look inside outside freezer and BUGGA! Everything had thawed out, EVERYTHING! I checked inside fridge/freezer and same thing. Also, as I opened the freezer section, inside smelt like a dead animal. Meat I had in there had thawed and a lot of smelly thickish liquid was sitting on bottom. YUK!
Turns out there had been a few really bad storms and a power surge while I was away and on checking the Safety Switch it had tripped off. BUGGA!
Luckily the outside freezer was OK with no smells etc. So set about cleaning inside freezer with Vanilla and leaving a small container of Bi Carb or Soda in there to try and absorb the smell. I plan to wipe out each day with vanilla for the rest of the week and not use the inside freezer until the smell has gone or at least much better.
I have left TeePee behind a couple of times before and all was OK. Just unlucky this time. Insurance would cover but the excess was more than cost of food replacement.
Never again! I will make sure stock has run down and or finished and leave doors open with power off, if TeePee is not needed again for any length of time.
So, at least I know the safety Switch works.
Keep safe out there everyone.
A few years ago we had a few whole suburb blackouts. I spoke to one of the workers in Coles. Because the power had been out a bit too long, the fridge temperatures were a touch above the allowable setting, they had to throw out everything from the fridges.
It's strange seeing an empty supermarket. Not the norm here, even during Covid.
We had the same blackouts & they were only a few hours.
There would be nothing wrong with the food, but it all went in the skip.
Hi Douglas,
That's not a lot of fun, so sorry hear of you adventure.
So sorry Doug. Hopefully it will come good. Vinegar may help as well.
An argument could be made I guess for 12/240v absorption fridge. (Not sure how Engle(etc.) car fridges work)
My fridge runs on the batteries. In the situation above, the fridge runs off the batteries and the 240v is only keeping the batteries topped up. Therefore in the case of a 240v power outage it makes no difference. Hopefully the solar will operate sufficiently until the 240v comes back on.
Probably, I wouldn't leave unattended for too long anyway in case there was no sun for extended periods (not impossible at the moment) and the power outage was out for days thus running down the batteries and wrecking them.
Sorry if this is a bit of a rigmarole and you can't understand. Don't know how to explain any better.
I didn't get away until 9.45am Sunday Graham. All good though. Until I got back that is :(
It's a Thetford 3 way fridge Mel. I left it on 240v while away. I reckon it was off for a good part of the 2 weeks away judging by the smell.
Always clean but a lot cleaner now BUT SMELLY. Possum :(
The craft beer was the only thing that didn't suffer 86.
I had a leaking battery in a UPS which triggered the RCD.
So probably the best solution is 12v fridge, running off large battery, running off multiple MPPT controllers for maximum redundancy.
Our fridge will run for a week off batteries. If I connected up my 2 MPPT controllers off multiple solar panels with bridging & bypass diodes it should be pretty right.
Probably worth going a 5 stage redundancy setup at every stage to minimise risk.
Quick update.
I am currently in a CVP where I left the TeePee and the owner put me onto what is in the pic. She uses it in the fridges in cabins if left bad by workers staying for a few weeks or longer. She said to leave Bi Carb of Soda in a small container as well.
After just 2 days, I think I'm winning.