Humidity in coldroom

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

My walkin coldroom seems to be having high humidity. I skinned a carcass and left it to butcher the following day and the carcass was dripping wet the next day when I checked. I bought a couple of temperature/ humidity things and it's showing a constant temp of 2 degrees and a humidity of 99 per cent. I don't excessively open to doors and the seals look good anyway so I'm thinking of temporary taking all the carcasses out and drying it out with a fan before I put them back in . Any other suggestions much appreciated.

 

[wytonpjs]

99% Humidity is way too high! Definitely an issue there I’m afraid Even in my small chiller which often has condensed water under the drip trays at the bottom, the cabinet humidity is no where near that.

 

[GIMLET61]

Do you have any air circulation?
Best to get some or else the carcass can become unfit if left for long.

 

[SussexSteve]

Put a salt block or 2 in will help but best get an engineer to have a look

 

[JockStalk]

I’m no fridgey but is your condenser fan working?
Should be two fans, one evap unit and one condenser unit.
Evap fan will be always on and condenser fan will cycle.
Flippin miss Keith at times like these!

 

[Ruby Tuesday 2]

I’m no fridgey but is your condenser fan working?
Should be two fans, one evap unit and one condenser unit.
Evap fan will be always on and condenser fan will cycle.
Flippin miss Keith at times like these!

Yes both fans are working, one full time as you say and the other when the compressor kicks in.

 

[JockStalk]

Is there a drain from the unit and is that blocked? Causing humidity to build up

 

[JockStalk]

Was the ambient temp colder than normal/ some chillers won’t work in very cold weather. Mine doesn’t so I have to use a workaround

 

[geoffw]

Watching with interest.

This week is certainly bad for humidity in cool processing areas, but a functioning cold room at 2-5c should probably be as dry as a bone.

 

[AlexD]

Try a dehumidifier unit. They warm the room overall as it uses 300W of power or so, but can reduce humidity to 40%. I have one in my gun room to stop things getting rusty, and another in a drying room at work. Unfortunately they work best when the air is warm, but might take water out of the room if you can get the humidifier on an air intake: the air output from them is cooled.

 

[VSS]

My walkin coldroom seems to be having high humidity. I skinned a carcass and left it to butcher the following day and the carcass was dripping wet the next day when I checked. I bought a couple of temperature/ humidity things and it's showing a constant temp of 2 degrees and a humidity of 99 per cent. I don't excessively open to doors and the seals look good anyway so I'm thinking of temporary taking all the carcasses out and drying it out with a fan before I put them back in . Any other suggestions much appreciated.

I have the same problem.
I live in an area with a maritime climate, and the ambient humidity is usually in the high 90s. Inside my chiller is the same. Ideally, inside the chiller should be around 75%, but that just isn't going to happen here. Chiller is often at around 98%
A bit of effort to ensure that the condensation drip tray always drains freely to the outside of the chiller has helped, as has regular professional servicing of the refrigeration unit to ensure that I'm not getting problems like excessive ice build up.
Provided I keep on top of those two things, I can get the average humidity down to around 89%, with the fluctuation range being between 70% and 99.9%, depending on the weather.
Before I had a means to record humidity, it didn't worry me.
I try not to let it worry me now.
Humidity metres are a bit like borescopes.

 

[75]

Has it just started doing it?

Here’s a post I wrote a bit back about my experience of coldroom chiller humidity. Worth also noting that humidity was much higher in mine last week when chiller was hardly kicking in due to low ambient temps.

Post in thread 'Carcasses ‘going off’ , ideas?'

Dec 3, 2024

Does anyone run a dehumidifier in their chiller - or just rely on circulation?

I have done, yes. I've done a lot of research into this area but focussed on monobloc chillers. Sorry - long post so skip this if you're not interested in chiller humidity or how monoblocs work!

It came about because I lost a red carcass to mould. It was around the 10-12 day mark and temp had been low and consistent and the carcass clean and dry when it went in so I set about trying to find out what was wrong. First step was to install a temp logger - which also tracked relative humidity and opened up...

• 75

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[Ruby Tuesday 2]

Has it just started doing it?

Here’s a post I wrote a bit back about my experience of coldroom chiller humidity. Worth also noting that humidity was much higher in mine last week when chiller was hardly kicking in due to low ambient temps.

Post in thread 'Carcasses ‘going off’ , ideas?'

Dec 3, 2024

Does anyone run a dehumidifier in their chiller - or just rely on circulation?

I have done, yes. I've done a lot of research into this area but focussed on monobloc chillers. Sorry - long post so skip this if you're not interested in chiller humidity or how monoblocs work!

It came about because I lost a red carcass to mould. It was around the 10-12 day mark and temp had been low and consistent and the carcass clean and dry when it went in so I set about trying to find out what was wrong. First step was to install a temp logger - which also tracked relative humidity and opened up...

• 75

• 

Thanks for that. I haven't really noticed it before but this last week or so I've put eight fallow into the chiller and the weather has been cold and wet. None of the deer were excessively wet when I put them in and when I shot another carcass I hung it outside the chiller under cover until it had cooled to prevent me putting a warm animal in.The one I had skinned had been in the chiller for over a week and was got myself which is why I put back in the same chiller , as I mentioned it was wet when I butchered it but it didn't have any mold and we've eaten two meals from it with no I'll effects. I think when the doe season ends I'll strip it down as I need to make a few alterations and add the extra fan as you advise and try to rewire the odd fan as suggested.

 

[abn31c]

Perhaps the system is low on gas causing the lines to frost excessively. If that's the case adding fans may only exacerbate the issue.
If you have a sight glass on the liquid line you can check for bubbles in the liquid indicating you just need to add a shot of gas. Beyond that, if the compressor and fans are working it should make cold. Above a poster mentioned a plugged drain, that's where I'd look first.

 

[jthyttin]

Was the ambient temp colder than normal/ some chillers won’t work in very cold weather. Mine doesn’t so I have to use a workaround

I'd be inclined to think that low ambient temperature won't have the compressor kicking in as frequently as usual. So less condensing water, and if there are 8 unskinned fallow carcases in the coldroom they might hold a good bit of moisture you just don't see it as readily as on skinned carcass. Not saying this is sole reason for high humidity, but contributing factor.