Can anyone recommend a fridge door alarm which will sound if the
fridge door is left open for a period of time?

Either that or a decent fridge thermometer with built-in alarm.

Thanks

On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:07:03 +0000, jamma-plusser wrote:

Can anyone recommend a fridge door alarm which will sound if the fridge
door is left open for a period of time?

Either that or a decent fridge thermometer with built-in alarm.

I used one of those inside+outside thermometers, and ran the 'external'
detector into the (in my case) freezer. Found one with an alarm on it so
if the temperature rose, it'd sound.

--
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

*lightning protection* - a w_tom conductor

jamma-plusser wrote on Aug 15, 2010:

Can anyone recommend a fridge door alarm which will sound if the
fridge door is left open for a period of time?

Either that or a decent fridge thermometer with built-in alarm.

Thanks


I use two of these - one for my fridge, the other for the freezer. You can
set alarms for both upper and lower temperatures if you wish. They work very
well.
http://tinyurl.com/329rjs2

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

On Aug 15, 8:55*pm, Mike Lane wrote:

I bought something similar but gave up as I couldn't get the wire to
stay stuck. Since then I've been using a kit based around a 555 timer.
I got it from the internet for about a tenner and it looks like a
school project but I couldn't/didn't have the time to knock it up
myself.
Door to fridge opens, microswitch opens and contact closes, giving
power to the circuit. If door remains open for longer than 20 seconds
a sounder emits a shrill alarm that can be heard upstairs. My fridge
door can be left ajar around 5mm without the magnetic strip having
enough strength to close it. The microswitch is positioned at this
point to just catch the 5mm gap. It works well and soon everyone in
the house learnt to properly shut the door. I need to wire another
microswitch in parallel to the freezer door to monitor that one too.

Dave.

Dave Starling :
On Aug 15, 8:55*pm, Mike Lane wrote:

I bought something similar but gave up as I couldn't get the wire to
stay stuck. Since then I've been using a kit based around a 555 timer.
I got it from the internet for about a tenner and it looks like a
school project but I couldn't/didn't have the time to knock it up
myself.
Door to fridge opens, microswitch opens and contact closes, giving
power to the circuit. If door remains open for longer than 20 seconds
a sounder emits a shrill alarm that can be heard upstairs. My fridge
door can be left ajar around 5mm without the magnetic strip having
enough strength to close it. The microswitch is positioned at this
point to just catch the 5mm gap. It works well and soon everyone in
the house learnt to properly shut the door. I need to wire another
microswitch in parallel to the freezer door to monitor that one too.

I have made something similar but the timer module was from Maplin
rather than eBay, and I use a magnetic sensor (designed for burglar
alarms[1]) rather than a microswitch. The box containing the batteries,
timer module, and sounder also has an LED indicator which lights up
during those (60 in our case) seconds, to show that the batteries are in
good shape.

I gave up long ago on temperature-based alarms. They don't distinguish
well enough between door-open and auto-defrosting conditions, and they
aren't quick enough to ensure that someone is still around to hear the
alarm.

It beggars belief that fridge/freezer manufacturers have never built a
solution to this problem into their products. Our fridge-freezer does
have a door-open alarm, but it only works if the door is left wide open.
So it's simply a nuisance and serves no useful purpose whatsoever.


[1] Most alarm door switches have only make-when-closed contacts, which
are not right for this application. But it's possible to get them with
make-when-open contacts, e.g. from CPC.

--
Mike Barnes

"Mike Barnes" wrote in message
...
Dave Starling :
On Aug 15, 8:55 pm, Mike Lane wrote:

I bought something similar but gave up as I couldn't get the wire to
stay stuck. Since then I've been using a kit based around a 555 timer.
I got it from the internet for about a tenner and it looks like a
school project but I couldn't/didn't have the time to knock it up
myself.
Door to fridge opens, microswitch opens and contact closes, giving
power to the circuit. If door remains open for longer than 20 seconds
a sounder emits a shrill alarm that can be heard upstairs. My fridge
door can be left ajar around 5mm without the magnetic strip having
enough strength to close it. The microswitch is positioned at this
point to just catch the 5mm gap. It works well and soon everyone in
the house learnt to properly shut the door. I need to wire another
microswitch in parallel to the freezer door to monitor that one too.

I have made something similar but the timer module was from Maplin
rather than eBay, and I use a magnetic sensor (designed for burglar
alarms[1]) rather than a microswitch. The box containing the batteries,
timer module, and sounder also has an LED indicator which lights up
during those (60 in our case) seconds, to show that the batteries are in
good shape.

I gave up long ago on temperature-based alarms. They don't distinguish
well enough between door-open and auto-defrosting conditions, and they
aren't quick enough to ensure that someone is still around to hear the
alarm.

It beggars belief that fridge/freezer manufacturers have never built a
solution to this problem into their products. Our fridge-freezer does
have a door-open alarm, but it only works if the door is left wide open.
So it's simply a nuisance and serves no useful purpose whatsoever.


[1] Most alarm door switches have only make-when-closed contacts, which
are not right for this application. But it's possible to get them with
make-when-open contacts, e.g. from CPC.

--
Mike Barnes




Why not address the fact that someone seems to be leaving the door open?
To the person that claims the door is a bit stiff then try a drop of oil and
ensure that the fridge is level.

John :
Why not address the fact that someone seems to be leaving the door open?
To the person that claims the door is a bit stiff then try a drop of oil and
ensure that the fridge is level.

In this household it's not the door that's stiff, it's the *drawers*
that are too heavy to slide easily, or their contents snag on something,
or both. With the drawer not quite fully closed, the door can almost
close, but not quite. The problem arises mainly in our freezer but it
can also occur with the salad drawers in the fridge. Or something in the
fridge door hits something else on a shelf just before the door shuts
completely.

It doesn't happen very often, but once is too often.

--
Mike Barnes

Dave Starling wrote on Aug 15, 2010:

On Aug 15, 8:55*pm, Mike Lane wrote:

I bought something similar but gave up as I couldn't get the wire to
stay stuck.

Yes the wires are a bit untidy, but I don't mind that and luckily for me
there's no one else around to complain ;-)


Since then I've been using a kit based around a 555 timer.
I got it from the internet for about a tenner and it looks like a
school project but I couldn't/didn't have the time to knock it up
myself.
Door to fridge opens, microswitch opens and contact closes, giving
power to the circuit. If door remains open for longer than 20 seconds
a sounder emits a shrill alarm that can be heard upstairs. My fridge
door can be left ajar around 5mm without the magnetic strip having
enough strength to close it. The microswitch is positioned at this
point to just catch the 5mm gap. It works well and soon everyone in
the house learnt to properly shut the door. I need to wire another
microswitch in parallel to the freezer door to monitor that one too.

Dave.

That sounds ideal. A feature like that would cost a pound or two for a
manufacturer to add to a fridge. I do like to know the temperature in my
fridge though. I wonder why thermometer read-outs and the like are so rarely
provided?

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com