Topic: Best sensor choice for freezer

[Transporterman]

My chest freezer (deep freezer) in the garage started complaining the other day (red light on) that it was too warm.  On checking, we had caught it early and almost everything was ok.  luckily my wife found an old working freezer for £15 offered on a local Facebook page and (bless her) the owner was ok for us to turn up to pick it up in my van at 9pm at night.  Problem solved for now. Our failing freezer (Zanussi) seems to be working perfectly again now and has chilled down nicely and kept the test loaf of bread from our kitchen fridge/freezer solid.  But can we trust it?

What sensor should I buy for a cheap way of watching what the freezer is up to?  Weatherspares has WH53 at £12 plus shipping which looks ok.  I guess the real issue will be shutting the sensor away in a tin box! 

We like to leave the wet and windy UK (for as long as we are now allowed post-Brexit)  in the winter and I always leave a few ice cubes in a bag to tell if the freezer has thawed while we are away but I'd quite like a permanent live 'eye' on the freezer.

Edit- Oops, forgot to say I have an HP2551/GW1001 combo for receiving.

[Platokidd]

I use a wh31 in my freezer for a several years. The HP2551 picks up the senor without issue. I just set it on the rack as is.

Here's a screen shot of the fridge in my camper.

 [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[BoDuke]

I don't believe a WH53 sensor is compatible with the HP2551 or GW1000 gateway/consoles.

I have been using multiple WH31 sensors in freezers with no problems.  Although if I could have gotten WN30 sensors, I probably would have used them instead with the cable tied up and the entire unit still in the freezer.  I don't think the humidity reading in the freezer is all that accurate or necessary.  According to the sensor specifications, the displays may not work at cold temperatures but I don't look at the displays.  Being able to set alerts at ecowitt.net is very useful.

I also use Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries because they last a very long time, are the best for extreme temperatures (both cold and hot), have a long shelf life, and don't leak and corrode battery terminals.

[eliteweathernz]

I use 2x WN30 which share in the same channel as the WH31 multi channel temp/rh sensors, if you which you can have max of 8.
I have the small wire coming out the side of the door and I haven’t had any issues with that for over a year now.

Alternatively you could use a WN34L but these are twice the price and they share the same channel as the soil temperature sensors of which you can have a max of 8.

All depends on how many exisiting sensors you’re running.

I have maxed out my multi channel sensor of 8 so I’m now 4 of 8 into the soil temp/ extra temp channels.

[Gyvate]

My chest freezer (deep freezer) in the garage started complaining the other day (red light on) that it was too warm.  On checking, we had caught it early and almost everything was ok.  luckily my wife found an old working freezer for £15 offered on a local Facebook page and (bless her) the owner was ok for us to turn up to pick it up in my van at 9pm at night.  Problem solved for now. Our failing freezer (Zanussi) seems to be working perfectly again now and has chilled down nicely and kept the test loaf of bread from our kitchen fridge/freezer solid.  But can we trust it?

What sensor should I buy for a cheap way of watching what the freezer is up to?  Weatherspares has WH53 at £12 plus shipping which looks ok.  I guess the real issue will be shutting the sensor away in a tin box! 

We like to leave the wet and windy UK (for as long as we are now allowed post-Brexit)  in the winter and I always leave a few ice cubes in a bag to tell if the freezer has thawed while we are away but I'd quite like a permanent live 'eye' on the freezer.

Edit- Oops, forgot to say I have an HP2551/GW1001 combo for receiving.

unless your HP2550/GW1000 consoles receive at 433 MHz, the WH53 will not be compatible as it transmits at 433 MHz only !!
For freezers simplest/cheapest option is a WN30 with probe so you can see the temperature from outside (it comes at 433/968/915 MHz),
Next would be a WN34L, more expensive though.
You can also put a simple WH31 T/RH sensor into the freezer - disadvantage: you can't see the display without opening the freezer.
Of course you can see its reading on your console/WS View Plus

[Transporterman]

I'm transmitting on 868MHz so I think I will go with Gyvate's WN30 suggestion.    I already have the outside and inside temp sensors and 3 soil sensors so I believe I can have an extra one.   

[Gyvate]

I use 2x WN30 which share in the same channel as the WH31 multi channel temp/rh sensors, if you which you can have max of 8.
I have the small wire coming out the side of the door and I haven’t had any issues with that for over a year now.

Alternatively you could use a WN34L but these are twice the price and they share the same channel as the soil temperature sensors of which you can have a max of 8.

All depends on how many exisiting sensors you’re running.

I have maxed out my multi channel sensor of 8 so I’m now 4 of 8 into the soil temp/ extra temp channels.

the naming is a bit weird.
because the WN34S sensors are not soil temperature sensors (even though you can use them for this purpose).
"S" doesn't stand for "soil" but for "solid" as opposite to "L" for liquid.
- but I agree that measuring soil temperature with them is a possible scenario.

Officially the WN34 sensors are User Temperature sensors and as such they also show in the local API.
The also existing soil temperature sensors in the local API (theoretically 16) are so far not yet used by Ecowitt.
WH31 family (including WN30 and WN36, temp only) = extra temp/hum multi channel (
WN34 = user temp multi channel (

[horseflesh]

Just about 1 year ago I put Ecowitt WH31s in all my fridges and freezers. No problems so far. Haven't even needed to change the batteries. They all still show "normal" on the battery dashboard.

I did pop for lithium AAs as they are supposed to do better in cold temperatures, but I don't know if it actually helped.

As much as I like weather sensors... monitoring fridge temperatures may actually be my favorite part of this thing. I'm a kook about food safety.