standalone fridge thermometer

[Petrichorwheels]

Fridge freezer recently packed in - (tip - if your fridge freezer is building up ice, defrost it - I fear I killed mine by putting it under too much strain in a heatwave)
anyways, old fridge bit had a digital readout of its temperature, new one even though also a Bosch has none - just a manual dial labelled cold-colder - talk about going backwards in time.

anyways I like to keep my fridge cold to keep food longer (4 degrees is recommended I think) but don't want to set too cold and suck too much power. have looked at various small fridge thermometers online but ones I have seen have very variable reports about their supposed accuracy.
Can anyone recommend one?
I stress that it doesn't have to be accurate to NASA standards - just reliably near enough.

 

[figbat]

Do what catering outlets do - put something in there to chill and leave until it reaches equilibrium, then take it out and put a probe in it to see what temperature it is. Could be a block of butter, a glass of water, whatever. If you want it warmer or colder adjust the dial and try again.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

Do what catering outlets do - put something in there to chill and leave until it reaches equilibrium, then take it out and put a probe in it to see what temperature it is. Could be a block of butter, a glass of water, whatever. If you want it warmer or colder adjust the dial and try again.

ta - but that begs the inevitable question - can you recommend a probe?

 

[midlife]

Checked the NHS one here and it’s a TFA. We also have USB ones that sit inside a fridge and store readings which are downloaded.

 

[presta]

I have several Elitech data logging thermometers, but not for the fridge/freezer. The claimed accuracy of the RC5 is 0.5%, my two are -0.2% and -0.55%. The RC4 doesn't make any accuracy claims, but mine is -0.5% on the internal sensor, and -0.2% on the external probe. There is a degree or so of self heating whilst they're plugged into the USB port, however. The RC4 probe is sealed, but not hermetically sealed, so I've been careful to keep it dry.

 

[figbat]

ta - but that begs the inevitable question - can you recommend a probe?

Thermapen. Expensive, but for a reason. Quick to respond, very fine sensor tip, it just works.

 

[newts]

We thought our auto defrost f/f had packed up a few months ago. Local repair man suggested a full defrost & it would probably be OK. I removed the rear plastic cover in the freezer compartment to reveal a solid block of ice around the cooling fins. It's been fine ever since the manual defrost.

 

[Petrichorwheels]

We thought our auto defrost f/f had packed up a few months ago. Local repair man suggested a full defrost & it would probably be OK. I removed the rear plastic cover in the freezer compartment to reveal a solid block of ice around the cooling fins. It's been fine ever since the manual defrost.

thanks for the encouragement but mine had definitely died - defrosted it and then set it running again - nothing happened apart from a very hot compressor doing nowt.
I think I killed it by putting the poor thing under too much strain - though it did last 20 years.

(as for the "frost-free" - it was supposed to be, but never really was - part of the problem I think)

 

[Petrichorwheels]

thanks for suggestions so far but I think they are probably a bit laboratory standard for what I need.
Any more?

 

[MontyVeda]

i have one of these...

can't cost more than a few quid and I'd expect it to be accurate enough

 

[Jenkins]

We use these sort of things at work where occasionally food samples need to be stored at refrigerated or frozen temperatures - the readout sits on top of the fridge or freezer with the temperature probe inside

 

[SGG on a bike]

Another vote for a thermapen here. For the money, there's few better out there. For what you need (using the method described by Figbat) it'll do fine. That said, it's easy enough to check the calibration on any thermometer with iced/boiling water. If whatever you use is fairly accurate at freezing point, it won't be a million miles out at 3 or 4 degrees.

 

[mistyoptic]

Ours is by Tala. Does the job. As you say, you’re not looking for laboratory accuracy