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Exellent! What is the temperature inside the cooler?
Hey man, still haven't got around to watching videos yet, but I will I promise :), if you don't want to answer my q its fine.
Just curious as to how many restaurants / markets you normally sell to, does this fluctuate at all with competition or shops going out of business.
Do you specify when selling your goods if they are "freshly" picked or "chilled" from the freezer
hope the crops treat you well
Do you think I am to young to start? I am only 14
If you look behind most fast food restaurants, they have an outdoor walk in cooler/ freezer. So these restaurant units don't even need a shelter. All they need is electricity. A person can put one right out in the field. If you are a handyman type you can make your own "coolbot" for less than $100. I saw a man who got ATTRA pay for a AC unit and the conversion kit.
Curtis did not mention this, but in the US anyway, they are passing all kinds of regulations requiring producers to keep perishable foods refrigerated. If someone gets the wrong type of microbes growing on the food they are selling, they can make a lot of people really sick and even kill people. Refrigeration helps avoid this catastrophe. A producer now days needs to be able to show that they are taking sound food safety measures. To reduce legal liability if nothing else. Look at the recent news about the Chipotle restaurant chain!!
Thanks, great info..
Hi Curtis, Great video!! Ever since your workshop here, we have been thinking hard on how to do this on an off grid farm, as we understand it is absolutely necessary. It was a mission growing 7,000kg of food this year, and using a small refrigerator at 2km away neighbours!! We are working on a crowdfunding campaign to help us to get the solar system to support a walking cooler and dehydrator.
What do you think is the absolutely necessary minimal size for a walking cooler in our 1/4 acre operation? we are thinking on 2*2*2meters, but getting a 2*2*3 so we could chill chestnuts, apples and tangelos in season.
Your cooler fix is totally ghetto which is why I love it! So simple. Those small air conditioning units are such commodity units being pumped out by the millions at low prices and operating at great efficiencies. Much better value than purpose built compressors for niche industries. Your decision making skills set you apart. Keep rockin it!!!!!!!!!!!
That's some real MacGyver type stuff.
Awesome topic Curtis!! I have toyed with this subject to maximize our business. After dropping the cash 2 weeks ago – we are on the road to building a walk in cooler. We will be using the coolbot system and hope to maximize our cold storage needs. Currently we have been using an old soda machine we gutted for cold storage. Having the extra space will be a huge help. Plus – with the coolbot – as we scale so can our cold storage. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Curtis, videos are always inspiring as a small farmer. Here in Hawaii, it's warm year round and I would love a walk in cooler. However, I have been using the system of 5 humongous coolers that I can stack, bring to the field or greenhouse and they are cooled with large ice blocks that I can re-freeze. Living in the city allows me to deliver same day and keep product cool and transportable with the coolers that I can stack in my van. It's worked for me thus far and is very inexpensive, as electricity is 3-4 x than the mainland. I wondering how much the walk ins add to your electric bill? I can harvest the evening before and keep cool overnight for delivery the next day. But especially for things like zucchini and other crops that can't be delayed in harvesting I can see how useful walk in coolers would be.
Last season we didn't have a cooler – This meant staying up until midnight harvesting the night before the market, and waking up at 5 or 6 a.m., in the complete dark, to harvest our field crop. Building a cooler is on the top of our to do list 🙂
i love that u make a living doing what you love, organics/"NoTill" ….im trying to convert to notill now but anyway….. i sell affordable used walkins cooler, freezer, or combos as a day job whatever size you need lmk…in socal…for if you or any1 needs 1
The local college hosts a small farms conference every year. This year they had a hacks seminar. One of the people who was speaking has made his own cooling units using the cool bot and a trailer or a tuff shed. It's pretty neat. Thanks for sharing.
How about a root cellar or groundfridge?
I'm in my second year of operating a small market garden. Last year we used 3 old fridges. They were a nightmare! We spent way too much time jockeying stuff around trying to fit it all in and then the overworked fridges would end up freezing the product! Over the winter I built a walk in cooler using a coolbot and I love it! I track the energy usage on a kill-a-watt meter and my 40 square foot walk in is using as much energy as just one fridge! I also built a proper washing/packing station and now we're stoked for this season! Thanks, Curtis!
at my job my boss built a walk in cooler in the corner of his garage and uses an AC unit + cool bot. Works like a charm!
I appreciate that you're not cutting corners like many people and just not messing around. I'm glad that you're giving this advice to people.
Are you sure there's freon gas inside that refrigeration unit? I'm not sure about Canada, but that stuff's been banned in the EU for quite some time since it destroys the ozon layer.
Curtis is spot on here. Our cool bot is a a necessary part of our small farm. Our cold room is about 8×8 and it stays around 40 all summer long. Takes a little to get it set just right. They can freeze up.
It was perfect timing seeing this video. Lately I have been thinking of how to store cold crops without a basement or cold room. I bet one of these units would do just fine. What do you think? Janice
This is a awesome video!
True story. When I was a kid I helped a family member sell at market. It was cherry season and a lady asked me how fresh the cherries were. I said they were picked that week and she asked when during the week and I said from Monday to Wednesday (it was a big orchard, 10 acres) and then she said "well how do they stay nice?" And I replied, "We store them in a cooler." The look of sheer horror on her face… how could we… Then she said that that wasn't any good. I asked her, when she gets home from the market where she puts her fresh produce….the fridge. I was 10, so this was over 30 years ago, and without the farm's cooler we would have, like Curtis said, would have gone ragged.
With all that said, why would you ever buy a compressor? If an A/C solves the same dilemma?
There has to be a reason why you'd get a compressor over an A/C.
What relative humidity do these types of coolers maintain? High or low?