[Market-farming] cooler
John Hendrickson
jhendric at wisc.edu
Mon Mar 30 14:20:07 EDT 2009
Great point; your comments are very relevant. Can any CooBot users
report on how well it performs if you load up the cooler with lots of
product? My understanding is that the CoolBot is not the tool of choice
to remove field heat and chill down large volumes of produce. Things
really need to be hydrocooled before going into the CoolBot and even
then, if you're trying to cool down a lot of produce, it will not do as
good or quick a job as a conventional cooling unit. This is what makes
it, in my opinion, more relevant for smaller-scale farms than larger
farms. This may also be another argument for using it for the 40-50
degree crops (peppers, cukes, etc.) instead of those that need 32 to
hold well.
-John
David Inglis wrote:
> I have a cooler question.
> Everyone is referring, in terms of the capacity of the AC unit, to the size
> of the cooler [in sq. or cu. Feet] but isn't it more relevant what weight of
> produce is in the cooler? The air is far easier to cool down than the
> produce. Maybe it is assumed that a cooler of a certain size is being fully
> utilized but I see a lot of coolers with containers only stacked two or
> three high. This makes sense to me from the point of view of the produce
> cooling down quicker because it is exposed to the 'coolth' which we know is
> crucial for quality and, more importantly, shelf life. But it does make the
> size of the cooler rather arbitrary.
> So, would it not be more useful to rate a coolbot/AC unit combo by how many
> bushel boxes it can cool from field heat to a target storage temp rather
> than sq.ft of cooler space. Or is that not relevant?
> Thanks.
> Dave
>
>
> Dave Inglis
> Mahaiwe Harvest C.S.A.
> Berkshire County
> Massachusetts
>
>
>
>
>
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>
--
John Hendrickson
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1535 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53706
608-265-3704
www.cias.wisc.edu
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