Cooler Room Alarms

Putting in a cooler room and looking for an alarms system.  I've done some google searching and found quite a few for warehouse, freezer rooms, etc. and I know that Cool Calf sells them as well.  Has anyone had good luck with a certain brand or bad luck?  We are going to be hooking it up to a pay as you go phone and adapter to avoid running a land line down to the barn.  Thanks!

KSUwildcat2009 said:

Putting in a cooler room and looking for an alarms system.  I've done some google searching and found quite a few for warehouse, freezer rooms, etc. and I know that Cool Calf sells them as well.  Has anyone had good luck with a certain brand or bad luck?  We are going to be hooking it up to a pay as you go phone and adapter to avoid running a land line down to the barn.  Thanks!

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Instead of putting in an alarm, I installed a 3500 lb. electromagnetic latch on the door and attached a bungy cord to the handle and opposing fence.  When you lose power the latch releases and the door swings open and calves receive fresh air, problem solved.  This set-up cost me less than $300.

KSUwildcat2009 said:

Putting in a cooler room and looking for an alarms system.  I've done some google searching and found quite a few for warehouse, freezer rooms, etc. and I know that Cool Calf sells them as well.  Has anyone had good luck with a certain brand or bad luck?  We are going to be hooking it up to a pay as you go phone and adapter to avoid running a land line down to the barn.  Thanks!

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Sensaphone 400 runs about $300 and will monitor up to 4 different items, and call upto 4 phone #'s if alarm is activated.  I have mine on Temp, sound, and fire. You can set min and Max temps, has battery backup. GET ONE and dont take a chance.

I agree definately get an alarm...they are affordable and can keep you from loosing calves...sawboss I really like your idea, but what if something happened like your cooling unit or fans went out but you didnt necessarily loose power, could still cause dangerous conditions in the cooler...would your latch release in that situation as well?

Thanks everyone!  We were actually planning to do both.  We  have a slide door that we're putting a weight on with an electromagentic latch in case power goes out.  Still trying to figure out if we can hook it up to a thermostat as well.  Might end up just hooking an exhaust type fan to a thermostat and having a window that will open if it trips on the other side to draw in more fresh air. 

Our showbarn isn't at our house and there's going to be times when my brother is back at college but the cattle still have to be in the cooler so we're taking every caution we can with this thing so Dad has a little ease of mind.. And us too!

We also have the alarm system from cool calf and love it. One year our thermostat stuck and the cool room drop to almost 40.  I got the call on my cell and raced to the cooler from work to fix the temp. Just a tid bit of info don't turn the alarm on until your cooler has ran for a little while in the morning family members don't appreciate a 5am wake up call, haha. Another great feature with the alarm you can call it and check the temp, sounds, and other alarms during the day. System is worth the money to know your calves are safe.

twistedhshowstock said:

I agree definately get an alarm...they are affordable and can keep you from loosing calves...sawboss I really like your idea, but what if something happened like your cooling unit or fans went out but you didnt necessarily loose power, could still cause dangerous conditions in the cooler...would your latch release in that situation as well?

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I see your point, I have a cooling unit, turbo fan and a fresh air fan all set up on different circuits.  The likelyhood of all 3 systems failing at once is slim to none, only power outage can take all 3 out at once. Then I have my door system in case of that, just my way of doing things and a different approach.  Of course there all always exceptions, what if the phone system (lines) are out of operation, same scenario.

sawboss...I wasnt trying to degrade your idea or system...hope it didnt come off that way....was just wondering if you had figured a way to make it work in that situation...before moving back down here I spent 5 yrs in MN managing commercial hog farms...our confinement operationg had alarm systems much like I think the chicken houses around here had...if our tems got outside of a designated range or if airquality got to low it not only signaled a call to us, but tripped latches and dropped the curtains or opened vents depending on the type of barn.

How much do the Alarm systems from Cool Calf cost? We are looking at putting in a cooler and from what I have heard an alarm system sounds like cheap insurance.

You can buy a sensaphone 400 over the internet for about $300. Cool calf also sells the same alarm for a little more than that. I have been using the sensaphone 400 for 3 years now and would not be without it. Being able to call and check in on the calves is great for my piece of mind. You can also hear any noises made in the cooler through this alarm if you choose to.

What exactly is the sound alarm useful for?  Would it catch a fan that is misbehaving?  Just a little confused. 

The sound alarm will let you know things like a bearing going out or any other loud or out of place noise.