More B.S. from you once again just as expected.
And as usual from you, more dubious anecdotal information and conjecture based on casual observation, with little to no science or understanding to back it up. I don't write these responses for your sake. I write them so that other users have another opinion to consider. I know what conclusion most will come to.
Exactly what part of my post was B.S.? It is entirely correct. If you don't understand part of it, I can explain further. It is your earlier post, and this more recent one for that matter, that are full of B.S.
Short cycling can kill a compressor in hours, and frequent cycling will reduce the lifespan of the compressor proportional to the cycle frequency. Placing the probe in/on a container of liquid (or similar) will both mitigate short cycling if you controller does not have ASD, and reduce cycle frequency while still maintaining acceptable temp variance. This is especially true with a digital controller.
You only need to increase the differential somewhat to avoid frying the compressor.
Somewhat? How much would that be exactly? Just a scooch more than a pinch? Placing the probe in/on even a 1 Oz. container would do more for ASD and cycling reduction than 3F of extra differential with the probe in air as you suggested.
Let me ask you this. How many refrigerators or freezers are manufactured with a probe placed in a container of liquid as you suggest? Why do you suppose this is the case?
What do you think is going on inside the typical "bulb and capillary" thermocouple probe used by analog controllers and most fridges? The thermocouple IS a container of liquid. Most refrigerators have analog controllers with slow response thermocouple probes and high temp diffs, and even then, the probes are usually placed where they won't be impacted by temp swings caused by door openings (and sometimes the cooling coils as well).
Additionally, the analog controllers typically have a pre-set differential of three degrees which should be plenty enough to avoid short cycling the compressor.
I stated that analog controllers have diffs of ~5F (~means approximately BTW), but it is not the ~5F differential that is the primary factor that emulates ASD in this case, it is the slow response thermocouple type probe. With a temp diff of 5F and a fast response resistive probe, there is still the real possibility of short cycling each time the door is opened. As I stated previously (and in the prior post), the slow response of the thermocouple type probe combined with the ~5F diff prevents short cycling during initial runs, new mass additions, and door openings. With The cycling frequency can still be improved (reduced) by further damping the probe, and thereby extending the life of the compressor by giving up a little bit of temp variance.
The Asd feature should only come into play if there is an interruption of the power supply for some reason.
Most fridge/freezers have some ASD built in, but it typically ONLY works in power outage scenarios and not for door opening scenarios. This is especially true for chest freezers which all seem to use the PTC start relay as the ASD. That is them just being cheap, and relying on most refrigerators being used in a NORMAL fashion. Normal does not include using a digital temp controller with a fast response probe hanging in air.
Depending on the type of digital (resistive) probe that is placed hanging in the air, ASD will come into play any time the door is opened for even one minute (or less), and the compressor has shut off within the ASD period. Many resistive probes have very low thermal mass and a correspondingly fast response time. The temp of a probe hanging in air can rise by 10F or more in less than a minute when the door is opened.
The response time for the old school analog controllers is plenty fast enough for this application.
I never said they weren't, and even suggested damping (slowing) the response of the digital resistive probes, as did the OP, by using thermal mass (liquid) to mimic an old school analog thermocouple.
The solution is to increase the differential to 3*F or more and if your controller has an anti-short cycle delay, set it to the max.
There are many solutions to the problem, with differing upsides and downsides. With the OP's ASD-less Ranco, simply setting the temp diff to 3F, and leaving the probe in the air will result in a second fried compressor- guaranteed.
There is absolutely no need to resort to putting hte probe in a container of anything at all. Your freezer was not set up that way from the factory for a reason and the same for your refrigerator.
"no need to resort" That is a strange choice of words. One would think I told him that he had to place the probe in a gallon container filled with unicorn tears. How hard is it to duct tape the probe to a bottle of beer or your fermenter? Also, most fridges do not come from the factory with fast response resistive probes hanging unprotected inside the unit, do they? The ones that do come with digital controllers generally damp or shield the probe, and also have circuitry or code to prevent short and/or frequent cycling.
FWIW, with my converted freezer I have the probe in the air and the differential set to 10*F.
With your diff set to 10F and the probe in air, unless you have it in a very stable ambient environment like a basement, you beer temps can vary 10F or even slightly more given the right ambient temp swings. Or, you could just tape the probe to a container, reduce the temp diff, have stable temps without fiddling, and reduce compressor cycling at the same time.
It's operating perfectly this way for a very long time and I see no reason why it would not be the same for anyone else.
Again, I have given the reasons why it may not work for everyone else, while you keep responding with the anecdotal "it works for me" logic. The OP obviously fried a compressor with his probe "in air". In his case, I believe it would have fried even if the temp diff had been set to 5F. He started it at room temp with no thermal mass.
Everyone has different conditions and constraints so what works for you may not work for others. If you understand what factors are in play, it is possible create a strategy that fits the particular situation, and not just spew out how your way works for you so it must be right (for everyone).
P.S. Please bring up how your method of using air temp to control fermentation temps works better than placing the probe on the vessel; but don't forget to mention that you have to check the ferm temps multiple times a day, and adjust the air temp each time to compensate for the varying ferm temps during the exothermic phase.
