As the winter season begins and with it a risk of saturation of the electricity network, what would our food stored in the freezer fear in the event of a power cut?
For Gérald Cavalier, president of the Tecnea – Cemafroid group and Stéphane Bonnefoy, manager of the Boulanger store in Paris-Montparnasse, consumers must above all know their device and its battery life to avoid any clumsiness in the event of a cut...and a risk of food poisoning.
“In the event of a power cut, the autonomy of a freezer can vary from one product to another,” recalls Stéphane Bonnefoy, head of “home comfort universe” in the Boulanger store in Paris-Montparnasse.
“Some freezers have an autonomy of 9 hours, others can go up to 25 hours”, details the commercial.
It is therefore essential to know what is the duration of autonomy of your freezer: “you must read the instructions and respect what is indicated in them!
recalls Gérald Cavalier, president of the Tecnea – Cemafroid group.
If you have misplaced the data sheet for your device, go to the manufacturer's or retailer's website.
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The two refrigeration experts also point out that it is useless to set your freezer to the lowest possible temperature, i.e. -24°C: "-18°C is the temperature we have need to have in a freezer at least", recalls Stéphane Bonnefoy.
“There is no point in setting it below -20°C,” adds Gérald Cavalier.
In order to optimize the operation of its device in the event of a power cut, it is necessary to favor “a well-filled freezer located in a cool room”, maintains the president of Tecnea – Cemafroid.
“An almost empty freezer will last less than an almost full freezer,” he recalls.
“The inertia of the products inside will help maintain the cold longer if the freezer is full”.
Finally, in the event of a power cut, the reflex to have is not to touch your freezer: “we leave the doors closed”, explain Stéphane Bonnefoy and Gérald Cavalier.
The latter wants to be very reassuring: "on the durations of cuts announced (2 hours of cuts, editor's note), we should not have any difficulties on the freezers".
