Temperature monitoring for a commercial refrigerator: 8 questions to ask before you choose

This guide goes through each question: why it matters, what a good answer looks like, and what our answer is.

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1. What does the sensor measure: the air or the product?

This is the question that decides whether you will still be looking at the alerts two months from now.

An air sensor reacts within seconds to every door opening. In a busy kitchen, that means a stream of alerts about events that are not faults. After a few weeks, people stop checking them. The usual fix, moving the threshold further out, reduces the noise and delays the real alert by the same amount.

A product sensor measures something that behaves like the goods. Our sensor sits inside a sealed bottle filled with glycerin. The liquid has thermal mass, so it warms and cools at the pace of the product, not the pace of the air. A short door opening barely moves it. A unit that has stopped cooling does move it.

What to ask: "Does your sensor measure the air in the room or the product temperature?"

← Why an air temperature sensor isn't enough, and what a glycerin bottle is

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2. Accuracy: in degrees or in percent?

Some suppliers state accuracy as a percentage. A percentage of what? Of the sensor’s measuring range? Of the measured value? Without that context the number says little, and in a cold room that runs within a narrow range, one degree is the difference between goods that are fine and goods at risk.

For food establishments in Israel, the Business Licensing Regulations (Proper Sanitary Conditions for Food Establishments), 5743-1983, require a cold room to be equipped with a recording thermometer with an accuracy range of ±0.5 degrees Celsius.

The NITARTI system meets the ±0.5°C accuracy requirement. If your business is a food establishment, check with your licensing consultant which additional requirements apply to you.

What to ask: "What is the sensor’s accuracy, in degrees Celsius?"

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3. How and when does an alert arrive?

Three things to find out:

Where the alert is sent. With us: SMS, email and app notification, to the channels you chose.

What it is based on. Alerting on every single reading is a recipe for noise. Our temperature alerts are based on an average of about 10 minutes, deliberately, as an extra filtering layer on top of the glycerin’s mass.

Door alert. A door left open is one of the most common causes of warming, and it is not an equipment fault. The open-door alert time is set with you at installation, and can be changed at your request. The value that was set is recorded in the installation summary.

What to ask: "Which channels does the alert go to? What is it based on, a single reading or an average? Is there a separate door alert?"

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4. What happens when the system stops seeing the unit?

The question most buyers don’t ask, and the one that shows whether the supplier has thought about failures.

In a power outage there is no cooling and nothing to measure. In a communication failure, the data doesn’t arrive. The question is what happens during that time, and when you will know.

With us:

• After 5 minutes with no signal from the unit, a "no monitoring" alertis sent to the same channels you chose for temperature alerts. The five minutes are a fixed system value.
• The system does not distinguish between a power outage, a communication failure and a controller fault. It knows that it has stopped seeing the unit.
• Measurements from that period are not saved.
• The alert covers faults at your site: power, communication and controller. A fault in NITARTI’s own servers does not generate an alert to you, and is covered by the availability commitment in the contract.

That is a less comfortable answer than "the system always works", and it is the right one. It is how you know something has gone down even when you are not on site, at the weekend and on holidays.

What to ask: "What happens when the system receives no data from the unit? After how long do I know?"

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5. Who sets the alert thresholds, and where is it written down?

A threshold set by a generic value ("4 degrees for every refrigerator") ignores the fact that every unit behaves differently.

With us, NITARTI sets the thresholds at the end of installation, based on the behavior observed in the unit itself. The values are recorded in the installation summary you receive. That gives you a record of what was set and when. Changing a threshold afterwards is the customer’s responsibility, so we recommend contacting us before any change, so that it is recorded.

What to ask: "Who sets the thresholds? Do I get them in writing?"

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6. What is the difference between the packages?

With many suppliers, the difference between packages is permissions in the interface. With us, the difference is which sensors are installed, and there are only two levels:

• Basic monitoring answers the question "Are the goods at risk?": product temperature, evaporator temperature, door status, current and fans.
• Extended monitoring answers the question "Is the unit working properly?". It adds gas pressures, phase voltages, air, gas and filter temperatures, and compressor protection.

There's no third package and no customization.

What to ask: "What exactly is the difference between the packages: sensors or permissions?"

← Basic vs. extended refrigeration monitoring: what fits my business

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7. How is the price structured?

Some suppliers in the market do not publish prices. When you ask for a quote, break it down into four questions:

Our prices are public:

• Equipment and installation per refrigerator.
• A monthly subscription per refrigerator.
• One access layer per customer.
• No per-sensor pricing.

← Pricing page

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8. How long is the data kept?

History is used for two things: investigating an incident, and presenting data to an external party.

With us:

What to ask: "How far back can I see data, and what changes between the tiers?"

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And what about installation?

Before you sign, it is worth knowing what is required of you:

NITARTI manufactures the hardware and installs it itself. The hardware warranty is given directly to the customer: 12 months from the date of installation, subject to the terms of use.

The equipment is sold to you and stays with you. Installation is included in the initial payment.

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The 8 questions on one page

Print it and take it to your conversation with every supplier:

1. Does the sensor measure air or product?
2. What is the accuracy, in degrees Celsius?
3. Which channels does the alert go to, and is it based on an average? Is there a door alert?
4. What happens when the system receives no data from the unit, and after how long do I know?
5. Who sets the thresholds, and do I get them in writing?
6. Is the difference between the packages in sensors or in permissions?
7. Is the price per unit or per sensor? Is installation per unit? What does the monthly fee include?
8. How long is the data kept?

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Questions and answers