BINGO ! [smilebigeye]
They would have watered the orchard in those days so the fruit would have entered the room with moist interiors.Quote:
I couldn't get over how crisp and crunchy an apple was fresh off the tree. Jonathons then.
The aim of course was to retain that moisture.
The crunchy bit may have also been due to the Super Heat settings of the TEVs to maintain the room humidity & how well the Service bloke [me] [bigsmile1] had set them.:TakeABow:
Humidity was checked by a run of the mill Sling Psychrometer.
Bacharach 0012-7043 Sling Psychrometer, Celsius Scale
Any moisture that was extracted from the fruit was simply drained back onto the floor & very little was allowed to escape from there. That was picked up & recirculated by the Forced Ventilation effect of the Cooler fans. The construction of the room included an external Vapour seal which helped as well & because it was a Low Temperature Room, that stopped condensation.
Maybe some rooms used a Humidifier to keep the moisture level up. I think we aimed for about 90% RH with a room temp about 0c by just using the SH method
Have not kept in touch with today's Fruit Storage construction & storage methods but Humidity was paramount to stop fruit shrinkage /weight loss etc but I don't think it would have changed all that much, just a bit more scientific, especially with CA [Controlled Atmosphere] rooms.
I always enjoyed entering a Fruit Store because of the odour. A lovely pong.
One of the best things about servicing these rooms was the owner usually saying "Grab a feed of Apples or Pears before you go" & he would chuck you a carton & start filling it.
Only had one cheapskate & that was down the road from Collins.[bigrolf]
Yes Collingrove, My Son in Law raced there as well. Not sure but I have a feeling it is closed now. Edited 25/04 Seems is still open or that is what Wiki tells me.
Ah Happy Days.[smilebigeye]

