Anybody work in a freezer?

[Lokire]

I work in a food distribution warehouse, part of which is a huge freezer. It's 10 to 20 degrees below zero on an average day. Pretty cold...

If anyone has experience working in a freezer, or just being in an environment that cold, how do you keep your hands warm? Seems like no matter what I do, my hands always get frozen after a while. 3 different glove layers, along with multiple heat-packs. It just isn't enough.

[gold_member_321]

I work the 5-5 night shift at a blueberry factory in the freezer a couple months out of the year and I have the same problem. A couple of the
guys that I work with swear by the Under Armour ColdGear gloves. I'm too cheap to spend that much on gloves for a 2 month job though.


http://www.underarmour.com/shop/sear...ve/1000132-001

[iamlowsound]

I work outside in the winter, which is as cold or colder than what you are in. The key isn't to wear glove, although that helps. Keep your body core warm, lots of layers, but make sure that you don't sweat. I recommend Tough Duck.

lowsound

[Foxworthy925]

My thoughts- try to keep moving ALL the time so that there's always a good constant blood flow to your hands. That always helps me.

[Thor]

I started my carrer in a freezer in Boston, I feel your pain.

Actually, it was worse in summer, when you went outside to
the roach coach, you would break a sweat and that was
death.

Which freezer you at, Seafreez, City Ice, Ranierport,
Pier 91, Apex, or Bellingham. Commercial Mount Vernon?



BTW, working in a freezer is a good entance to the fish biz. Pay attention to the pick
slips on who stores there, and when you want to move up, apply at those
companies. That way, they won't have to train you on the basics, you
already know cases sizes, pallet configs, shipping, trucking issues and all
that.

It is a stepping stone to the next career.

Trust me on this, I got my first job in the fish biz at 16
in 1968. It ain't glamorous or sexy, but it has been a
decent living and I put 2 kids through college with it.

[jon118]

How long are you in the freezer for? I've had worked in conditions as cold (usually colder), but I was able to come out and warm up every couple of minutes. Of course I didn't even always have a jacket in there so that severely limited the time I could spend in there. Baking gloves, which serve the same purpose as oven mitts but in a glove form, work really well surprisingly. I guess they work even better when they're all that's around though.

[Lokire]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

I work outside in the winter, which is as cold or colder than what you are in. The key isn't to wear glove, although that helps. Keep your body core warm, lots of layers, but make sure that you don't sweat. I recommend Tough Duck.

lowsound

My body core is plenty warm though. I mean, they provide us with pretty heavy duty overcoats and pants designed as 'freezerwear'. Long-sleeve shirt + thick sweatshirt + my own fairly heavy coat + the freezer overcoat. My body is toasty

Originally Posted by Thor

Which freezer you at, Seafreez, City Ice, Ranierport,
Pier 91, Apex, or Bellingham. Commercial Mount Vernon?

It's in Bellevue, for Amazon's grochery delivery service. Part of an old Safeway warehouse.

Originally Posted by jon118

How long are you in the freezer for? I've had worked in conditions as cold (usually colder), but I was able to come out and warm up every couple of minutes.

Depends. Because of my current position, I'm usually only in there for about a half-hour twice a day. Sometimes up to two hours at a time though.

[Lokire]

Originally Posted by Thor

BTW, working in a freezer is a good entance to the fish biz. Pay attention to the pick
slips on who stores there, and when you want to move up, apply at those
companies. That way, they won't have to train you on the basics, you
already know cases sizes, pallet configs, shipping, trucking issues and all
that.

It is a stepping stone to the next career.

Trust me on this, I got my first job in the fish biz at 16
in 1968. It ain't glamorous or sexy, but it has been a
decent living and I put 2 kids through college with it.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm already in a very, very good position with my current job. It isn't primarily freezer work, that's just a small part of what I do.

[Georynn]

I work in a server room kept at near freezing... does that count?

[Lokire]

Originally Posted by Georynn

I work in a server room kept at near freezing... does that count?

No. No it doesn't. Drop the temp about 50 degrees and then we can talk

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Lokire

My body core is plenty warm though. I mean, they provide us with pretty heavy duty overcoats and pants designed as 'freezerwear'. Long-sleeve shirt + thick sweatshirt + my own fairly heavy coat + the freezer overcoat. My body is toasty



It's in Bellevue, for Amazon's grochery delivery service. Part of an old Safeway warehouse.



Depends. Because of my current position, I'm usually only in there for about a half-hour twice a day. Sometimes up to two hours at a time though.

Ok, I worked 8 hours + a day at -12. My hands never bothered me , but my feet, yikes.

At that time I worked at Icelandic (aka Coldwater Seafood)
in Everett MA. They just recently sold the feezer to Preferred
Cs of NJ, which doubled it in size. Great location, Boston Harbor
pier frontage, container unloading and truck and rail
access. Best of all worlds.

Good stuff.

C'mon man, 2 1/2 hrs sesssions a day ain't nuthin'.
Man up. You actually need a freezer jacket for a half hour?

[Lokire]

Well, it doesn't help that I have virtually NO body fat

[Thor]

Bassplayer, no body fat, this seems so contradictory
somehow.

Ok, we''ll move on ...

[Lokire]

Originally Posted by Thor

Bassplayer, no body fat, this seems so contradictory
somehow.

I know, it's crazy

[DudeistMonk]

I work in a server room kept at near freezing... does that count?

Man I love walking down the server room hallway during the summer...you IT dudes get the best AC.

[standupright]

possible to wear full hand mittens instead of gloves? i don't know what you are moving or how you have to grab what......but if you can keep the majority of your fingers together, it will greatly improve the amount of residual warmth to your hands.

[seanm]

Are you wearing a hat? A good touque will really help keep you warm.

[Slapp Addict]

You know, they say many layers of mittens and socks is a bad idea, since they dont really produce heat, and its true -.-.

I snowmobile, 20* weather with a -10* wind drift at 75+ MPH, THATS cold. even with hand warmers on the handle bars, i would still freeze my nails off.

i found the solution!

those thin knitted mittens, the hand ones that u can almost see threw.
from walmart. and since you dont use handle bars for heat use a hand warmer, i have tried it like that and it worked GREAT, **** i even took my gloves off when we would stop. try it, i know you will like it.

[Tsal]

The worst thing you can do is to have wet gloves, so a good solution is gloves that don't suck in water, and something that prevents your hands getting moist from sweat, like thin internal gloves you can change once in a while. Keep your core and your head warm, and if you feel like your throat doesn't like the cold air, check out the breath warmers made for winter sports like Psolar.

However, if your hands are cold, it's a sign that you don't work hard enough to keep your body producing enough heat. The most efficient way to get warm was teached to us at the Finnish army winter camp in arctic Lapland, during which we were tenting in sub-zero temperatures for two weeks. Simply, take a couple minutes to do upright wrestling with your workmate, and you'll be warmed up in no time. If you are alone, do some squats and pushups to get the blood flowing.

[Stanley Design]

Neoprene gloves. They are completely waterproof and keep 90% of your body heat inside. You'll have stinky sweaty hands when you take those gloves off.