Temperature Controller Settings Question(s)

[Duntov]

I did a little test and wanted to share to get feedback on my temperature controller settings.  All the tests were done with the same outside ambient air temperature of 77F.  My cave is a converted 12 cubic foot commercial fridge that has the evaporator coil and fan inside the cave.  Normally the fan is constantly on at all times at one speed.  I modified this by wiring the fan to be on normal speed when the compressor is on but switches to low speed via a relay and speed controller when the compressor is off.  I did this to minimize air flow and to my surprise actually reduced my compressor cycles times by about 15%.  The controller I am using is a Whilhi.  It has min. and max. set limits but I really don't understand it's possible benefits.

Below  is my data.  The total temperature swing is the difference between set temp and compressor on temp plus the time the cooling coasts down another one degree.  Obviously the best temperature swing is a low number.  But the best energy savings and reduced wear-and-tear on the compressor and starter capacitor were achieved with a longer temperature lag before the compressor cuts on. 

I was easily able to maintain a consistent temperature at all settings in my control sample that was a quart jar of water.  I guess my question is just how much temperature swing is acceptable without impacting the rind or other considerations that I may have missed?  How far can temperature swings be pushed in general?

[Duntov]

I really am hoping for some input on this.  Anyone?

[Andrew Marshallsay]

To put it briefly, I have no idea. There doesn't seem to be a lot of information around on this, but I found a couple of references.
I had a look in Caldwell's "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking". Nothing specific there, but a passing reference that she aims to keep her cave between 50 and 55F (10-13C).
I also found a reference on the cheesemaking.com website which suggests that the temperature should be set in the range 52-55F.
These two references seem to indicate an acceptable range of between 3 and 5 degrees for the average temperature, so perhaps a swing of a similar range would be acceptable. (My own guess would be that the swing is actually less critical than the average temperature and that humidity is a more important variable.)
A nice piece of research on your part though.

[Gregore]

I would suspect that in small caves when the cheese maker came  in and opened and closed the door on a warm days a lot of the air could raise up,in temp , but would quickly fall again because of thermal mass .

Just like a fridge compressor on and off .

 Now this probably  did to happen as often per day as your fridge cave .

Also thermal mass of a cheese has the temp not changing as fast as the the air . So if the air is going up and down  4 degrees the cheese is probably less than 2 degrees maybe even less than 1 degree.