Turn off Cache for Individual Blocks in Magento

Posted on November 11, 2013 | Magento 1

Turn off block caching while declaring the XML block

cache_lifetimecache_tags

Turn off block caching while declaring the XML block

<action method="unsetData"><key>cache_lifetime</key></action>
<action method="unsetData"><key>cache_tags</key></action>

In your local.xml file:

<catalog_product_view>
   <reference name="footer">
     <action method="unsetData"><key>cache_lifetime</key></action>
     <action method="unsetData"><key>cache_tags</key></action>
    <block type="mymodule/mymodule_block" name="module_name" as="module_name_alias" template="mymodule/uncached_block.phtml" after="-"></block>
   </reference>
</catalog_product_view>

Notes: Sourced from http://blog.magikcommerce.com/how-to-turn-off-cache-for-an-individual-block-in-magento/