Refridgeration without electricity

[mantis308]

Neat:

http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2008/04/non-electric-refrigerator.html

[oscar615]

Good Idea.  I like it.

I have seen another way.  In Michael Reynolds Book " Earthship Vol 2" He has the plans for a passive thermal mass refrigerator. 

It involves building an insulated box, lining it with termal mass(he uses canned beer), and another box inside this.  Then on cold nights etc you open the box and let the cold air in.  It cools the mass, which then keeps everything cold for the next day.  In his plans he also has it hooked up to a refrigerator compressor for the nights when it is not so cold as a backup idea.  This uses less electricity when the compressor is used as the mass once again cools down and hold the coolness for awhile.  But it would still uses some electricity when used in this mode. 

I checked the book out from the library.  I imagine most would either have it or could get it , thorugh inter library loans, if any of you are interested.  That series of books has many useful ideas with Vol 2 being the most useful in my opinion.  It is the one that covers most of a houses systems.  So he has ideas on greywater, blackwater, cooling/heating etc.  He even has a way to make an improvised, albeit, illegal, septic system out of old tires.  Solar toilets as well that just cook all the mess to a powder you could uses as fertilizer. 

Vol 1 is about building the earthship itself, and has some systems in it.  Vol 3 has newer ideas for some systems and other improvements to the original two books. For instance, the grey water systems he used previously drained directly into a garden.  In Vol 3 he has modified that idea, because of inspectors, to run through a grease trap and then an  artificial wetland inside his house before it goes to the garden.  Even though the original idea is probably better for the plants.  Interesting stuff and is actually filled with ideas for preparedness minded people.  He is into the sustainablilty thing so came up with them without realizing the benefits to us.

[offdalip]

Nice try, but;

This refrigerator will only work in a dry environment like arizona ( but not in July )

TANSTAFL

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch


it only works on evaporative cooling in less than 20% humidity; try that in FL and you get zilch

[skip]

Many old timers around here (in the Ozarks) built insulated houses over springs on their property, and used these to keep perishable goods in. Most had a concrete trough where they kept thing such as milk. The smaller you made the building, the colder it would keep things.

[mantis308]

I will try it this spring and summer. Where I am, humidity is about 50-70% during the summer, with temps upwards of 100-105 degrees. I was thinking that perhaps water might not be the best liquid to use for evaporation, perhaps something with a lower evaporation point. Alcohol comes to mind.. but that would be more expensive than using PV for electrical generation.

[opsec]

I have seen kerosene powered refrigerators. As I recall, they consume about 55 gallons of fuel per year. For refrigeration, I could store 10 drums of kerosene. Kerosene isn't nearly as volatile as gasoline so storage of that wouldn't worry me.

[Dame]

We are experimenting with no fridge for most of the year and do not have a problem.  Our own dairy would fix this entirely.

No freezer is a little more difficult.

When I think about it though, a milk cow needs to freshen in the spring and a number of them would provide as many calves as there are milk cows.  These calves can be kept and fed the skim milk after separation until the meet is needed and then butchered one at a time with the surplus smoked, dried, canned, cured.  Pigs, natures large volume garbarators have large litters (up to 15) and piglets can be butchered one at a time the same way.  Chickens, turkeys, fish and wild game would fill in the rest.

I cannot immagine no dairy products in cold climates, even in India, most vegetarians use gee as a fat source.
And where there is milk there are excess animals.  These would be available for food.

[darkdwarf]

My Great Grandmother, who had no refrigerator (not even an old icebox), used to put a real silver dollar in a pitcher of fresh milk and it would remain fresh for the entire day. Milk did not last longer than that at her house. As I understand it the silver killed the bacteria that would allow the milk to spoil.

[opsec]

I thought you had to have a piece of silver in the bottom and a piece of copper wire at the surface. Something about a current between the two...I can't remember.

[Dame]

With this memory jog, I recall mention of silver.  I do not recall mention of with copper.  Doesn't make it not true.

[offdalip]

I thought you had to have a piece of silver in the bottom and a piece of copper wire at the surface.

The electronegativity difference between copper and silver is negligible, possibly a hundred millivolts if even that. Not to mention a wire provides almost no surface area for production of any amperage.

I would guess this is an old wives tale, if anything , silver does have antimicrobial properties but you would have to get it into solution first,. Which is a hard sell for a silver coin. Plus, wouldn't you eventually turn into a blue smurf?

[Dame]

Blue smurf is possible, as skimmed milk is blue even without the silver.

[Lady Lilya]

It takes a lot of silver to turn you blue.

People use a silver coin in their water tanks too.

[Dame]

I tell terrible jokes.  Not good at getting other peoples either.