The No Electric Refrigerator

[Arrowwind]

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chri...lectricity.htm

[write4change]

Thanks for this incredibly valuable information. This would solve a lot of sustainable living problems. One of the things I know is while you can still but some almost indestructible heavy duty plastic containers of various kinds that would last a 100 years time to develop something else etc. Now is the time to plan for this stuff. On my list now to do buy some of those big heavy duty Mexican urns to bring with me. LOL

[Dennis Leahy]

Very cool, literally!

Dennis

[Beth]

Thanks Arrowwind, this has actually been on my mind the last week or so. Great to see an answer to it.

[jjl]

Posted by Arrowwind (here)
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chri...lectricity.htm

Thank you, this post brings me a lot of relief, saves energy, so precious these days...

[Arrowwind]

Posted by write4change (here)
Thanks for this incredibly valuable information. This would solve a lot of sustainable living problems. One of the things I know is while you can still but some almost indestructible heavy duty plastic containers of various kinds that would last a 100 years time to develop something else etc. Now is the time to plan for this stuff. On my list now to do buy some of those big heavy duty Mexican urns to bring with me. LOL

I think what you want are the pots that are made in vietnam and found without too much difficulty in the US. These pots are fired as opposed to those typical orange ones.. hence they will not crack during a freeze. I have a couple and they are enduring well at subzero.
They are much heavier too so would require a permanent location... that is if freezing is a potential problem where one might live.

[vibrations]

This wonderful and simple solution reminds me of a words I heard from some very wise man. he said:
One of the most simple inventions and in the same time one of the most used is a wheel, if you agree. So seek for the simple solutions on whatever you search. You can always improve it later.

[firstlook]

Just as a tip for maybe some extra cold harnessing, you could also take the pots or bins or whatever your using, and put them in hole. Dig a whole in the ground and you'll find the coolness of the dirt surrounding to help with the preservation.

Also keeping the pots near a river or lake will also draw more cold. But possibly also more insects.

Just some thoughts.

[Arrowwind]

I lived in a house once up in the Rockies outside of Boulder, it was an old miner's cabin. It had no electricity. For a fridge we had a hole in the wall with a door on it about 1 foot by 1.5 feet. The door opened to a box that was on the outside of the house what had holes in it. This is where you kept your milk and perishables.. in the dead of winter things froze, in the summer they spoiled but in the fall and spring it worked pretty good.

[moonchild]

Nigeria AGAIN! lol
I live in Nigeria and a few years ago i had spent a weekend in a village in the east of the country where the was no electricity and went for a walk only to find a little shop/shack that sold the coldest coca cola from a fridge that didnt use electricity, it was no 'pot on pot deal', it looked like a normal fridge with no cord... I was stunned but didnt understand the language to find out how!
Soo..2 days ago i was reminiscing with a Nigerian lady and asking about this special fridge...she laughs and tells me they still have them in villages and her aunt has one...i'll try to get more info on it.

[the_flyingboy]

very nice!!!

[Bluebird]

Thank you for sharing this, Arrowwind. I've been pondering how to make perishables last during an extended power outage. I'll have to try this out!

[Bluebird]

Posted by moonchild (here)
Nigeria AGAIN! lol
I live in Nigeria and a few years ago i had spent a weekend in a village in the east of the country where the was no electricity and went for a walk only to find a little shop/shack that sold the coldest coca cola from a fridge that didnt use electricity, it was no 'pot on pot deal', it looked like a normal fridge with no cord... I was stunned but didnt understand the language to find out how!

I wonder if they just put a block of ice in the fridge? Years ago I spent some time with a family in Pakistan and power outages were a regular thing. They kept a plastic container with a block of ice in the freezer that they'd transfer to the fridge whenever the power went out. Then they'd put it back in the freezer to refreeze when the power came back on!

[joedjemal]

We used to use something like that when I was a kid in Cyprus. The outer pot was unglazed and filled with water and the inner pot was glazed.

A couple of years ago I saw a design for a solar ammonia adsorbtion ice maker. It had a long parabolic reflector focussed on a steel tube containing ammonia and at the other end was a coil that sat in water and froze it.

Here's the design http://www.cedarcreeksoftware.com/solarice.pdf

[9eagle9]

I LOVE THAT. I'm going to try it as soon as the weather warms up.

[Ahkenaten]

They say a major percentage of electrical usage world-wide is for refrigeration. This idea, if proliferated, could have a remarkable impact!!!

[Lord Sidious]

Check out the oldtime Aussie way of doing it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolgardie_safe

[str8thinker]

Thanks, Lord Sidious, you beat me to it!

Coolgardie safes have been used in Australia for well over 100 years and are easy to construct. But why Coolgardie? Why not the "Sydney Fridge" or the "Melbourne freezer"? After all, the populations of Sydney and Melbourne were much greater than that of Coolgardie at the time.

Coolgardie, situated near Kalgoorlie but otherwise miles from nowhere in the middle of Western Australia's outback, enjoys hot, dry, windy conditions, all essential for heat loss by evaporation. All you survivalists out there, don't expect anywhere near the same degree of efficiency in colder, humid climates.

Years ago I lived in a house in a coastal suburb cooled by evaporative air conditioning and had to endure awful humidity, not to mention the risk of Legionella. Never again.

Solar-powered refrigerators have to be the way to go.

[TWINNICK]

Posted by str8thinker (here)
Thanks, Lord Sidious, you beat me to it!

Coolgardie safes have been used in Australia for well over 100 years and are easy to construct. But why Coolgardie? Why not the "Sydney Fridge" or the "Melbourne freezer"? After all, the populations of Sydney and Melbourne were much greater than that of Coolgardie at the time.

Coolgardie, situated near Kalgoorlie but otherwise miles from nowhere in the middle of Western Australia's outback, enjoys hot, dry, windy conditions, all essential for heat loss by evaporation. All you survivalists out there, don't expect anywhere near the same degree of efficiency in colder, humid climates.

Years ago I lived in a house in a coastal suburb cooled by evaporative air conditioning and had to endure awful humidity, not to mention the risk of Legionella. Never again.

Solar-powered refrigerators have to be the way to go.

G'day St8, bugger! you beat me to it (LOL)

This is well known in OZ, the coolgardie fridge works very well but not so much for keeping milk or dairy for more than a few hours.

I remember when I was a kid lots of cockies ( farmers) and country people used to hang canvas water containers on there car's front bumpers on a frame and when driving along the air would cool the water inside the bag.

Nice cool water to drink and spare water for the radiator if needed.

You can also use the evaporation method of two containers, one holding the items to be cooled and the other on top with a bag,water and a stone or weight to keep the cloth draped over the whole lot in the water.

Also a mesh pantry hung from a tree (or whatever) with your goods in it with a towel or heavy cloth that is wet will do a good job, old aussie bushmans fridge.

You can still buy these from camping shops in Australia, I think they are called the BUSH PANTRY, it is surprising how cool it actually gets even on a hot day.

I have used these myself when a kid in scouts and venturers and when camping with family when growing up.

Simple, cheep and effective, I always like to work the KISS theory ( keep it simple stupid) The simple things always work well and our old timers and pioneer's had to invent some pretty amazing things to overcome hard times and solve problems.

My father was born in 1913 and showed me some clever ways to overcome problems, as he used to say to me, with war's and depressions when he was a lad necessity is the mother of invention.

..Nick..

[Kindling]

I love this, Arrowind! It's so simple. Thanks so much for sharing!