Just heard a neat idea for refrigeration. Bury a refr. with the door facing up. Put lots of insulating material over same.Maybe bales of hay (dual purpose?) in a shady spot. Supposed to keep at 50 degrees. Now I'm wondering about a second one to fill with water and let freeze; then have block ice in the summer. WARNING. Children have been known to get in and/or put each other in. I don't need to say more, except MAKE IT CHILD PROOF

-- King of Free Estimates (Righthere@right.now), February 26, 1999

Answers

uh, last time I checked, ice doesn't form at 50 degrees...

-- a (a@a.a), February 26, 1999.

For some interesting reads on alternative forms of refrigeration check out HomePower web site, or do a search on the words Gaviotas, solar thermal trough, thermocouple. Doing exciting things in the third world with ammonia systems with steam.

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), February 26, 1999.

Um, a, I was gonna wait til January to put the water in.

-- KoFE (Righthere@right.now), February 26, 1999.

I am a skulker, not a lurker, but yes, a skulker. I have been with the program ever since a big iron programmer sent me to scarey Gary's web site. I was buying Freeze Dried when only Mormons were.

I can say this from my Marine corps time: Dig a hole deep. About 4 feet. Put a 8 pound bag of ice 9in the bottom, wrapped in plastic to keep out dirt and crup. Bury ice. Dig up 1 day later (24 hours). Ice will only have melted a wee bit. Where did I do this??? The Mojave Desert. Specifically, 29 Palms, Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center. See folks, when it gets real hot in the Mojave, the Marines issue every swinging u know what a 8 pound bag of ice like you get at 7-11. So me and my mates on my gun crew would dig a hole and bury ours to conserve. THis works. In the winter you COULD make ice, and then THEORETICALLY keep said ice until August. Did that years ago I hear tell.

Well, I am off to skulk some more. My Gunnery Sergeant said: "when you think it has (will get) as bad as you think it will get worse. " Prepare accordingly.

Semper Fidelis, Richard, USMC

-- Richard (richard@usmc.com), February 26, 1999.

"THis works. In the winter you COULD make ice, and then THEORETICALLY keep said ice until August."

In South Carolina, your 22CF of ice would be gone by mid April.

-- a (a@a.a), February 26, 1999.

Minnesota and Wisconsin have lots of lakes, thousands, actually. In the winter the lakes freeze over, with ice anywhere from 2 to 6 feet deep, depending on latitude. A regular winter enterprise was getting out on the frozen lakes and sawing out huge blocks of ice. Mules hauled these blocks to big sheds on shore -- we called them 'ice houses'-- where they were layered with a few inches of sawdust and piled up. It took a lot of sawdust but there was ice available all summer.

When I was a kid ice was the only means of keeping perishables cool. We had ice boxes, not refrigerators. Ice was delivered to the door, maybe twice a week.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), February 26, 1999.

Richard, good tip and LOL - the Army equivalent: never say "this is as bad as it gets", 'cause the army will always prove you wrong!

[and yeah, yeah, my brother's a jarhead, okay? even in the best of families...]

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), February 27, 1999.