Originally posted by kettlebellysmith
For those who have a well, or a well house, that will help keep things cool. My mother told me how her parents and grandparents kept things cool. Milk was kept in the the well.

Recall, too, that you can change the way you access food to deal with the issue of spoilage. If you have neighbours around, you can organise a beef or pork ring...a co-operative that makes sure when you slaughter livestock, it all gets used in a short period of time.

Look to the old ways...eating ain't new, and ptomaine has never been parlour entertainment. Well...not up here, anyway.

Penguin...GREAT INFORMATION! Thank you for all the links. I'll read through them all tonight when I get some free time. Star for you!

Johnny...You are absolutely correct. If you are in a community, live like a community. Thats something you dont see much of anymore. Good idea man!

If you had a stream and a long length of hose pipe (garden hose would be ideal) you could submerge it completely in a coil in the water - bleeb out all the air (you may have to get one end and suck a bit!) and then run that end down hill you will of set up a cyphen system.

Now you can just leave it there once that's set up - dig a hole in the ground a bit bigger and deeper so that the coil will fit nicely in - make sure the up stream and the down stream ends of the pipe stay fixed in place (it is vital of course that the up stream one stays under the water!!! - if you get too much air in that end the cyphen is ruined!!).

Fish your coil of hose out of the water - place it in your pit and voila! A fridge - the water will keep it at the constant temperature of the river as the river water will always flow through the pipe - once set up it will in theory run indefinitely so long as the chphen system is not compromised!!

Now I know your thinking you could just use the river! - well the advantages are things like you can maybe position this so it's hidden, a bit more secure, bit more perminant, the food should not actually come into contact with the water... You could line the hole somehow for hygene AND ITS IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOUR GRUB TO FLOAT AWAY


edit: actually I seem to remember someone one one of those science challenge shows for school kids was actually able to get heat from a cold river ... He made him self a hut away in the woods somewhere and invented things for it - but he used a variation of my hose pipe fridge above, but the majority of the pipe was left in the river and he had a small part of it running through his hut - and his hut always stayed a little warmer than his mates with no heating - he said he was getting a slight amount of heat energy somehow, not sure I understand that one

[edit on 1/10/2009 by Now_Then]

Awesome information guys! And I agree, if I had a stream (which I'm looking for on the land i buy) I would definitly use a micro hydro engine. You get so much power out of those that you could run normal appliances as long as the current was swift enough.

Of course I wouldn't. EnergyStar appliances are so much easier to supply power for and with a good hybrid power system, you would be set!

Hey MB, do you mind if I put a link to this thread in my preserving foods thread? For those wanting more information on the subject, it'll save them time trying to use the search function.

If not, that's cool too.

Of course WW, do what you do! I'm always about crossing threads and letting people see multiple sides of the dice.

Mortimer452 You explained it far better than I could. You seem to have an awesome understanding of the technology. Thanks for the link and info!

I read a book when I was a kid about a homeless family that set up a makeshift home next to a stream. They kept their milk cold by placing it in under the shade below some rocks in the stream and anchoring it down. Summer, Winter, Fall or Spring this method kept their milk cold. This has always stuck in my head and I am not sure if it is plausable but I guess if I were homeless I would give it a try.

Melissa101, its absolutely possible! In fact, many northern tribes of Indians (feather, not dot) used to wrap their meat in bladders or stomachs and drop them in to cold ponds and streams to keep them "refrigerated". Didn't work so well in the south because we get too warm here. Although even in the 100 degree heat of summer, you drop a warm six pack into a lake and about an hour later, its nice and cool to fish with

WW, we discussed this and decided it was in our both best interests NOT to take our relationship to that level. I'll thank you to remember that.


BTW, please, no one get uppity with me about using the term Indians. I AM Indian. Not Native American. None of our tribes were native here. We ALL walked here out of Asia and Africa. I mean you wouldn't call Neil Armstrong or Buzz Aldrin Mooninite Americans just cause they were the first to get there would you?

A 12 volt fridge would be ideal for any setup of living off the grid. Your own power supply would revolve around a set of deep cycle batteries. Just make sure you get one that is ultra efficient.

Also this heat engine could be used to heat/cool your home using only one setup. That would save a lot of wood or electricity use.