Ice house

[daffodil]

I've heard of an ice house before but never knew or gave any thought to what it was or did. I just saw it in a book I was looking thru. It says the ice was collected in the winter and packed in sawdust and then used in summer. Does this actually work?! How does the sawdust keep it from melting all that time? Is the ice house built any special way or is it just the sawdust that keeps it from melting?

[Terri]

It is kept frozen because the sawdust insulates it. I have seen pictures of people hauling the big chunks of ice after cutting it out of the lake. They cut it wil big saws.

[daffodil]

Seems sawdust comes in handy for alot of things! Where can you get it? There were a lot of sawmills where I used to live and I guess that would be one place but I haven't seen any out where I'm at now. Where else would I get it? And would they give it away free (one of those things others see no use for) or would I have to pay for it?

[rantinraven]

You can often get sawdust if you live near a cabinet shop, or trophy making place. They usually burn their scraps for heat but the sawdust is swept up in big barrels and you just dump it out in your vehicle.

I get sawdust for free quite a bit this way. I also use it for cob construction, and to much or add organic material to the gardens.

[cinok]

Seems sawdust comes in handy for alot of things! Where can you get it? There were a lot of sawmills where I used to live and I guess that would be one place but I haven't seen any out where I'm at now. Where else would I get it? And would they give it away free (one of those things others see no use for) or would I have to pay for it?
As ravin said cabinent shops or maybe someone with a garage workshop. Another source could be a high school votech shop. Most large mills sell their sawdust to companies that make MDF, so thier is a market for it

[sissy]

Hers are some free plans for a lot of things.

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/miscplans.htm

the next two are for an ice house

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/5348.pdf

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/5349.pdf

I hope these will help.
Sissy

[Anon001]

I'm only 48 but I can remember when our little town had an ice house. It was huge and built of brick. In the summer, instead of trying to freeze up a lot of ice for homemade ice cream, we would just go to the ice house and the old man would bring out a block with his ice tongs. There was a specially insualted room in the center of the ice house where the ice was stored. The old building still stands. In the 1990's a family bought it and put in a boutique. In the original ice room, they made a cafe. The place only lasted about 10 years. Then a family bought it and converted it into a really neat house.

[daffodil]

How come the Amish don't use them? Seems to me it could be used as a refrigerator too. I might have to look into this a bit more. I want refrigeration and a freezer but I didn't like the propane(I think that's what they are) refrigerators. You're still paying for the propane. I like things that won't cost anything and still work! Wonder if I could attach a small building to the house so it would be like a big walk in freezer! ;D I think I finally found my answer to the refrigeration/freezer problem! I was thinking that the shaft in the wall would work(I saw that in Living Without Electric and Liking It) but this is even better!

[cinok]

If you are looking for a way to refrigerate items first question is what are you trying to keep cold and what part of the country do you plan to set up home in. Rivers and streams can be used to keep many items cold to enjoy on a hot summer day. Modern frozen food require a deep freeze that is available with modern appliances or dead of cold winter.

[daffodil]

If you are looking for a way to refrigerate items first question is what are you trying to keep cold and what part of the country do you plan to set up home in. Rivers and streams can be used to keep many items cold to enjoy on a hot summer day. Modern frozen food require a deep freeze that is available with modern appliances or dead of cold winter.
Right now I refrigerate milk and eggs, mayo, things like that. I do like ice cream! And I sometimes need to freeze meat for the dogs. I plan to stay in Northeast Ohio.

[cinok]

Right now I refrigerate milk and eggs, mayo, things like that. I do like ice cream! And I sometimes need to freeze meat for the dogs. I plan to stay in Northeast Ohio.
No fridge no ice cream thats for sure unless you make it. Milk and mayo scare me to some in the summer, I usually will not drink milk if its been out 20+ minutes I am also a little paranoid about mayo not so bad with miracle whip. If you buy ice it will get expensive quickly but its fine for treats (not ice cream though you)

[jebrown]

My grandparents had a neighbor who had an ice house. It was for several families all related and had been in the family for years. They used a lot of straw as well as sawdust.
If you go sawdust make sure you can get it year round.
Even a small ice house will use a lot more sawdust than you realize which why straw is used a lot too.
An ice house will work for refrigeration but not for freezing especialy long term. Frozen foods need to be kept at zero degrees or lower. Above zero and the food doesn't last as long.
I have done a lot of backpacking and camping where I used a mesh laundry bag to hold the things I needed refrigeratred.
It depends on the source of the water and how fast it is moving if at all as to how cold it will keep food. One stream that was in an area I back packed in often was fed by mountain snow melt. It was always very cold even in the middle of the summer.
Jerry

[daffodil]

What did the pioneers do to keep things cold and frozen? I think I read they smoked their meats, so I guess that would mean they didn't need any refrigeration or such. Maybe they just got their milk daily from the cow! Probably didn't have mayo or ice cream either. Probably used the stream idea if they had one close by. Just wondering...
I always figure if they did it, I can do it too! Of course they didn't have all these zoning laws to deal with. :-/

[cinok]

Countryside Magazine just did an article in the may/june issue about keeping stuff cool. I looked to see it was available on line and it is not. Maybe a friend or a library my have it .

[Anon001]

Daffodil,

The early pioneers didn't have much need for refrigeration and they didn't freeze anything that wouldn't stay froze on its own during the winter.


People used to lower their milk and butter into well to keep it cool.. But keep in mind that it was still not as cold as a refrigerator. Fresh eggs were never refrigerated and many times butter wasn't either. Both do fine at room temperature. But, I would put eggs in a basement if you have one. Milk was usually drank warm or at room temarature unless they had time to cool it down a bit in the well.

In areas of the country that had springs, people would build a "spring house" and keep milk and butter in the spring house. You can google "spring house" and be sure to use the quotes when you google it.

Also keep in mind that most families ate what was cooked at each meal. They normally didn't have leftovers to have to refrigerate. Being the homemakers that they were, the women could cook the right amount of food to be eaten at each meal with everyone having plenty but not leftovers. On the rare occasion of leftovers, they went into the slop bucket for the pigs and chickens.

One other note. Many of the photos I've seen of ice houses had them built partly into the earth sorta like an earth-berm house. This helped to keep it cooler inside during the summer.

Hope this helps.

[indyguy]

Harvesting ice is WORK and work that needs be done when its cold out. . A large amount needs to be cut and packed into the ice house with saw dust.

You need to creat enough chilled mass that the ice can survive the summer months. Its not work for one person alone and most often harvesting ice was a community affair.

If I really need something to be chilled I use a propane frige.

[daffodil]

Isn't propane expensive? I guess you can still get it when the electric is off since it comes by truck right. I know gas pumps shut down so that's not the way to go with things. Propane kind of makes me nervous anyway. I'm always afraid it will explode.

[tomato204]

Daffodil~If you research "Crosley Icy Ball" you will find a refrigerator that only needs heat as an input. Google has a bunch of hits for them, they use a charge of ammonia water, no propane or electricity. You can heat them in hot water on a woodstove.

[indyguy]

outside of a a freezer and fridge to freeze and chill food you only options to preserve food is to dry, smoke, pickle or can it...... along with a good root celler.

rethinking this..... a good spring house will chill milk( my grandparents had one) but is a haven for snakes in the summer.

[daffodil]

"It needs to be emphasized that ammonia gas is extremely toxic and fammable. One deep breath of pure ammonia gas will KILL a human being. If you are not a mechanically inclined person who pays close attention to details, do not attempt to build one of these units. If built with quality materials and used with the proper precautions this unit can be safely operated since it is designed to contain the gas within the unit"

Probably NOT something I should try! :o

[Terri]

Chickens DID lay every day, and the cattle gave milk every day. So, it was always fresh.

They could keep a jug of water coolish by wrapping the jug with a wet cloth or burlap, and the evaporation would keep the liquid inside cool.

I believe that any leftovers were put on the table for the NEXT meal, and that way there was no big storage problem.

[CarolAnn]

Daff,
I think you might like the evaporative cooling method they've developed for 3rd world countries. Here's a link to one explanation: http://practicalaction.org/practicalanswers/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=240&attrib=1

They have a jar inside of a larger jar made of bisque fired clay (not glazed) the porus clay lets water between the two jars evaporate, cooling what is stored in the inner jar. It would be like the crisper drawer in a fridge - not as cold as the fridge, but colder than room temperature.

[daffodil]

CarolAnn,
That just might work for me! ;D

[Lobo]

daffodil,

Having cut ice I can tell you it is not a job for a single homesteader. It is a team or neighborhood effort. It is done during the coldest time of the winter-usually mid January.

The small home size ice house is generally partially buried for thermal insulation. The walls were about 1 foot thick filled with sawdust. The inside was a dirt floor for drainage. The floor was covered with clean sawdust and then the ice blocks (about 2 feet all dimensions) are dragged in and then surrounded by sawdust. These heavy blocks were dragged into the house and put into the icebox througout the summer. The icebox had a drain and a pan underneath to catch the melt. Woe to the housewife who forgot to empty the pan before it overflowed. Some people just took the food to the ice house. The other, simpler ideas that were offered you also worked quite well.

For those without help or a pond nearby I have toyed with the idea of buckets, etc filled with water and ice made that way.

With large families and pigs and chickens there was little need of lots of refrigeration.

Lobo

[Anon001]

I just remembered that my best friend has a tool that they used to use to "score" the ice on a pond.

[AlchemyAcres]

I had a small earth-bermed ice house at my first homestead.
I put bales of straw inside along the walls and above the ice for insulation....sawdust between the blocks of ice.....requires a lot less sawdust!

Cutting ice is a heck of a job and also quite dangerous!

I used rubber buckets as ice forms...the won't break and the ice easily pops right out.

I had an insulated icebox in the ice house to keep foods cool....the ambient temp is naturally low making the ice last quite a bit longer.


~Martin

[indyguy]

I have a ice saw and several sets of ice tongs that were used 2 winters ago when giving a demo on ice harvesting.

I know 1st hand a ice saw is hard work. I also learned that block ice can be cut with my chainsaw much more quickly and with a lot less sweat.

[Catalpa]

My Amish neighbors use an ice house. The pond is on the other side of my property and they get permission to cross over each winter to cut the ice. It's a big family effort, and fun to watch them with the big draft horses pulling the sledge, and all the men with their straw hats on, long beards wagging in the wind as they struggle to drag huge blocks of ice out of the water. He says it usually lasts well into September and beyond, depending on the weather, and how thick they put down the sawdust.