Ian put a fridge in his cave a few years ago and bid me help myself, but except for a luxury or two and my bulk yeast I never used it much before this year. This is my tenth summer here, I’ve mostly gotten along well enough without a refrigerator, and I saw no need to change.
Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe I’m getting smart, I’m not sure which. This past heat wave has reminded me of the one time I really hurt myself since moving here…
Three years ago we had a very hot June, I was doing a lot of work outside, and didn’t really pay any attention to how much water I was drinking. It’s easy to forget; just because you’re dehydrated doesn’t mean you’re thirsty. And when it gets hot, everything gets hot – every surface you touch, every breath you take, even the well water in the cistern. Which is already so full of calcium it’s nearly crunchy. The only thing worse than hard water is hot hard water. I’d nearly stopped drinking water at all by the time I collapsed.
It wasn’t the weakness and dizziness that made me call for help, though I had plenty of both. No, it was that kidney stone I passed. I’ve occasionally wondered how close that painful little thing came to saving my life – I had next to no measurable blood pressure, and the doctor couldn’t see if I had any blood in my urine because I couldn’t raise any urine. Man, that kidney stone hurt out of all proportion to its size and importance though…
Anyway, that was three years ago and I’ve paid a lot more attention to my drinking water since then. I’ve got a whole water-drinking infrastructure, developed around plastic bottles. And this is the delivery end…
Normally I religiously empty at least one of these things into myself daily. Not well water, filtered water I laboriously haul from town every week. In a summer heat wave like this one, I work on drinking more like two. And it’s a sort of work, too, I have to think about it, remember to do it.
Trouble is, by afternoon what’s left in that bottle will be hot to the touch. That’s when it gets hard to keep chugging. But this year (last year, really, but this is the first year it’s really been put to use) I got a second bottle just like it and stuck it in Ian’s fridge.
So early this afternoon I’ll refill this one, haul it up to Ian’s place, and bring the cold one back. It’ll also be warm by bedtime, but then I’ll fill it back up and let the night cool it off.
I’ve also got veggies for a cold lunch, and I’m even freezing meat these days! And a nice big block of ice for the chickens. I’m becoming an aesthete! I’ll have to change my name to Gersh, or Dylan or something. Maybe I can sew up a camo bow tie later. Get one of those girly 9mm pistols, or maybe an AR…
The smallest of the chest freezers run on an inverter and a timer for an hour a day will behave just like a fridge, and being top opening won’t loose its cold every time you reach for a cold one. In the summer when you’d find it most useful you should have plenty solar electrons to run it that long. Nothing a like a nice chug of cold ice water to keep you going on a scorching day. Or a frosty beer when all the chores are done.
We change as we grow older, like it or not. For most of my life I didn’t use ice cubes… didn’t like my beverages that cold. My sister came to visit last year and we made ice cubes for her… at first, and then I discovered I liked to have a few of them in my stuff too. Now I keep a tray of ice cubes in the freezer all the time. They come in handy in ways I never thought of before.
Still can’t even imagine living in the desert (or much of anywhere else) without a refrigerator. Seems like just begging for food poisoning. And having to run the gauntlet of cows to get to Ian’s fridge is really crazy. LOL
Given your abundance of solar heat, would a solar still for turning your nigh-crunchy water into something softer be a worthwhile project? Possibly couple it with an in-ground cistern for storage and temperature-regulation of the resultant product.
Might well be more work than it’s worth of course. You’d be a better judge of that than I.
Particularly from a prepper point of view, a solar still is an interesting idea because the day could conceivably come when purified water simply isn’t available. But it seems to me that rain water collection is far simpler and should come first.
You could add another freeze jug like the chicken one for yourself and bring that frozen jug back and put in a cooler. It might not keep your drinking water cold cold, but at least it wouldn’t be hot. Or you could throw some tea bags in the hot water and have a nice cuppa.
Second the rotational freeze jug idea. It’s what I would do.
Third the rotational freeze jug idea. It’s what I would do too. And you know better than we do that your water situation needs some intense attention so it is more reliable and drinkable. Your current situation has a high potential for unlimited disaster. Solar still, in ground cistern, underground (if cool) water storage with a pipe or hose – worth the time and money investment and something as back up or primary source other than running to town for water.
Joel – would you be interested in a digital copy of a service manual for an RV freezer/fridge that uses ammonia for the heat transfer. There’s references to the draw for A/C, D/C, and the propane system. In case you haven’t looked into that already it might give you some ideas on whether your power system could give that a go. The unit I have here was installed in a fancy RV some 30 years ago and it’s better than nothing at all – but a disappointment if you’re used to modern fancy refrigerators. The freezer will work fine here but on the hottest days the fridge side has trouble holding 45′ – particularly if you want to actually open the door to use it. When it’s below 90 it can hold whatever temp you want – so it’s capable of keeping food fresh and beer cold most of the year. The manual gets into all the ‘smart’ things the fridge can do as far as switching inputs – but I can assure you – it can be stripped down to basic components and run directly from the power source if you’re willing to do some reversible modifications. It’s a pretty simple system that once set up right doesn’t seem to require much maintenance or repair. I like or modern refrigerators and freezers better than this one – but it does come in handy for the ‘guest house’. I haven’t tried to track one of these down before but I’ve got a good idea on where to start if it’s of interest.
Man, I hate drinking HOT plain water. When my brother and I go to the ranch, we carry a 2 gallon insulated water jug and keep it covered with a white towel that has been wetted for evaporative cooling. Keep that in the shade and the wind and you get coolish drinking water, no matter the temperature.
Might keep an eye out for those old school ‘desert water bags’. The canvas envelopes that evaporative cooled the water contained in them. Mom used to tell me her Dad kept one of those hung in a tree while he worked outside, always provided a cool drink. Haven’t seen one of those is quite a while now but you can find them easily on ebay. A handy guy like yourself might be able to make one as well.
I think Coloradohermit has a great idea there. That daily trip back and forth could provide you with a lasting cold box in the lair
PNO: Yeah, sure, send it if it’s not too big. Never know when that might come in handy.
Because of the many RVs around here there are always people with propane refrigerators. Landlady and T had one that stood alone, looked like a regular fridge. Had to watch it like a hawk because it wasn’t very reliable and it held T’s insulin. Never did see one that worked very well as well as a regular household fridge. The one in my trailer never worked at all despite repeated expensive service calls. There’s a little burn orifice in there that didn’t like dust, and we’ve got lots of that.
It’s about 2 mb – how’s that rate on your bigness scale? There’s another small file (pdf – both) that shows how to install the ‘guts’ of the system into the fridge body that’s useful in terms of seeing the system in it’s most basic components.
Running it on propane has been the most problematic of the three modes – sticky valves and orifices and dust. I’ve heard ‘dirty’ propane can be an issue – don’t know enough about that idea yet…
What I liked was the simplicity of running it in the A/C and D/C modes – two elements (4 total) that can be wired directly to power. The element regulates it’s own draw – until it fails or you unplug it. Once you’ve bypassed the control system of the unit you get to be the thermostat and manually switch the inputs – but it reduces it to almost idiot proof. (knock on wood) Just keep the unit level and plug and unplug as necessary. Most of the time you don’t have to worry about it overcooling – except in winter. No problem – unplug at night. During the worst of Summer it limps along at 45′ to 50′ if you insist on opening it – freezes fine though. Not frost free either – but you probably knew that. They need to be vented too – but clearances seem to be pretty minimal.
I don’t suppose you kept that one from the trailer? Just ’cause it wasn’t set up to run on A/C or D/C doesn’t mean it can’t. I ran this idea of running the system directly from the inputs past a guy who rebuilds the ‘guts’ for a living and he had to issues at all with it – given the caveat that you get to be the thermostat.
The email account I use for TUAK – johndwitt(at)yahoo(dot)com – shouldn’t balk at a 2MB PDF. I’d appreciate it. If I can comprehend it, which I don’t promise, it might be a fun project.