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The opposite of saving winter ice for the summer was popular in the 1800s before mechanical refrigeration. Ice can last many months if insulated by sawdust belo

The opposite of saving winter ice for the summer was popular in the 1800s before mechanical refrigeration. Ice can last many months if insulated by sawdust below ground.

nom 10y ago
I was just about to post the same thing :D The storage facilities are called Ice House [0]. The large ones stored several thousand metric tons and could last through the whole summer, depending on the climate. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_house_(building) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_house_(building)
lucaspiller 10y ago
A whole industry was created based on this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_trade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_trade
EvanAnderson 10y ago
Princeton had an "ice pond"[1][2] in the early 80's. The project was run by Dr. Ted Taylor[3] (who worked on the Manhattan project and later the Orion spacecraft-- huge nuclear bomb-powered spaceships!). Snow machines made slushy ice that was stored in pond covered with insulation. Water was pumped through the pond in the summer to provide cooling. It worked well and at the end of the summer there was still ice in the pond. I read about this as a kid reading Freeman Dyson's "Imagined Worlds"[4]. Dyson's commentary is definitely worth reading. (Anything written by Freeman Dyson is worth reading.) A cheese factory used ice ponds[5] for about 10 years, eventually abandoning them because the ice didn't last through the summer and it was difficult to maintain[6]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_pond https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_pond [2]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1981/08/02/the-ice-pond-age-cometh/51396081-09a8-4afe-b69c-1217b4700408/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1981/08/02/t... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Taylor_(physicist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Taylor_(physicist) [4]: https://books.google.com/books?id=MOC8UJPuvO8C&pg=PA42 https://books.google.com/books?id=MOC8UJPuvO8C&pg=PA42 [5]: http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/03/nyregion/dairy-hoards-500-tons-of-ice-for-the-summer.html http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/03/nyregion/dairy-hoards-500-... [6]: https://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=15129 https://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=15129
- londons_explore 10y ago
  What's the thermal conductivity of soil? Wouldn't you have to insulate your pond from below as well as above?
ojii 10y ago
Great 99pi episode about this: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/frozen-assets/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/frozen-assets/

The opposite of saving winter ice for the summer was popular in the 1800s before mechanical refrigeration. Ice can last many months if insulated by sawdust below ground.

nom 10y ago

I was just about to post the same thing :D The storage facilities are called Ice House [0]. The large ones stored several thousand metric tons and could last through the whole summer, depending on the climate. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_house_(building) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_house_(building)

lucaspiller 10y ago

A whole industry was created based on this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_trade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_trade

EvanAnderson 10y ago

Princeton had an "ice pond"[1][2] in the early 80's. The project was run by Dr. Ted Taylor[3] (who worked on the Manhattan project and later the Orion spacecraft-- huge nuclear bomb-powered spaceships!). Snow machines made slushy ice that was stored in pond covered with insulation. Water was pumped through the pond in the summer to provide cooling. It worked well and at the end of the summer there was still ice in the pond. I read about this as a kid reading Freeman Dyson's "Imagined Worlds"[4]. Dyson's commentary is definitely worth reading. (Anything written by Freeman Dyson is worth reading.) A cheese factory used ice ponds[5] for about 10 years, eventually abandoning them because the ice didn't last through the summer and it was difficult to maintain[6]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_pond https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_pond [2]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1981/08/02/the-ice-pond-age-cometh/51396081-09a8-4afe-b69c-1217b4700408/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1981/08/02/t... [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Taylor_(physicist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Taylor_(physicist) [4]: https://books.google.com/books?id=MOC8UJPuvO8C&pg=PA42 https://books.google.com/books?id=MOC8UJPuvO8C&pg=PA42 [5]: http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/03/nyregion/dairy-hoards-500-tons-of-ice-for-the-summer.html http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/03/nyregion/dairy-hoards-500-... [6]: https://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=15129 https://www.farmshow.com/a_article.php?aid=15129

londons_explore 10y ago
What's the thermal conductivity of soil? Wouldn't you have to insulate your pond from below as well as above?

ojii 10y ago

Great 99pi episode about this: http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/frozen-assets/ http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/frozen-assets/