Off-Grid Refrigeration
Icehouses were used extensively in the U.S., especially in “pioneer days,” where they would be the main way of keeping meats and vegetables cool and “refrigerated” in a manner to not require canning, smoking, or drying them. These icehouses were combined with root cellars/canning cellars to be structures heavily-insulated with earth to keep everything cool and from spoiling in the spring and summer months. I also mentioned an “icebox,” meaning a refrigerator that was not dependent upon electricity, but had a large block of ice inside of an insulated “box” that kept the food inside cool and from spoiling prematurely.
For those without enough property or in an urban/suburban area, an icebox might be a good thing to have, at least as a backup for the refrigerator. If you have a little bit of ground, then you may be able to build an icehouse. I plan on beginning mine about the end of March to the beginning of April. See, living in Montana, where there are no building codes in rural areas, I’m not hindered by the need for permits or the usual parade of bloodsuckers from local or state governments or neighborhood (incarceration-hood, is more appropriate) associations. Thus, the benefit of living in a remote state, I can build whatever I want and nobody can say anything to me.
Use This Easy Method to Make Large Blocks of Ice
If you don’t have this, then you’ll have to negotiate around whatever “primates” are blocking your path and secure whatever permits you believe necessary if you want it done. I’m going to wait until the time I mentioned and then clear out the ground and the snow, use a “C” to dig (a miniature backhoe) the icehouse out, and then build it during the winter months. The reason is that I will make about a dozen and a half “molds” to fill with water for my ice-blocks, using large bins. When the water freezes and huge blocks of ice are made, I will then place them inside of my icehouse and cover them up with lots and lots of sawdust. Each block will have about 20 gallons of water, and this will be (at 7.6 lbs. per gallon) about 150 lbs. apiece. A lot easier to let the winter freeze up those blocks!
Building an Icehouse
I plan on placing in a drain into the floor (PVC drain tile) with a small slope, and then tamping the earth back into place. Then I’ll separate the main chamber for the canned goodies from the ice chamber in the rear and slightly lower than the main room. Stacking the blocks up and then covering them all with sawdust, it will adhere to the time-honored principle of the frontier days…it will keep all spring and summer, and have to be replaced in the fall (it’s below freezing here in September…we only have about 3 to 4 months without ice and snow).
I’m going to use the earth and rocks excavated and then mound it up, as most of the efficient designs I have seen are with rounded or semi-rounded forms/tops. The only true modern “accoutrements” I plan on having are a good door and door-frame that is sturdy, and I’m considering some kind of interior flooring system. Any suggestions or personal experiences? We’d love to hear them, and perhaps you’ll be able to float me some information I can use. I have a few not-so-near neighbors that are diabetics and use insulin…what could be better than being able to preserve their insulin for them in my icehouse if the SHTF and they lose electricity?
An icehouse or icebox for you and your family may be a good thing to do to enable that your refrigeration lasts…beyond the lifetime of the power plants and power stations…. if the SHTF. Bottom line: do what you can with what you have. Better to get into the batter’s box and take a swing then not to take a chance. Keep fighting that good fight!
I saw a segment where a guy used 5 gallon buckets. He set them outside for a few days in freezing weather of course, and stacked them three high all around the walls. I believe most of the buckets he used, he picked up off the side of the road. He did buy some lids……..
I live in Central NY and weather permitting there is an Ice Harvest Festival at Miller’s Mills. You can look this up on the internet and probably contact the powers to be to get some information for your own “icehouse”. They do everything the old fashioned way, such as, cutting thru the ice in the pond (no ice this year so it was cancelled) then they pull it by horse to the icehouse. You could probably contact them to get ideas on the best methods for your own icehouse. Hope this helps, sounds interesting and has given me a few ideas.
I live in Montana and once I own my own place I will be doing this. Im assuming a wood roof with dirt on it. Have to keep the bears out..
I visited a man here in Central New York, who worked, and then bought, a farm from an elderly Swedish immigrant. He said, “See that flat rectangular area over there by the creek? That’s where the old-timers diverted the creek into a ‘pond’. It’s about three to four feet deep, so water froze quickly. Then the ice was cut into chunks and hauled out by the draft horses for the ice house.”
When the ice house was full, they put the creek bank back into place. I don’t know if they had modern backhoes, or maybe steam shovels, or used tractors, but I thought this was very smart!
These Swedes also got together during the Depression and pooled resources to have enough eggs to fill a train car each week that went to New York city. There were some very long, three or four story chicken barns in the area back then.