make ice box/ice house without harvesting ice

on the earthenfloor forums, there was some discussion on building ice houses. Someone stated a desire for make ice to fill such house rather than harvesting since there was no local source.

It took me a while but i finally found this sight again:

http://fourmileisland.com/IceBox.htm where they have a great way to make ice in a container....can adapt this idea to ice house as well

Thanks for the link Linda Sharpe, it shows a nice working model ice box.

I had a similar invention roll thru my mind at one time, I never made a practical prototype, but the concept was similar. As far as I'm concerned, what I am proposing is a free idea for anyone that seeks to use it.

The direction my imagination lead to was for use in the over the road truck transportation. The idea was to freeze solid a large storage area (a ice storage bladder about the size of a twin size mattress, secure the 'frozen mattress/bladder' to the vertical back wall of the truck sleeper berth, insulate, fill bladder with electrolyte gel, connect auxiliary A/C refrigerant lines from the existing engine A/C compressor to the evaporator within the 'frozen mattress/bladder' and as the truck is in use during the day, the bladder is frozen solid. During the night, the cold air from the bladder is vented into the sleeper berth via air duct or vent holes, possibly a fan is used.

The idea was to create & store the cold during the trip, and unload the cooling effect while the engine is OFF. The idea was to help those truck drivers that take rest stops in hot climates, to be self contained, and does not require the engine to run. A vast amount of fuel is used every day, simply for driver comfort, that comfort unnecessarily stops when the engine is off, because the standard indoor climate control is based on immediate use of conditioned air, with no thought to mass storage, for later use.

The typical truck leaves the A/C compressor turned on whenever the engine is running, even in a snow storm with heater running full blast, because the automotive type A/C has the ability to remove moisture from within the cab/berth.

Obviously if you expect take a rest break in Laredo, flip the switch to freeze down the bladder on the trip to get there. If you expect to rest break in New Berlin, freezing down the bladder would not be necessary, perhaps flip a different switch that stores heat in the same bladder unit, via engine heater hoses for those in the north.

james beam