Heres what I am thinking of building - a modified version of the old school iceboxes that everyone used to use in their houses prior to refrigurators. The only thing is - I want this thing to use dry ice.
Here is my reasoning. We have property WAY up north that we use almost exclusivly for hunting. We are completely off the grid and use solar / propane for power sources with a wood burning camp stove for heat. Propare refridgerators exists - I already know this, but they are big $$$ and for the ammount of use, I really dont think it would be worth it. We could also do electric, but the days are short which makes generating enough power for one difficult currently and expensive to upgrade the array. Dry ice needs no power of any kind (other than initially making it) and if insulted well can last for some time and can both freeze or refriderate things.
I would like it to be of a typical verticle style, with two zones - toward the top for refrigeration and toward the bottom for freezing.
Here are my questions: Has anyone ever done this or someting similar? If I wanted to make 50 lbs last a week (or even two weeks if possible) and be able to cool maybe 10 cubic feet with maybe another 2.5 cubic feet for freezing, how much insulation would be best? Lastly, I know that if the dry ice is not insulated and isolated correctly, it will evaporate too fast and freeze everything - Anyone have any ideas on how to isolate the dry ice in a manner so that it slows its evaporation and will allow proper refrigeration without freezing (except at the very bottom - I want things to freeze there)?
Thanks - Shawn
Here is my reasoning. We have property WAY up north that we use almost exclusivly for hunting. We are completely off the grid and use solar / propane for power sources with a wood burning camp stove for heat. Propare refridgerators exists - I already know this, but they are big $$$ and for the ammount of use, I really dont think it would be worth it. We could also do electric, but the days are short which makes generating enough power for one difficult currently and expensive to upgrade the array. Dry ice needs no power of any kind (other than initially making it) and if insulted well can last for some time and can both freeze or refriderate things.
I would like it to be of a typical verticle style, with two zones - toward the top for refrigeration and toward the bottom for freezing.
Here are my questions: Has anyone ever done this or someting similar? If I wanted to make 50 lbs last a week (or even two weeks if possible) and be able to cool maybe 10 cubic feet with maybe another 2.5 cubic feet for freezing, how much insulation would be best? Lastly, I know that if the dry ice is not insulated and isolated correctly, it will evaporate too fast and freeze everything - Anyone have any ideas on how to isolate the dry ice in a manner so that it slows its evaporation and will allow proper refrigeration without freezing (except at the very bottom - I want things to freeze there)?
Thanks - Shawn
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