[Cob] the cold box/fridge debate

[Dirtcheapbuilder-Charmaine]

On Dec 28, 2007, at 11:18 AM, Tys Sniffen wrote:

  I came up with the idea of
a tiled box sunk into the gravel with a trap door on it for cool 
storage.  I
can send pictures as it develops.


Hi Ty when I bought my little fixer cottage in Dec 1999 I was concerned 
about Y2K  ( an NO elec.) in the next few days, so passed on a fridge 
purchase and tried a cool box idea in my North facing very cold guest 
bathroom.   it worked great until the weather warmed up.. then cheese 
and any meats did not last very long once temps were at 50 deg even 
though it was only 40ish at that side of the house.    If you are 
vegetarian then yes NO fridge may be needed, cold storage has worked 
for hundreds of American homes in the 20's 30s. yogurt, milk, veggies 
are great at just cool cool temps.

ALSO I saw that many Japanese homes have a floor full of trapdoors with 
storage under the floors. very clever, if the house has room while you 
build why not us this idea and have several storage areas for all sorts 
of non daily use items? -  clothing, sheets, even book and pots & pans 
storage, even one trapdoor floor storage per room allows bonus storage 
and security, than overhead storage.

I say go for it!  I think if I had done a dug in ground cool box I 
could have gone a lot longer without a real fridge.



Charmaine Taylor Publishing
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  www.dirtcheapbuilder.com
Tel:  1-707-441-1632 PST   Eureka, Calif.