[Cob] the cold box/fridge debate

[Yun Que]

Cat here!  lived without fridge for over a year.  used the cellar and the north side of the house shaded by lots of trees.  I am a vegetarian, and grew and wild crafted my food so having a fridge wasn't too important...dried stuff stored in jars. Green stuff growing outside.  Canned stuff in the cold months.  I don't drink milk .  Wine in the cellar and cheese on the north side.  Got my eggs locally every other week, kept fine.  When I got a container of B&J's I invited a friend over!)  Loved the absence of the infernal compressor noise....sweet silence at night!

for the good of all C.

> From: tys at ideamountain.com
> To: coblist at deatech.com
> Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:18:10 -0800
> Subject: [Cob] the cold box/fridge debate
> 
> Hey folks,
> 
>  
> 
> As I'm building our cob house (still mortaring together stem wall over bond
> beam) I'm planning out kitchen cabinets and stuff, and have been thinking
> about food storage. 
> 
>  
> 
> One interesting thing I have planned is a trap door storage box in the
> floor. Because we are doing a bit of berming in and are building on a slope,
> we have to fill in under our floor with gravel to level things out before
> the radiant tubes go in the earth floor.  Because of the slope, I've got
> quite a bit of gravel going in right below the kitchen floor, and to save
> money (buying gravel) and energy (hauling gravel) 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.
> 
>  
> 
> We also intend to have a small 'cold box' in the wall above the countertop,
> with the typical screen back, wooden door front for cool storage, and once
> our solar system is in place, we'll get a chest freezer (and I'll probably
> double insulate it and build a cob bank around it too). 
> 
>  
> 
> Currently in our yurt (where we've lived [in N. CA] for 17 months already!)
> we have a propane under-the-counter fridge that I was planning on moving to
> the 'big house'.
> 
>  
> 
> But now I'm thinking I don't want a fridge at all.  Having to vent the back
> of this propane one, or getting some sort of very efficient electric one
> (and having to vent that or plan for the heat escape as well) seems at the
> least, inelegant and at worst, troublesome.  I'd love to be more independent
> from the propane company.  Then again, I have this propane fridge, it's paid
> for. 
> 
>  
> 
> The biggest hurdle is convincing my wife we'd be fine with a freezer and a
> cold box.  Anyone out there living without a fridge?  Done any comparisons
> with cold box vs fridge and food storage? 
> 
>  
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Tys
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Coblist mailing list
> Coblist at deatech.com
> http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist

_________________________________________________________________
i’m is proud to present Cause Effect, a series about real people making a difference.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/MTV/?source=text_Cause_Effect