(bspline@XXX.XXX)
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 16:58:03 EST
Wow! Lots of responses :) It's heartening to see both sides of the coin.
Thanks for all comments so far, and yes I have thought of going
without refrigeration. In fact I -will- be going without
refrigeration. I'll be making ice once, maybe twice, a day. ;)
I think I should clarify a few things.. maybe folks will get the
system I am proposing better:
1) I have worked with a solar ammonia cycle system. It produced lots
of ice 4 times a day but the reflector was HUGE. i just want to
replace the reflector with a flame
2) I don't want a refrigerator. Nope. Nada. What I want is an ICE
MAKER. So that means it can be intermittent operation, and use solid,
not liquid, absorbant. Which makes it safer fyi.
Intermittant operation, ammonia absorbtion ice makers are very, very
simple pieces of machinery. It should be relatively simple to create a
small unit, and even easier to maintain it. Not only that, but the Ice
Reefer box and ammonia unit could be kept in a sealed locker with gas
discharge ports (still thinking about that) so that if there WERE an
ammonia problem, it would not vent into the living quarters.
Now.. why do I want this system? Well, quite frankly, so I dont have
to rely on electricity for Ice. I am going to be going to really
remote places and it would be nice to be able to keep things cold for
a few days without electricity. I also want to be able to navigate and
run my boat without electricity, so I am including the 'reefer' in
that equation. And then there is cost as well. It seems to me that if
you have something like this in DC, you generally have to run your
engine sometimes, so why the intermediate step of electricity at all?
I really don't want to put lots of panels up.. just 2 most likely for
battery health and navigation lights at night if we lose mains power
gen capability.
Maybe we'll get a wind generator. We'll see. The whole idea of this is
to build a CHEAP system that is reliable and self servicable.
Anyway, there you have it. :) Propane, by the way, was suggested but
this system is esentially external heat driven so it could be anything
that burned or produced heat. Multi Fuel is the current way of saying
that I think ;)
--T
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