Ice house (building)

An ice house is a storehouse which preserved with a large mass of natural ice food by cooling. The precursor of the aerial ice houses are the underground ice house, their successors working with artificial refrigeration cold stores. The construction of icehouses sat down in the 19th century, especially in North America.

Construction

The building are constructed so that temperature effects have as little influence on the internal space. The construction is made possible bad heat conductors, primarily wood.

In order to isolate them from the heat conduction of the soil, rests such a construction on an approximately 1 m high air space above the ground. The building basically consists of two large, nested containers made of load bearing timber structures, so that two more than 1 meter away from each other walls arise between these well- leached tanbark or sawdust, especially peat or sphagnum better is filled.

The actual ice bucket wooden planks has again a distance of 1 m from the surrounding him inner room, separated only by the good insulating air.

A roofing composed of a thick layer of straw as insulation against direct solar radiation has been proven. They planted trees around the ice house, for example, Horse chestnuts, which cast strong shadows on the house with their dense foliage.

One in the northern hemisphere northward aligned lock, which consists of a several meters long corridor and two with straw mattresses isolated, tight-fitting doors, prevent the exchange of air and direct sunlight during the opening of the building. From the ceiling of the interior of the ice house, a square 40 cm wide ranging addition, built of wood shaft on the roof which can be closed by valves.

Operation

Winter operation

In winter open at temperatures below freezing all the doors of the airlock and the slide of the fireplace to cool the interior on the temperature of the inflowing air. The stored ice is so only with air at sub-zero conditions in contact. On the coldest days the coldest ice to be procured will be stored in the house to complement the ablated stock again. Once the outdoor temperature rises above the temperature of the interior, the building is completely closed again.

Summer operation

In the warm months is taken care to have to enter only during the coolest hours of the morning or late at night and always closed the door of the lock before the other opens the house.

History

Ice houses are already known from the Middle Bronze Age. So was the ruler of Mari, Zimri- Lim ( 1750 BCE ) to a cool ice house in his palace, in which were stored ice from the mountains in summer drinks.