‘Pk RURAL NEW-YORKER 
479 
Farm Icehouse 
Will it bo all right to use stone for 
construction of an icehouse? About what 
size (inside dimensions) should the house 
he to supply a family of seven persons? 
Should opening be provided through the 
side walls just about level with the 
ground to permit the water from the melt¬ 
ing ice to flow out, or should one depend 
upon the water soaking into the ground, 
there being only a dirt floor? I have 
heard it said that the openings, by per¬ 
mitting a circulation of air, cause the ice 
to melt. What kind and capacity of ven¬ 
tilation should be provided in roof of 
house? G. B. 
Highland. N. Y. 
Ice is simply water with a certain 
amount of heat taken from it. As the 
heat is withdrawn through the cold Win¬ 
ter months the water becomes colder and 
colder until it finally reaches a point 
where it crystallizes and becomes solid— 
ice. In this condition it can be stored and 
kept indefinitely, provided heat is not per¬ 
mitted to reach it. It is always striving 
to get back the heat given up in freezing, 
however—the quality, by the way. that 
makes it valuable as a cooling medium, as 
it absorbs heat from whatever it is placed 
in contact with—'and in storing it par¬ 
ticular attention must be paid to this pro¬ 
tection. or heat insulation, as it is called. 
I or best results the icehouse should be 
located on a slight rise of ground with 
good drainage, both surface and sub¬ 
drainage. If it can be protected by shade 
trees from the direct rays of the sun. so 
much the better. The house should be 
built in the approximate form of a cube, 
as this shape will contain the largest rec¬ 
tangular ice pile possible with a given 
surface exposure upon which heat may 
act, and for the third principal factor the 
walls of the house itself should be made 
of material that is resistant to the pas¬ 
sage of heat. This last-named factor ex¬ 
cludes stone as a desirable material for 
icehouse building. It permits the pas¬ 
sage of heat through it too easily. If it 
fits well into the scheme of the general 
architecture of the place, however, stone 
can be used and the heat insulation pro¬ 
vided by shavings stuffed inside inner 
walls or by the packing of the ice pile 
directly in shavings, sawdust, marsh hay 
or other similar material, making sure 
that plenty of insulation was provided. 
As regards drainage, this is best ac¬ 
complished by laying tile in -a suitable 
floor of cinders or gravel, over which is 
laid a covering of shavings or other insu¬ 
lator for the ice pile to rest upon. Direct 
openings should not be used for drainage, 
as they permit air currents which cause 
serious melting. If the ground is of 
gravelly nature, or of other porous char¬ 
acter, the natural drainage may be suffi¬ 
cient, many icehouses being built in this 
way with no provision for drainage other 
than that provided by nature. 
Ventilation is perhaps best provided in 
the country icehouse by means of open 
gables protected by sloping slats, as in 
the case of a window shutter, so that air 
is free to pass through, but direct sun¬ 
light aud rain are excluded. In fact, if 
one is after the cheapest construction pos¬ 
sible, a simple shed with rough boarded 
sides, only tight enough to hold the pack¬ 
ing material around the ice pile will be 
found satisfactory. 
In determining the size, Cornell Reading 
Course Lesson No. 135. which will be 
found helpful, suggests from three to six 
tons as the amount used annually by the 
average family. The amount varies so 
greatly in different families that it is 
usually better to compute the amount re¬ 
quired when the amount used per day is 
known or can bo found in any way. From 
this can be determined the amount used \ 
per season, and to this amount should be 
added about 50 per cent more to make up 
for the loss by melting and to insure that 
a sufficient quantity will be left for fam¬ 
ily use ‘after melting has taken place. 
This is quite a serious item in a small 
house, the actual amount varying greatly 
with the type and construction of the 
house, and the care exercised in packing 
and handling the ice. A ton of solid ice 
occupies a space of about 35 cubic feet, 
but a ton of rectangular ice cakes, even 
when closely packed, requires about 40 
cubic feet of space. This space should he 
kept as small as possible, as close packing 
is one of the requisites of good keeping. 
With these data at hand, the necessary 
size of the house is easily obtained. For 
(Continued on page 481) 
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