Ice house
An ice house is a warehouse where a large mass of natural ice food by cooling conserves be or has been incorporated into the natural ice after Eisernte in winter to be traded from there throughout the year.
The forerunners of the above-ground ice houses are the underground ice cellars , their successors the cold stores that work with artificial cooling . The construction of ice houses became particularly popular in North America in the 19th century .
construction
The buildings are constructed in such a way that temperature influences have as little influence as possible on the interior. The construction consists of the poorest possible heat conductors , primarily wood.
In order to insulate from the heat conduction of the ground, such a building rests above an approximately 1 m high air space above the ground. The building basically consists of two large, nested containers made of load-bearing wooden structures, so that two walls more than 1 meter apart are created, between which well-leached tannins or sawdust, especially peat litter or, better, peat waste is filled.
The actual ice container made of wooden planks is again at a distance of 1 m from the surrounding inner space, separated only by the well-insulating air.
A roof made of a thick layer of straw as insulation against direct solar radiation has proven itself. Trees are planted around the ice house, e.g. B. Horse chestnuts, which cast strong shadows on the house with their dense foliage.
A lock facing north in the northern hemisphere , consisting of a corridor several meters long and two well-closing doors insulated with straw mattresses, prevents the exchange of air and direct sunlight when the building is opened. From the ceiling of the interior of the ice house, a square 40 cm wide shaft, also made of wood, extends over the roof, which can be closed with sliders.
business
Winter operation
In winter, when the temperature is below freezing, all the airlock doors and the chimney slides are opened to cool the interior down to the temperature of the incoming air. The stored ice only comes into contact with air with a degree of frost. On the coldest days, the coldest ice that can be procured is stored in the house in order to replenish the melted stock. As soon as the outside temperature rises above the inside temperature, the building is completely closed again.
Summer operation
In the warm months, care is taken to only enter the house in the coolest hours of the morning or late in the evening and to always have one door of the lock closed before the other is opened.
history
The Persians invented ice houses. As early as 400 BC The Persians mastered the construction of underground cooling caves, which they called yacht scarfs . The ruler of Mari , Zimri-Lim (around 1750 BC) also had an ice house in his palace based on a similar construction principle, in which ice from the mountains was stored to cool drinks in the summer.
See also
literature
- F. Hellwig: The ice cellar. Description and practical implementation. Teacher Library. No. 600, Hachmeister & Thal, Leipzig 1921.
- Stephan A. Lütgert: Ice cellars, ice works and cold stores in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Husum 2000, ISBN 3-88042-962-6 .
- Ernst Nöthling: The ice cellar. Ice houses and ice boxes their construction and use. For construction technicians, brewery owners, farmers, butchers, confectioners, innkeepers and the like. s. w., Bernhard Friedrich Voigt Verlag, Weimar 1896.
- Schattenburg: The ice cellars, ice houses, cold rooms and storage cellars. Ludwig Hofstetter, Halle 1893.
