Ice Storage

Check out the back issues of 'Mother Earth News'. I think they discussed using a pond below the concrete in the driveway to do what you are thinking about. Also, it may have been Popular Science, sorry getting older and the gray matter is turning white like my hair.

Depends on your purpose, but there are natural ice caves in New Mexico, and Thomas Jefferson Kept ice year round in deep pit. Seems logical that you could design such a pit under or near a building and cycle cold air past it.

We did an Ice Storage system a few years back for a campus chiller system at Northern Territory University (Australia), now Charles Darwin University www.cdu.edu.au. Contact Facilities Management, or the installer now known as TAC Pacific (previously CSI - Control Systems International)

back in the old days they would cut ice from lakes and store them in buildings (often built under the earth) and they used sawdust insulation. Since loss of heat was at the perimeter(square function) and volume is a cube function larger volumes lasted a lot longer per M3 than small ones. This was the basis of early ice based coolers with guys driving horse driven ice wagons around to sell blocks to people for their ice boxes. The early refrigerator sellers would follow the ice wagons around.

Early air conditioning worked on the same principal and some people of means used it. Others used evaporative cloth walls.

links to ice storage

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=colonial+%2B%22ice+storage%22&btnG=Search

Please visit the website: www.dunham-bush.com.my

If you need info about steam heating heating system & hot water system, please email me, jojie_oak@yahoo.com

regards

Jojie Apolinario, pme

It really is going to be very dependent on the size of the system. I've seen very large for university campuses (CSU Long Beach) and smaller offices (PG&E Pacific Energy Center). There are also residential size thermal storage units (ice bear...I think). You can probably call someone at the PG&E Pacific Energy Center. www.pge.com/pec

You can find information at the site www.calmac.com. CALMAC's system is very flexible and affordable. They have been at it the longest.

If you want some drawings and tips, let me know and I'll get some to you.