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george_n_texas

george_n_texas

Member
Sep 4, 2009
980
4
18
63
Texas
Funny thing is air conditioning has only been around a little over 100 years and most of the world doesn't have it. We take a lot of things for granted like assuming everyone can read. Air conditioning can actually be bad for your health...many heat strokes are due to people getting out in the heat that just aren't use to it, the sudden change in temp causes them to get sick. Then there's the mold http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2010/06/16/air-conditioners-how-bad-are-they-for-your-health/
 
NunyaBidness

NunyaBidness

Active Member
Jun 29, 2008
1,062
2
38
memphis tn
People addicted to air conditioning, it's kind of funny to me. I haven't used one in a few years now. Fans only. Memphis gets pretty hot in the summer and I ride my pedal bike in the middle of the day with no heat problems. I drink a LOT of water though, everyday, all day.
 
Dan

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
12,765
115
48
59
Moosylvania
Think we really have lost a lot of the common sense stuff with how to keep warm/cool. Houses used to be designed around the sun. The kitchen and pantry would be on the north side for the cool. You opened the top of the windows when hot. Cracks me up when folks have ceiling fans pushing warm air down with the bottoms of windows open. Done in opposite fashion, works incredibly well. In the winter with closed windows and the fan blowing down, warms up.

Am building a shed and want to take a bunch of the old methods, enhanced with new tech stuff and get hard numbers from experiments on heating, cooling and lighting.
 
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george_n_texas

george_n_texas

Member
Sep 4, 2009
980
4
18
63
Texas
One thing being done today you didn't see 30 years ago is vented roofcaps...you see this on a lot of huge barns they have a gap along the ridge of the roof to allow the hot air to flow out. From what I hear you are lucky to have a fan in China & India much less AC. Another thing I remember is my grandma keeping taters in the basement.
 
B

Buzzard

Member
Jul 9, 2008
264
5
18
Lincoln, NE
Living on the farm in late 40s early 50s we didn't have any AC or refrigeration but we had an ice house. It was like an old log barn, they would cut ice out of the lake in the winter and store it in the old ice house covered in saw dust from one of the saw mills. You could go in there on the hottest day in August there would be ice buried in the saw dust and the temp was around 40 all the time.
We had an ice box in the kitchen and one of my jobs was to go out and get the block of ice - I had to use and axe or saw to chop it to the right size - and put it in the old ice box. This would last all day and keep things like butter and milk cool enough they wouldn't spoil. I had to do this every day. Now days the refrigerators come with an ice maker. People are spoiled that way.
And you couldn't forget to drain the pan under the ice box either.
buzzard
x
 
2door

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
My grandmother had an ice box and I can remember the 'iceman' delivering ice to her house in a horse drawn wagon. He would carry two blocks up the front walk in those big iron tongs, one over each shoulder and put one in the ice box and the other in an isulated zink coated box that was in the cellar (basement) My grandad would bring that one up the next day and replace the melted one from the kitchen. And yes, there was a drain pan under the box to catch the water but granddad had connected it to a hose that went through the kitchen wall to ouitside. It dripped into a bucket that grandma used to water flowers. They always told me not to drink that water because "it's nasty". LOL, I tried it once but only once. It was...well, nasty! :)

I also remember when she got her first refrigerator and her and granddad would sit in the kitchen and watch it as if it was a television. Every few minutes one of them would get up, open the fridge door and feel of something. "Yep, it's cold" they'd say then sit down and watch it again for a while. Us kids still laugh about that to this day.
Tom
 
Dan

Dan

Staff
May 25, 2008
12,765
115
48
59
Moosylvania
The saw dust thing amazes me, at how well it works. The never built but what a cool thought, the WW2 aircraft carrier made from ice using wood pulp. (Pykrete) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Habakkuk preserved and strengthened ice so well, you could shoot it!

LOL Tom. Can almost see them sitting there watching the fridge.
 
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B

Buzzard

Member
Jul 9, 2008
264
5
18
Lincoln, NE
Reading about watching the fridge cool reminds us of when we bought our first new washing machine and matching dryer set, we stood and watched it the first few loads too. LOL
buzzard
xLadyG
 
tooljunkie

tooljunkie

Member
Apr 4, 2012
663
5
16
Manitoba,Canada
Dan said:
Think we really have lost a lot of the common sense stuff with how to keep warm/cool. Houses used to be designed around the sun. The kitchen and pantry would be on the north side for the cool. You opened the top of the windows when hot. Cracks me up when folks have ceiling fans pushing warm air down with the bottoms of windows open. Done in opposite fashion, works incredibly well. In the winter with closed windows and the fan blowing down, warms up.

Am building a shed and want to take a bunch of the old methods, enhanced with new tech stuff and get hard numbers from experiments on heating, cooling and lighting.
Click to expand...
my friends just renovated their house,replacing all the windows.the new ones have the opening part at the top,its amazing how much air moves through the house now compared to before.

i recall the old finlander at the lake having an ice house,deep hole in the ground filled with wood shavings,i remember them keeping ice til late summer.they even kept dry ice,i think it helped keep the wet ice longer.
 
Greybeard

Greybeard

New Member
Feb 8, 2011
336
1
0
Sequim WA
AM radio. When I was 12 or so, I got some kind of radio thing that worked without batteries like a crystal set did. I strung wire around the eves of my parents house on electric fence insulators for an antennae and ran a ground wire up to my 2nd story bedroom. I'd lay in bed at night and pick up stations thousands of miles away and couldn't get the one 20 miles away in the next town.
 
2door

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
They used to sell those crystal radio kits that you put together. All the components were there, you just connected them then ran an antenna to something. (Greybeard's sounds like a lightning rod) :)
The one I had used a sliding contact to change the stations and all the parts were mounted on a little square piece of wood. It was painted red, if I recall correctly. We're talking mid 50s.

Tom
 
2door

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
I knew quite a few guys who used to build Heathkit radios for R/C planes. They swore by them. The big names, Kraft, Futaba, and others were several times the price of the Heath radios. That was in the mid 70s.

Tom
 
B

Buzzard

Member
Jul 9, 2008
264
5
18
Lincoln, NE
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Bravo
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xLadyG
 
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