the technology is secondary to the underlying purpose: food preservation.

evaporative coolers seem to operate on the same principle (amiright?), and there’s more information about their place-based effectiveness which might roughly translate to this technology:
http://oikos.com/library/energy_outlet/evap_coolers.html

it’s all relative: i think this technology is definitely less effective in my area (Willamette Valley) than it is, for example, in the high desert of Eastern Oregon. that doesn’t mean it’s not useful to me, just that i probably shouldn’t rely on it as a main form of food preservation…(?) so maybe that translates into me having one cooling pot instead of four, and relying more heavily on other food preservation technologies or techniques (fermentation!!).

i could be way off base — maybe it’s really effective in my area. dunno.

it never ceases to boggle my mind how our legacy of colonialism has stripped us of SO MUCH place-based cultural knowledge…both in terms of the uprooted placelessness of white/modern people and the oppression and genocide of native populations (and the marginalization or disappearance of their knowledge). we have so much rebuilding work to do around food culture!

sometimes i think we are reinventing the wheel, but we’ve changed our environment/surrounding ecosystems so drastically that i also wonder how much of the native knowledge is still immediately relevant. e.g., so many new species and a decimated salmon population.

Since i couldnt find anyone talking about the specifics of the pot in a pot system i looked up the humidity and temp of the places it works in and i guess ill just have to try and stay in that range. In Sudan it looks like its usualy 20-30 percent humidity and 80-100 degrees. here in Indiana (US) during summer it 80-100 degrees but with 80% humidity. So building a dry box for it might be a challenge for me- i dont use an air conditing or dehudifier in my apartment so its bery humid in here.

My rough idea- That i have no clue if it will work- and would love some feedback on- is to build an airtight box to incase the pot in a pot.(perhaps an old fridge) it would be a tall roomy box- with enough space to allow the evaporation process to occur. with humidity and temp gauges. Then i will put little battery operated fans in the bottom (with rechargeable batteries that i will charge with my battery solar charger) – so that it will have good air flow. The i will line the box with bags of cheap and easy to find Calcium Chloride- which is a serious natural dehumidifier. the bags will pull the moisture out of the air and drip into collecting pans at the bottom of the box that i will empty when i water the sand or go in to to get food.

the calcium chloride turns to mush when its taken all it can and has to be heated to get rid of the collected moisture and make it reusable- which i will do (in theory) with a solar cooker (ive heard this works). i will have “batches” in rotation so im never waiting for fresh chloride- so that it will just be a matter of switching things out- perhaps daily. But i dont mind pouring out a pan of water, switching a few bags, and watering sand on a daily basis if it means offgrid refridgeration in my apartment. to me thats well worth it. and even seems fun to me.

My concern is that there will just be too much water in the box though. to actually keep the air inside dry.

people make dry boxes with bags of calcium chloride all the time- and they work- but they arent continuously pouring water into the box.

my other concern is if the whole system will make the entire box too cool- thus haulting the evaporation process- and haulting the cooling process….or will it cntiunously flux between cooling down and heating up and never really do anything at all.

My other question that i would love to fnd the answer to is how the pot in pot system works at night- when the night air cools- im sure the Sudan nights are still hot- but does the temp change effect the system and how.

because sometimes we get a cooling rain come through and everything will drop down to about 70% and i have no idea how that will effect my little set up.

i am not a scientist or engineer or have any experience in these kinds of things- just a really strong desire to make it work wit hwhatever tidbits of info i can find on the web. so any help at all in this would be so very appreciated.

thanks

other people aren’t so fortunate. it’s about power. the islanders whose nations are disappearing underwater can’t afford such masturbatory and academic talk about hoaxes. it’s here now and the world’s historically vulnerable populations are bearing the brunt of it.

it is all a familiar narrative: the people most responsible for producing problems or making life more difficult for others creating whatever little excuses we can to avoid taking responsibility and action.

frankly, i don’t care whether privileged middle-upper class white people from the global north think global warming is a hoax as long as they are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint… as Furgutt pointed out:

“What we do today is only justifiable because we have to do it en masse, like a terrified pack of vermin who believe that the rest of our species will overrun us if we can’t get ‘em first by overpopulating our bit of the planet first and then taking theirs off them as well!”

so here’s to an increase of localized self-reliance and the end of global economic slavery and ecological destruction at the hands of privileged Northern twits just because we want our latest iPhone or 3D TV.

so just to echo some important questions again:
“where will this type of refrigerator work? Only in hot tropical or subtropical desert-type (arid) areas? Or will it work in temperate climates, too? If so, during what months of the year?” -me (US)

“Will the fridge pot be cooler if left in the sun?”-anders (Morocco)
(someone said no, better in shade)

“does ANYONE know the specific temperature and humidity levels that this thing works on??? what is the scale of these that itll work in?” -melissa

in my area, there can be sometimes drastic swings in humidity during the summer, which means i may need to find another means of going fridge-less.

can we stop for one second arguing about who is holier and more righteous and who is evil and wrong and when the world will end and who is to blame and actually get something done please?

does ANYONE know the specific temperature and humidity levels that this thing works on??? what is the scale of these that itll work in?

i need to know if i can make a fake enviroment for one to get it to work in my muggy humid area. i want to know if its possible for me to create my own hot and dry box for this thing. but i have to know if its possible to do. i need actual temps and humidity levels. i cant find them anywhere. if anyone can help me i would appreciate it.