How to Cool an Ice Chest With a Camp Fire
You can use the energy generated in a campfire to cool an ice chest by either creating a steam engine or using a small piece of burning wood to run a propane refrigerator. Building a steam turbine will require you to pressurize the steam generated by your campfire and link it to a turbine and a generator. That is neither safe nor practical on such a small scale. However, you can use fire from your campfire to run a propane ice chest without a propane flame.
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Instructions
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Find an old propane refrigerator. Propane refrigerators use a propane flame, thus the name, to vaporize ammonia or another refrigerant with a low boiling point and push it through a condenser. Then it mixes with hydrogen gas and causes a chemical reaction which evaporates the ammonia a second time, which causes it to drop in temperature and absorb the heat from the refrigerator. Propane refrigerators are also called absorption refrigerators.
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Remove the propane container and propane flame burner. Propane is highly combustible and can explode if exposed to a naked flame.
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Replace the propane flame burner with embers from your fire. A small amount of ember will suffice. You only need to generate the heat of a regular pilot light flame. The embers will heat the ammonia and start the refrigerator's cooling cycle. You will need a steady supply of embers to keep the ice chest cool.
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Tips & Warnings
This is not an efficient design to cool your ice chest. If your main purpose is to cool your ice chest, as opposed to practicing your survivalist skills, buy a propane gas cylinder.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit campfire image by vb_photo from Fotolia.com
