The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1923-08-02
HOW TO MANAGE
YOUR ICE CHEST

Extravaganza with an ice ches
proves to be economy. Economic
ing with the ice proves to be mos
expensive. He who seeks to save hi
ice shall lose it, and he who disre
CARDS the cost of plenty of ice shall
find that it last longer-mucl
longer.
To operate an ice chest or kitchen
refrigerator economically, fill II
chuck full of ice and before that IL
all melted, fill it up again. Have II
in one solid block If you can, for the
more 1t is broken and cracked, the
faster 1t melts.
II you are willing to waste ice and
the cost of ice in your ice chest, just
have the ice man fill 1t partly full,
and then let it go for a while with
out any ice at all before you have
him put some more in. By that plan
you allow the chest to become warm,
and 1t melts the next block of ice in a
hurry. To test the theory, try pour
ing hot water into the ice chest and
get it well warmed and then see how
very quickly your box full of ice will
vanish. Then while it is well chilled
with this ice, have it filled again with
just the same number of pounds of
ice and see how long 1t lasts when it
has cool start. That will prove to
you the Importance of getting the ice
chest cold and keeping it cold thru
out the season.
But that is only part of the secret
Of making ice last well in your ice
chest. You must keep the doors
closed every second of the time that
you can. You might not think 1t
matters, but it does. In order to ap-
preciate what we are about to tell
you, you must get some philosophy.
Cold air occupies less space than
warm air, and is heavier. II you
doubt it, light match and note that
the air that is against the blaze and
warmed, rises. 1t is pushed up by |
the heavier cooler air crowding it |
aside and upwards simply by it's |
weight. The same is true of water. |
The water in the bottom of a swim
ming hole is colder than that on the |
top. Now apply this philosophy to
the air in and around the ice chest
The air within the chest is cold
and heavy. The air outside the
chest is warm and light. When you |
open the door on the side of the ice
box, the heavy cold air is lying
against the lighter warm air right |
by the side of it, and it pushes out
and slides down towards the floor at
once. When all this heavy, cold
air has poured out o. the ice box and
mixed with the warm air, its place
q NV MI hot in,
around the ice, and as it cools, it
also flows out and down to the floor
by reason of its being heavier than
what is by the side of it. So, for
every moment the door is open there
is draft Of cold air passing out and
warm air passing in around the ice
and melting it. But that is not all;
The warm air has been warming the
inner walls of the chest, and when
you close the door after a minute or
.wo or five minutes, the warm air in
he chest has to be cooled and the
walls of the chest have to be cooled
again, and this melts the ice rapidly.
But there is more than that to this
ce business. When you open the
tide door of the chest to put some
hing in or to get something out,
move the door gently-not with q
quick pull. That makes an eddy in
he air and whirls the cold air out
t one quick whirl. If you open it
emily it does not make the whirl.
,ou can prove this by experimenting :
With something you can see better :
han you can see air. Try it on a :
ub or bucket of water. Suppose you {
ave tub of water and you start '
0 bail out a bucketfull. If you fill :
he bucket and then jerk it out sud- {
emily. it disturbs all the water in the p
lb and makes a whirl. 1t all tries +
} go somewhere at once. But if you I
it the filled bucket gently, the +
alter remaining in the tub is but 4
tile disturbed and lies still. Try a
milar proof in the ditch. Fill your
ucket and draw it quickly sidewise .
nd see how the water flows after it .
, it is jerked out. 1t almost jumps .
p into the air following the bucket. =,
he cold air in your ice box does the -
me hting when you open the side a.
DOR quickly. -
But there is more yet to this ice
onomy. Do you always shut the
,or of the ice box, and shut it tight
I'd latch it? If you don't, it leaves
crack around three edges of the tn
'or, maybe on four edges, and the ST
Id air flows out thru the lower 70
rts of these openings and the OIL
arm air flows in thru the upper CO
es, and the draft robs the ice box or
it's chill and deposits heat units
its place. If you happen to leave Ri
slightly ajar for half a day or over mr.
ght, your supply of ice will disap- IF
ar very rapidly. pu
Ice always looks clean, and seems
an, but it is only as clean as the d,
ter was in the pond OF stream fo
ERE it froze. AS it melts, the ma co
ials in the ice settle on the bot he
n of the ice chest and in the drain hi
,e, and form jelly, and wherever nj,
It touches the ice it melts it faster tn
IN If there was chilled metal at
It point. Some of this jelly sub To
ice in an ice box is or was living nj,
ms, very small, but subject to de- lot
like all flesh, and after these tiny co,
NAL forms have lain in your ice VIC