Ice Blocks in the Air Tunnels! Will this cool the potatoes?

Hold on to your hats, because today we're taking farm innovation to a whole new level! We're on a mission to keep our potato cellar cool by filling the air tunnels with massive blocks of ice. Will this crazy experiment work? Join us and find out! Plus, when our irrigation system hits a snag with a broken pivot wire, it's all hands on deck to dig it up and get things back on track. Expect unexpected twists, hands-on action, and a whole lot of fun. Don't miss this epic episode-like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell for more wild farming adventures!

[@terrafarms7370]

Hi from Australia, I'm a spud grower with storage like you guys.I hate to give you bad news but the amount of ice you are using just won't be enough. I know what you are trying to do, but truly you need to up the ice rate to at least 4 to 6 times the amount to at least get the spuds down to 8 or 10 D Celsius which is about 50 F. Don't worry you are not alone in the world of potato growing when things don't go your way.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Well, I’m glad you’re here. It did lower the temperature about 3°F but it was mainly just to prove the concept. We will probably be putting more ice in this week.

[@johnwarren-649]

Need couple reefer units to blow cool air into them

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

That’s not a bad idea I might have to look into that

[@cornbread4961]

Props for posting this!!! Some People don't realize desperate times call for desperate measures. What do you do?!

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

I tried to show the good bad and the ugly of farming. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@jeremygourde9880]

What about spraying water on the top of the cellars. Evaporation will cool that space a lot faster than the few ice blocks. Ice blocks will work but you’d have to fill the cellar from Floor to ceiling

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Problem is there is 6 inches of insulation so spraying the outside of the cellar wouldn’t do much

[@jayfarmer3911]

When cattle guys raise spuds.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

We don’t have cows

[@kinlika]

@@RockyMountainFarmer No cows.... You make 'Hay' ? You haul Manure... ?

[@garyl6375]

Your pissing in the wind. You'll never get the potato pulp temp back down with just a few bags of ice. You needed to start this LONG before now. As far as the storage that has the rot - you guy's really screwed up by not looking at the storage every couple days at least. You just cost yourselves a ton of money!

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

It actually brought the temp down a few degrees. And we do check the cellars every couple days. But there wasn’t much we could do to cool them down without refrigeration.

[@patrickc8190]

Good luck guys, hope you can get that storage emptied soon. I was going to suggest a portable refrigeration, but i see some other have made the suggestion and where you said you did rent one.

[@Ed_in_Md]

Never seen blocks of ice that small. When you said blocks of ice I remembered the 25 pound blocks we used to put in the refrigerator on our boat.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

These were the biggest ones we could get

[@user-ej8dc7rs7k]

I don’t know if I would have taken them out of the bags

[@jsmith5272]

There are portable refrigerated air units you can rent. Usually used on buildings loose their HVAC. Some come on a semi trailer with a generator, smaller units can use use on site power....you will need to do a internet search. Ice will not do much, expensive. These other units can be expensive. Depends on the value of crop and if the potato purchase people are willing to help with cost.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

We rented one, but we were not able to find any more available

[@craigwyatt32]

@@RockyMountainFarmer what size unit are you looking for?

[@gregeconomeier1476]

Cooling yes. Also significantly increasing the humidity.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

If we turn our humidity off, it shouldn’t be any different than normal

[@ryanc8188]

if you're already running humidifiers why not try a port-a-cool, then you get cool and humidity. I tried ice blocks in water going through a radiator with a fan once, I'd go through a block in an hour or 2 with little to no affect on temperature but that was in a 800 sqft shop that was 80+ degrees.

[@feelinggroovy913]

I’d be contacting IVI to get those storages refrigerated before next season!

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

This is the first time ever that this has happened to us. The cellars that we do have refrigeraton we haven’t used it in 15 years

[@raymondtarbox2356]

In the winter time before snow melts fill your walk ways with snow.you will be amazed how it works

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

They keep cool great in the winter

[@PgP736]

❤ from Norway

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Glad you’re here

[@paulhammond7489]

Nice save on the pivot electrics, also making hay while the sun shines :) Any feedback on the airless tires / wheels on the pivots since the last episode? Are they holding up with time regarding not digging deep furrows

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

They are still doing awesome very little pivot tracks

[@paulhammond7489]

@@RockyMountainFarmer Good to hear that :)

[@billwang4086]

Hope Idaho does not come take your solid water.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Right

[@Arham7cheema]

Great work

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Glad you liked it

[@oajkurunigaming]

❤❤😊😊Good video💛💛🌹🌹🌹✔️

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@MG-ge5xq]

How is the water situation? Did you find a solution?

[@charlesperry6093]

You should leave the ice in the bag and stack them up into a rectangular formation then you should wrap them in burlap then with foil-backed insulation!

[@RobertHull]

What's the point of using ice if you insulate it? The ice needs to evaporate to cool the air.

[@cmc7106]

All that ice and no beer!! Hahaha

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Nope haha

[@charlesperry6093]

You would have better results if you do not open the ice and stack it up

[@johnbucklerfarms]

What about a Swamp Cooler Fan that Uses Water and a Fan Drape?

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

The cellar has that installed already but it needs more cooling

[@Thegrim326]

Would you mind sending that heat to Wisconsin kinda need it here rarely getting a 75 plus degree day here this year

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Wish I could

[@charlesperry6093]

You're making a mistake open in the bags you need to keep the ice in the bags to keep the

[@michaelgriggs-lr9gh]

Great video. How's the water situation?

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

I’m glad you enjoyed the video. They postponed the water stuff until October but they still don’t have a solution.

[@charlesperry6093]

The ice is going to melt too rapidly

[@Chiedl]

How many times are you going to comment the same thing in a different way?

[@jbones9333]

Man i thought i was dumb until i saw this idea

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Hey, it worked hit lower the temperature 3°

[@LynnKorte-ve4qf]

If you have access to cold well water ,look into those 4 ft or higher fan forced radiant swamp coolers that use a flowing cold water coil in front of the large fans that the well water is pump thru the coils and it uses its water circulation thru the coils and air is blowed thru as it would work perfect placing those directional in you cellar airways,,you then can reuse them for many years to come and they are easy to move around and they are on roller wheels

[@vfromid2186]

Absolutely agreed.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

There’s essentially a giant swamp cooler inside the cellar already

[@1981FlyingV]

So using the ice. Do you recirculate the air to keep the air cooler?

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Yes we do

[@dougk5456]

Dry ice may have been a better choice. Don't know about availability in your area.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

We couldn’t get much of that. It was actually hard to find block ice.

[@ileenmcminn2062]

I assume you have only been running your fans at night.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Yeah, pretty much

[@JetIgniter2k2]

The amount of ice you put in there is equivalent to running a small window air conditioner for a few hours. That's not going to make any sort of dent in a full cellar.

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

It dropped it about 3°. We were mainly seeing if it would do anything.

[@robleask1449]

Was dry ice not an option. It lasts longer, than just normal water ice

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

We couldn’t get enough

[@shanebell9589]

Thermoking off a beater reefer trailer? We did that once…..

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

That’s a good idea

[@charlesperry6093]

Big mistake taking the ice out of the bag you should leave it in the bag and stack it that way then wrap it in foil-backed insulation. Use the 4X sheep type insulation to make a little surrounding like a dog house!

[@RobertHull]

What's the point of using ice if you insulate it? You need the ice to evaporate to cool the air.

[@charlesperry6093]

@@RobertHull your wrong. If you were to shrink wrap all of that ice together in one big block on a pallet then the ice would melt much slower in the cooling would be much more effective when you run a fan over it.

[@RobertHull]

@charlesperry6093 The way I understand it is, the ice will absorb the same amount of BTUs no matter how you stack or wrap it. The only thing that changes when you insulate the ice is the amount of time it takes to do it.

[@310Fire11]

Any updates on the state water rights issues?

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

They postponed the issue till October so they’re going to let people water this year but they still don’t have a solution

[@310Fire11]

@@RockyMountainFarmer Thanks. Maybe an update video in the near future would be appreciated. Farmers in Southern Alberta may also have the same fight over water rights in the future.

[@bapstalbert439]

en alberta ca il lave les pomme de terre avec une machine (laveuse a pomme de terre ) !!!

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

Yeah, we have one and I made a video on it. It will be coming out soon.

[@kinlika]

The only thing to save these sheds of potatoes is to move the potatoes... Preferably off the farm.. Sold.. Done and gone... Long term vegetable crop storage is a hugely complicated,complex, very expensive business... Using hugely complicated,complex, very expensive buildings with a 'Controlled environment'' That process starts with people who know what they are doing... No bags of ice are involved...

[@seangivens2770]

why not rent a commercial portable ac unit..

[@RockyMountainFarmer]

There are none available

[@seangivens2770]

@@RockyMountainFarmer shit tons of ice it is. sorry to hear . Kwikool 270,000 BTU 25 Ton something like this with a portable 3 phase generator might be worth the while if the over heating keeps happening and lose of potatoes.