Using a 100 Plus Year Old Ice Box: Our Families Story of Life Without an Electric Refrigerator

[@gordonayres2609]

I travelled in Morrocco many years ago, and stayed in an old hotel in a town called Tarraoudant which was owned by an elderly French lady. It had mostly vintage furnishings. The bar had a refrigerator exactly like this. I expected Bogart to come in any minute. Best wishes.

[@montanaplants]

Thank you for this video! I'm buying a huge old craftsman house with an ice box, and I really want to use it!

[@jimm6386]

I knew one of the many beneficiaries of the Seegar Refrigeration Corporation in St. Paul, MN. Seegar was bought out by Whirlpool many, many moons ago.

[@ItsMeNanaD71]

How do you freeze your bottles in the first place to keep the fridge cold? I understand in the freezing winters the outdoor temp will freeze them, so I'm asking more about during the other seasons. Thanks! I'm working towards homesteading & am just trying to learn all I can.

[@MsHomesteader]

Wow, what a wonderful find, I've not seen one this large before! My husband is in the process of making an ice box, super insulated for our kitchen. If we could find something this large we'd buy it, beautiful

[@ArtisanAcre]

+MsHomesteader Thank you. We were at that stage too, to make a larger one, but as things sometimes happen I jumped on craigslist out of the blue because we had long given up the hunt for a larger affordable ice box, and wow their it was!

[@rickkijohns1408]

I just love the instrumentals. The first and last instrumental, I would love to know the name of it. Thanks

[@EchoCanyonRanch1]

I absolutely love your big icebox!! I've never seen one like it. I have wanted a small one for years and years. Just after first seeing you post your older video showing your small one, we were able to purchase one almost like yours. It's a little bigger though. I am able to keep our goat milk that is in 1/2 gallon jars in the bottom left compartment. People think I'm crazy not having an electric refrigerator but I LOVE my icebox!! We tried different bottles for the frozen water and we found using one gallon plastic jugs work the best in our ice box. Our shelves are original and look just like yours in your big icebox. You are right, one can't keep too many leftovers, we have to eat up the food in a few days. We have a freezer too so it's easy to make ice. Your older video convinced me we could do this. We've had our icebox now for a couple years. God blessed us in how we were able to buy it, the best deal ever. And it's in perfect condition, just beautiful. But, your new box is absolutely gorgeous.....you did beautiful work! God is so good! Will you be keeping your small one too?

[@ArtisanAcre]

+EchoCanyonRanch1 God is good indeed! I am sorry it took so long to reply, sometimes it takes me a while but I do try to get back to every comment. WOW it has been so long since we made the video of the little ice box I almost forgot we did. I need to go rewatch lol. What an amazing thing to say that we convince you that you could...I love it! The videos we do seem so well, unimportant, but when we learn we encourage someone in simplifying in some way it makes our day! I wish people could post pictures on here as I would love to see your icebox. I actually wanted one about 1/2 the size of our new one but we only found one and it was more then what we paid for our large and not nearly as nice. As for keeping our old one, yes. We are going to be using it in our RV as we build our cabin. It also has some sentimental value. Thank you so much for watching us, we do appreciate it! God bless!

[@shonitagarcia3222]

This is a beautiful Icebox! You are so lucky to have found this one! Thank you for sharing this video! It's a beautiful find!

[@carolhewett3756]

Yes I understand the unpleasant sound of a refrigerator. We lost all power for a week due to a hurricane and loved the true sound of silence. You can hear insects and birds even when you are in the house.

[@pattifoote1714]

Beautiful ice box’s, the large one is just wonderful!💚☘️

[@melodycapehartmedina2264]

I loved your small one a lot but this one is amazing! You do have a true Mr Amazing with all that he can do with his hands. I am really happy ya'll are finally going to be able to move up north!!

[@ArtisanAcre]

+Melody Capehart Medina Thank you! We are all excited about the north too!

[@KraftKreations]

I'm just curious how/where you freeze the water bottles to put in the non-electric ice box?

[@ArtisanAcre]

Hi Lori, before we moved we had a deep freeze in our workshop. Since our offgrid move we no longer use water bottles. I will attache a link here to what we do for part of the year now. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmbCqpuBjb1ppsU

[@jaimeruff4219]

Your the Only one on youtube who gives details about their icebox. I do have a question about your smaller icebox. The ice holding area/spot.... will it hold a regular 5 gallon bucket? Im going semi off grid. Southeast heat can be deadly so We have to have ac. However new home will only have a water heater, wood burning range and a hopeful icebox.

[@acousticedison]

I totally restored several home sized ice boxed. One was a late Coolerator which has the air flow over the bottom of the ice rather than melting from the top. It was designed to compete with early electric units. It dated from around 1940. It would run on a fill up of ice for 5 days. I tired the ice blocks that are plastic in one of them. Real ice preformed much better being about 5 or more degrees colder than having a plastic covered ones. It would cool to about 38 in the food compartment. If the freezer I had to make the ice blocks hadn't given out I would still be using it.

[@bayoutown1990]

Lea, What music is this that you are using? I LOVE it! My son plays hammer dulcimer and we would love for him to learn this piece. You're doing a super great job! So glad to see you are making more videos. I have been badly sick for many months and just saw your videos. I hope all is well on the homestead for you and your family.

[@ArtisanAcre]

Hi Cherie, I am so sorry to hear that you have been sick! I pray you are doing better! How cool is that to play the dulcimer!?! I love it! The music is called Batty Mcfaddin. If you google it should pull it up on youtube. God bless! Lea

[@christinealwayschirping4115]

Wow netver seen a big ice box like that would love to have a big one like it am going off grid...

[@Ang.0910]

The outside wood on your big icebox looks 😘🤌

[@thisisnotmyname4700]

That’s awesome... would love one myself !

[@honestyfaithful]

Love love love your videos I do have a question though when you were talking to one of the other people you'd said you were going to put an end to the ground refrigerator can you explain that more to me we are in the process of going off grid we have an icebox but we're not sure how to keep the bottles frozen when it's hot thank you so much have a blessed day

[@z5959]

What a great ice box, very nice.

[@ArtisanAcre]

+z5959 Thank you!

[@ojsimson7993]

Ive got an old one if any1 looking

[@bowenfamilyfarm9776]

They are beautiful.

[@607kmj]

When you were using the frozen bottles to keep it cool where was the melted water coming from?

[@ArtisanAcre]

Hi Katie, Are you referring to condensation on the outside of the bottle?

[@607kmj]

The Oldsteaders' Homestead: Living Life Simply - oh maybe!! You pulled out a bucket that had been collecting melted water and I couldnt figure out the source since the ice was in the bottles! We’re fixing up an old Ice box to use now.

[@ArtisanAcre]

@@607kmj Congrats on you Ice box! How do you like it? I've done a few different videos on our ice boxes and we have used 2 liters filled with water, we've done 5 gallon buckets filled with water, and we've done blocks of ice so I wasn't sure which one this was. The buckets and bottles do create enough condensation as they melt to have a small drip pan under the ice box and of course the ice blocks are well, just a mess :) Since we have moved to the north, we cut a hole in our large ice box through the wall building a box between the two to connect them and put a small vent on the outside wall. This way, the ice box is cooled from the cold weather for about 6 months out of the year and no need for ice/bottles or buckets. This was actually something that folks would do years ago to save on need for ice.

[@stupidusedrnames]

Where do you get all the frozen replacement water bottles? Thx

[@ArtisanAcre]

+TMT1473 You can get them from a place call Uline or Fillmore containers. But the cheapest way we have found is to look for soda pop to come on sale. We don't drink soda but the bottles last for years! Thanks for watching!

[@stupidusedrnames]

But how do you freeze them if you don't have a freezer? Thank u

[@ItsMeNanaD71]

well crap. I just asked the same question & saw you haven't gotten a response in 2 years : (

[@korynnininm]

You'd collect it in the winter from frozen ponds or setting buckets of ice to freeze. My grandma would store a lot of food on the porch during the winter while she filled her ice box with ice throughout the winter

[@debbiem2146]

Ok - this ice box is just a dream! And that was a very unique milk dispenser - milk dispensed with a smile ;-) . Are you still planning on building an inground refrigerator? Thank you :-) !

[@Michigansnowpony]

You must have a freezer where you freeze the water bottles for the icebox or ????????? And how long before you have to do a switch out of those bottles?

[@ArtisanAcre]

+Michigansnowpony Yes we do have a freezer out in the workshop that we use to freeze bottles in the warmer weather. I see you are in Michigan so you know that it is typically easy to freeze 2 liters outside in the winter...except for this past year. We currently live in southern Mi but are moving to the UP this month. We should be able to freeze bottles outside for 9 months of the year LOL. Seriously though because of temp difference up there etc we plan on using an "in ground" refrigerator when months don't freeze bottles via weather, should work for part of the warmer months. Thank you for watching.

[@ArtisanAcre]

+Family Heritage Living Sorry forgot, the big ice box last about 4 days before needing to change. The little one was every 2 days.

[@stupidusedrnames]

We were just talking about you Rene'! Having goat problems and I mentioned you to my daughter. Said you must be busy lately. You taught me how to can!

[@andrewyork3869]

Does this not have a freezer?

[@darleneoliver7815]

I am thinking about small one for one person small one room cabin

[@bayoutown1990]

Lea, the doing wasn't the same as Batty McFaddin on KZbin. Any other ideas? My son heard it and we'd love to know who the artist is. Thank you!

[@soonersciencenerd383]

egg and butter preservation? how do you preserve your eggs and butter? ive always wanted to know....

[@HomsteadingThePioneerWay]

nice ice box

[@jamesndarlene]

That is neat, I want the little old one! LOL Loved the video.

[@ArtisanAcre]

+jamesndarlene Thank you!

[@thepostman41]

Fill five gallon buckets with water, let them freeze in winter. Use the ice buckets to insulate your freezer.

[@bella-pd1ut]

You could use plastic milk crates so that you don't have to carry all of them in ur arms and they might fit in there so it's easy to change them out

[@ArtisanAcre]

Thank you for watching and commenting. Blessing, The Winans

[@michaelsmith71]

How often do you have to change the ice bottles?

[@ArtisanAcre]

+michael smith Every 4 days...thank you for watching.

[@michaelsmith71]

Nice, thank you for the video.

[@FordRVRefrigeration]

well done thank you GBYAY

[@ArtisanAcre]

Thank you very much!

[@rhodacrosby1749]

I hate my refrigerator. It’s 2 years old and I can talk for 20 minutes about how badly I feel I was screwed when I bought it. I plan on making an icebox unless I can find one for a good price.

[@rainer1980]

Theoretically you don't have to keep eggs in an ice box because if you go to almost any country in Europe, eggs are sold at room temperature.

[@lesliekendall2206]

I'm just using the fridge we had for my ice box.

[@ArtisanAcre]

That works perfect!

[@lennyasmrart]

cant hear u

[@dewuknowofHyMn]

Cayenne pepper in their feed and they will lay till one puts them in the stew pot.....

[@concordiaranger2169]

That thing is huge. Must have been in a restaurant.

[@stupidusedrnames]

Just read new comments to find out you have a freezer. Thanks.