How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

This is what my dad used to do, dig a small hole in the back garden
when the weather started getting warmer. It was about a foot deep and
a foot square. Mum placed the milk bottles therein, which were always
beaded with condensation, even on a warm summer's day.

What's the science behind this?

MM

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:25:29 +0000, MM wrote:

This is what my dad used to do, dig a small hole in the back garden
when the weather started getting warmer. It was about a foot deep and
a foot square. Mum placed the milk bottles therein, which were always
beaded with condensation, even on a warm summer's day.

What's the science behind this?

MM

Probably a combination of preventing the sun getting to it and
dampness in the earth . I take it you didn't have a fridge .
Stuart

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On 15 Feb, 12:44, Stuart B wrote:
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:25:29 +0000, MM wrote:

This is what my dad used to do, dig a small hole in the back garden
when the weather started getting warmer. It was about a foot deep and
a foot square. Mum placed the milk bottles therein, which were always
beaded with condensation, even on a warm summer's day.

What's the science behind this?

MM

Probably a combination of preventing the sun getting to it and
dampness in the earth . I take it you didn't have a fridge .
Stuart

yes, plus very large thermal storage and plus grass evaporating water
off, which causes cooling.


NT

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On 15 Feb, 11:25, MM wrote:

always beaded with condensation,

That just means they're relatively cooler than the air, not that
they're cool in absolute terms.

Pit coolers and swamp coolers are combination of several things.

Firstly pits don't really "cool" anything, they just avoid the peak
temperatures of the hottest part of the day. Overall (including the
night) the average temperature is much lower. Many food-spoiling
processes are more susceptible to a high short peak exceeding some
threshold than to the average. If you sink the pit into a well-
insulated mass with a high thermal inertia (a well-lidded soil pit
does both) then a mere milk bottle will remain at the soil's seasonal
average, not climb to the daytime temperature.

Make a hole the size of a shed, line it with straw and you can keep
ice into the Summer. Many 18th century ice-houses still survive today.

It takes energy to evaporate a liquid, which is the principle behind
the swamp cooler. Take a pool of water with a large wick in it and it
will drop in temperature as the water evaporates into the passing
drier air. Make a permeable terracotta pot, fill it with water and you
have a traditional butter cooler. It needs airflow though, so it's
more of an alternative to the pit than an addition to it. Handy for
camping though.

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:44:58 +0000, Stuart B
wrote:

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:25:29 +0000, MM wrote:

This is what my dad used to do, dig a small hole in the back garden
when the weather started getting warmer. It was about a foot deep and
a foot square. Mum placed the milk bottles therein, which were always
beaded with condensation, even on a warm summer's day.

What's the science behind this?

MM

Probably a combination of preventing the sun getting to it and
dampness in the earth . I take it you didn't have a fridge .

Correct. We didn't have a fridge till the 1960s.

MM

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On 15 Feb 2007 05:40:53 -0800, "Andy Dingley"
wrote:

On 15 Feb, 11:25, MM wrote:

always beaded with condensation,

That just means they're relatively cooler than the air, not that
they're cool in absolute terms.

Pit coolers and swamp coolers are combination of several things.

Firstly pits don't really "cool" anything, they just avoid the peak
temperatures of the hottest part of the day. Overall (including the
night) the average temperature is much lower. Many food-spoiling
processes are more susceptible to a high short peak exceeding some
threshold than to the average. If you sink the pit into a well-
insulated mass with a high thermal inertia (a well-lidded soil pit
does both) then a mere milk bottle will remain at the soil's seasonal
average, not climb to the daytime temperature.

Make a hole the size of a shed, line it with straw and you can keep
ice into the Summer. Many 18th century ice-houses still survive today.

It takes energy to evaporate a liquid, which is the principle behind
the swamp cooler. Take a pool of water with a large wick in it and it
will drop in temperature as the water evaporates into the passing
drier air. Make a permeable terracotta pot, fill it with water and you
have a traditional butter cooler. It needs airflow though, so it's
more of an alternative to the pit than an addition to it. Handy for
camping though.

Interesting! Especially the butter cooler idea.

MM

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

MM wrote:

This is what my dad used to do, dig a small hole in the back garden
when the weather started getting warmer. It was about a foot deep and
a foot square. Mum placed the milk bottles therein, which were always
beaded with condensation, even on a warm summer's day.

What's the science behind this?

MM

Same way as a pubs cellar works - it's part of the Free underground air
considitioning system
--
zaax

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:50:21 +0000, MM wrote:

On 15 Feb 2007 05:40:53 -0800, "Andy Dingley"
wrote:

On 15 Feb, 11:25, MM wrote:

always beaded with condensation,

That just means they're relatively cooler than the air, not that they're
cool in absolute terms.

Pit coolers and swamp coolers are combination of several things.

Firstly pits don't really "cool" anything, they just avoid the peak
temperatures of the hottest part of the day. Overall (including the
night) the average temperature is much lower. Many food-spoiling
processes are more susceptible to a high short peak exceeding some
threshold than to the average. If you sink the pit into a well- insulated
mass with a high thermal inertia (a well-lidded soil pit does both) then
a mere milk bottle will remain at the soil's seasonal average, not climb
to the daytime temperature.

Make a hole the size of a shed, line it with straw and you can keep ice
into the Summer. Many 18th century ice-houses still survive today.

It takes energy to evaporate a liquid, which is the principle behind the
swamp cooler. Take a pool of water with a large wick in it and it will
drop in temperature as the water evaporates into the passing drier air.
Make a permeable terracotta pot, fill it with water and you have a
traditional butter cooler. It needs airflow though, so it's more of an
alternative to the pit than an addition to it. Handy for camping though.

Interesting! Especially the butter cooler idea.

MM

===============================
Butter coolers of this type were very common at one time. Try your local
church jumble sale to find one.

p.s. You can reverse the principle (i.e. keep things warm) by creating a
'haybox'. Line a large box (including a lid) with hay / straw and put a
hot casserole inside and it will stay warm or even continue cooking. Slow
cookers use the same principle, I believe.

Cic.



--
================================
Testing UBUNTU Linux
Everything working so far
================================

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On 15 Feb, 13:50, MM wrote:

Interesting! Especially the butter cooler idea.

Handy for picnic wine cooling too

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milkbottles cool?
 

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 15 Feb, 13:50, MM wrote:

Interesting! Especially the butter cooler idea.

Handy for picnic wine cooling too


In S Africa, you used to see people driving around with hessian bags of
beer cans tied to the door mirrors..a douse of water once every few
miles kept them cool by evaporation.

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

In message , Cicero
writes
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:50:21 +0000, MM wrote:
===============================
Butter coolers of this type were very common at one time. Try your local
church jumble sale to find one.
I used to have a cooler which looked like a 'fridge, it was made of some
kind of plaster like stuff which you soaked in a stream or with a
hosepipe, it would keep milk fresh over a long weekend providing you
kept it watered.

--
Clint Sharp

How exactly does a small pit dug in the garden help keep milk bottles cool?
 

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:28:25 +0000, Clint Sharp
wrote:

In message , Cicero
writes
On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 13:50:21 +0000, MM wrote:
===============================
Butter coolers of this type were very common at one time. Try your local
church jumble sale to find one.
I used to have a cooler which looked like a 'fridge, it was made of some
kind of plaster like stuff which you soaked in a stream or with a
hosepipe, it would keep milk fresh over a long weekend providing you
kept it watered.

Ah, an Osokool! Mum had one of these later. You poured water in the
top, I seem to remember. Here's a picture of one:

http://thompsonminiglen.blogspot.com...l-chiller.html

MM