Above Ground Root Cellar

Above Ground Root Cellar FARM HOME Food Sidney Stubbs built his root cellar 3 ft off the ground More of a store room than a root cellar it’s always clean with no visits from rodents or bugs Best of all it stays cool year round but never freezes It even has a secret entrance right out in the open “I built this room for food storage onto the side of my guest cottage ” explains Stubbs “It’s completely insulated with linoleum over the wood floor so it’s easy to clean ” The floor and the outside walls have 10 in of insulation The ceiling has 18 in The entrance to the 6 1/2 ft sq storehouse is a big surprise to visitors It appears to be a refrigerator door fitted into the wall “When I open it up people are always surprised to see they can walk right into the building ” he says Stubbs wanted an airtight door and the refrigerator door gave him one that was hermetically sealed and insulated He’s even able to use the door shelves for storage To free the door he went back 8 in on the sides of the freezer and cut it in two using a ceramic-tipped metal cutting blade made by Makita “It’s a great blade; it can cut through Plexiglas steel and 23-in spikes in a 2 by 4 ” says Stubbs Stubbs inserted 2 by 2 wood pieces in the insulated spaces in the doorframe to give it support when he connected it to the wall/doorway Stubbs then inserted a second large side-by-side refrigerator in the outside wall of the storeroom He leaves the refrigerator door open but leaves the freezer doors in place It cools the storeroom spring summer and early fall “If it gets really hot I also open one or both freezer doors ” says Stubbs With the condenser side of the refrigerator outside the wall no extra heat is added to the room Stubbs did build a protective shelter over and around the exposed refrigerator In the winter when heat is needed to keep the room from freezing Stubbs turns on two inexpensive hair dryers He keeps them pointed at the floor where salvaged heat exchangers from old fridges rest on 2 by 2’s “Stored goods not on shelves sit on heat exchangers so they are up off the floor ” says Stubbs “The hot air is able to get under the exchangers to keep things from freezing at floor level ” Both the refrigerator and the hair dryers are tied into a variable temperature thermostat on the wall in the guest cottage Stubbs uses two hair dryers so he has a backup should one quit “In the spring I unplug the hair dryers and plug in the fridge when the temperature reaches 46 to 48° he says The room stays an even temperature year round I once put ice cream that was just right for scooping in the freezer compartment It stayed that way for three weeks The system has served Stubbs well He says he paid $300 for the second hand cooling fridge and it has lasted 12 years Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Sidney Stubbs RR#1 Site 6 Box 21 Beaverlodge Alta Canada T0H 0C0 ph 780 354-3112; sid s47@hotmail com

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