THE INCREDIBLE WOOD-BURNING REFRIGERATOR (IS NOW UNDER DEVELOPMENT)

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Just like a lot of other folks, the Dale Degler family spent the summer of '75 truckin' around the country in an old, converted school bus. Unlike most of those others, however, Dale used his time on the road to pioneer several interesting new ideas in low-energy and self-sufficient living.

Ideas such as The Incredible Degler Wood-Burning Refrigerator. No, it hasn't been built yet. The fridge you see here with Dale is nothing more than an antique Servel gas-powered cooler that Degler has converted to operate on propane. But Dale assures one and all that his wood-burning chiller will soon be constructed and in operation.

"Actually, I'm not doing anything new," he says. "The wood-burning refrigerator will be nothing more than an intermittent absorption unit . . . and the design was well known and even mildly popular back before every neighborhood in the country was wired up with the steady supplies of electricity that now make 'ordinary' refrigerators possible."

To prove his point, Degler quickly pencils a sketch (see accompanying illustration) that explains the operation of an intermittent absorption chill chest. And, by golly, the explanation makes sense.

"This type of refrigerator has both advantages and disadvantages," says Degler. "The main disadvantage is that no one is building such a unit now, which means that you can't just go out and buy one like you can a regular fridge. A secondary disadvantage is the fact that, although heat needs to be applied to the unit only once a day, that heat does have to be applied every 24 hours . . . week-long vacations, in other words, are out unless you have an automatic timer on your burner.

"To offset these two points, however, you have at least five things working in favor of the intermittent absorption refrigerator: [1] the unit will operate on a relatively small energy input, [2] it can produce subzero temperatures for 24 hours from a single 20-minute application of heat, [3] any heat source-electric, oil, gas, candle, solar, wood, etc. -will power the refrigerator, [4] the unit is simple and self-circulating, and [5] other than having its flue cleaned from time to time, the cooler requires little or no maintenance."

Dale emphasizes that, although any source of heat will set the intermittent absorption refrigeration cycle into operation, he's choosing wood because "it's widely available and appears to be nonpolluting". If pressed hard enough, he also admits that his woodburning refrigerator is only the first of several low-energy systems he hopes to build.

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