It seems to me that ice houses of the past were able to keep their harvest frozen for entire summers, so it should be easy to do the same with modern insulating and sealing techniques?

One webpage I found claimed that New England dairy farmers in the early 1800s needed half an American ton of ice per cow to keep the milk cool, over the summer, kept the ice blocks in wooden icehouses insulated with hay and sawdust.

How much ice would you make for a storage container like I'm thinking? What shape would you make the block? Do you think mould & mildew be a concern in either section? Anyone ever make a big block of ice, keep track of how far into summer it lasted? Any other thoughts on how you might design it better/differently?

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Well I will give you what I think will answer your question. First though what was expected for freezing in 1800 is no where close to whats expected now days. A freezer needs to keep meat frozen well below 0C roughly -15C or greater if storing meat month after month. 0 or -1 while being fine for ice cream is no where acceptacle. I would like to know how much surface meat did someone have to cut away before getting to some fresher product. The waste must have been huge!
0C, -1C maybe, is right where I would suspect you will be sitting at after about a month if your block of ice was frozen down to -15C Water (ice) is terrible for storing freezing temperature, it is great for storing refrigerating temperatures 0C to 3C do to its phase change from ice to water. you would need a block of ice 4feetx4feetx4 feet frozen solid, insulated to R40 (roughly) to insure year round (through the summer)refrigerating temperature that you could use. Once your block of Ice comes up to 0C, and again I estimate a month, the block will sit at 0, -1 until it has all melted away....no ifs, ands or butts about it. That was great in 1800.... (check the lifespan charts for 1800) I wont be coming over to visit for supper if I know that's the temperature your storing meat at month after month.

Now with that said,I have been down the path you are thinking of, and do know I will do the cheapest thing that works, and while I can make ice work for refridgeration and work very well, no way in hell l could I make it work for use as a freezer, maybe you can do better good luck, but believe it or not, and I am aware I am the only one saying this, but keep in mind I am also the only one (apparently)who measures things....running a ordinary freezer is the cheapest way to freeze anything, and it uses nothing for power, if you will use your head.....put the Pucking thing outside!! on a small newer freezer, say 7 cuft or under you will average from Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, March under 200 watthrs per day....That's 6 months out of the year... nothing! I don't turn my laptop off, it runs 24/7 and uses more power than my Freezer for 6 months!!! Take a typical new solar panel...roughly 250 watts...ONE HOUR OF SUNLIGHT a day will keep the freezer down to -19c (where I have mine set) That panel only costs about 250 bucks, likely less than the freezer. It will make you power for the rest of your life.
Now Summer comes, temps are riseing, but days are long now, 12 plus hour of sun....Now we don't care what it uses because we have free power and lots of it from that 250 watt panel. The freezer is still outside where the days may be warm but the over night lows still drop a good bit.. Now that 250 watt panel will need to provide power close to the energuide rating for that size of freezer, I would guess 850 watthrs per day, roughly by the energuide specs (for mine, from memory)...... so .850kwhrs /250watts panel =3.4 hrs of sunlight to run the freezer......No problem at all, AND you have a minimium of another 8 hrs that panel can be used providing power for other things after it has meet its freezer requirments....your rolling in power... ... I repeat.... running a freezer is nothing power wise this way, a 12 to 15 cuft one in size only a little more, maybe 25-50 watt hrs a day more or so...still nothing . Solar is the answer! and as I have with my freezer in the summer have it on a mechanical timer that shuts them off at roughly 10-11 pm, and back on at 8 am, so they only run when the sun is out during the summer, your not even using your battery bank then (for practical purposes).

Thanks for the post. I should clear up a bit of confusion here : I wasn't looking to freeze, simply to refridgerate. Ice should be fine for that.

Interesting numbers on your power consumption on the chest freezer. I recall people keeping a freezer in their shaded, uninsulated porches, for the same reason - out of the elements, but able to take advantage of winter temperatures. I have also read about people using chest freezers as fridges. They use a thermal probe to control the power to the freezer, because the freezer's thermostat won't let you set it above a certain temperature. By controlling the power with a setpoint of, say, 3 or 5 degrees, they "convert" the freezer into a big fridge.

I think I still prefer the idea of using a big block of ice to refridgerate, but if I design a little more generation/storage into my photovoltaic system, I'll take closer look at integrating a modern freezer.

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Back in the day, my grandfather was part of a town team to store ice. The groups used to cut large blocks of ice from a local creek & store it in a central barn. In between the layers of ice they would use saw dust as an insulator as well as to stop the whole thing from turning into a solid block. I don't know how the ice was then distributed. The ice would be rinsed off and then put in the top of an ice box fridge. The amount that was "collected" was based on that years' temperature. The thicker the ice, the more they could save.

I have also read about people using chest freezers as fridges. They use a thermal probe to control the power to the freezer, because the freezer's thermostat won't let you set it above a certain temperature. By controlling the power with a setpoint of, say, 3 or 5 degrees, they "convert" the freezer into a big fridge.
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Yes, that works, and all different ways to implement it.....but I only know one person still doing that (I think) most have switched to just running full size electric fridges(that have been tweeked a little) now that panels are so cheap, infact I don't even know anyone running a propane fridge anymore, But this topic did get me thinking and I may have had a stroke of shear brilliance, or maybe its just a stroke, but I will be off to Red Deer Sunday, if my email is answered to pick up something that I never considered before for a refridgeration project....cant say more.....and wont until its modified and tested! (might be a waste of effort)

Back in the day, my grandfather was part of a town team to store ice. The groups used to cut large blocks of ice from a local creek & store it in a central barn. In between the layers of ice they would use saw dust as an insulator as well as to stop the whole thing from turning into a solid block. I don't know how the ice was then distributed. The ice would be rinsed off and then put in the top of an ice box fridge. The amount that was "collected" was based on that years' temperature. The thicker the ice, the more they could save.

I wondered how they kept the smaller blocks from melding into a single big block, back then. I suppose if it was set up properly, it wouldn't take much effort to manufacture blocks in winter, so long as a guy could keep a enough liquid water in a tank to do the job. Snow could be melted, if it was a snowy winter.

With appropriate sized blocks, I'm now thinking a chest-style insulated box (like a modern chest freezer), with a modified insulated lid that allows me to put a block of ice in a sealed metal containment integrated with the lid. Something that exposes the base of the ice containment to the inside of the insulated box, up over top of the food. Put a flexible hose on the ice container, to drain off the water each time I open the lid. Now that I think of it, if I simply modded a store-bought freezer, I could even retain the mechanical components of the original freezer, if I needed/wanted to use electricity to cool it down.

Hmmm... So I'm basically looking at modifying a freezer lid LOL. And building an insulated ice storage shack.

If I assume I need one block (whatever size that would be) of ice a week, and I assume I need ice from April to October, that's about 30-35 blocks of ice. Pretty trivial to make that over the course of a winter. With 10 plastic tubs I could do it in a couple days, during those -40 deep freezes. I guess I need to figure out how much ice per week I need.

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I have kept blocks for a good while with straw between, I have read sawdust better but I do not have the same access to it that I do straw, but I agree, you do need to keep them apart and well covered for when they are stored, I did it as a project that was different from what you want, but I find idea of what you are asking very interesting.

you can make great ice blocks using the winter rubber tubs, the water freeze's solid, they pop out and can be stacked well, not quite the same as cutting blocks but it got me effective easy to create and all the same size, weight to work with.

That didn't work out, I had the idea to get a full size propane fridge , and instead of using propane I would make it so it would run direct of a solar panel, but the propane fridge turned out to be a small one and I am not going to the trouble for a small one, I will have to keep my eyes out for a full size used one on kijiji. The perfect fridge, no moving parts, and no batteries or inverter needed to run it. Project for another day...

For the last few days I've had to do without a working fridge.
I've been cycling 3 x 2l pop bottles outside to freeze and taking the 3 from outside into the fridge. It's kept it passably cold when done twice a day.

you can make great ice blocks using the winter rubber tubs, the water freeze's solid, they pop out and can be stacked well, not quite the same as cutting blocks but it got me effective easy to create and all the same size, weight to work with.

This is what I was thinking, but I am only familiar with plastic tubs. My experience with making blocks in a Rubbermaid tub was that it was sometimes difficult to remove the block, and because the plastic became brittle as it got colder, I usually ended up breaking it by spring. Do you actually have a container made of rubber, or silicone, or some other material that stays pliable in the cold?

I got thinking this morning that, my recollection of our old chest freezer came with a basket (maybe two) that hung from ridges on the top of the freezer. I seem to recall that it was there for convenience, to hold food that you used often, instead of having to dig through everything piled into the chest. If I was to keep the food to be refridgerated below the base of that basket, I wouldn't even have to mod the lid - just put my ice in that basket, in a way that allows me to collect the meltwater - a stainless steel tray (large roaster base?) for instance. I wonder if that basket is still a commonly found feature...

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For the last few days I've had to do without a working fridge.
I've been cycling 3 x 2l pop bottles outside to freeze and taking the 3 from outside into the fridge. It's kept it passably cold when done twice a day.

I had a pal do the same with four large milk containers a few winters ago. It worked, but his wife was unimpressed by the effort needed to maintain it, and the lost space on the top shelf. I think a chest-style insulated box, with entry from the top, is necessary if someone were to do this long term. Too much precious cool air leaving the box with a swinging door.

It's always kinda gotten under my skin, knowing that, in winter, we use so much energy to heat our living space, then use even more energy to cool down the fridge/freezer. I guess ultimately what we're doing is heating with electricity, but it always seemed to me that the more efficient approach would be do to use the outdoor temperatures to refridgerate. As a former coworker pointed out, most people like the convenience of the electric fridge, it's basically effortless.

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"it's basically effortless"
My hydro bill is equal to about 1 days pay or or 5% of my income(@20 working days per month)at certain times of the year - anything but effortless. OK - on average maybe only 3%
Swapping out frozen jugs takes 5 free minutes.

That didn't work out, I had the idea to get a full size propane fridge , and instead of using propane I would make it so it would run direct of a solar panel, but the propane fridge turned out to be a small one and I am not going to the trouble for a small one, I will have to keep my eyes out for a full size used one on kijiji. The perfect fridge, no moving parts, and no batteries or inverter needed to run it. Project for another day...

I also really like idea of using "absorption cooling", although I have no direct experience with them, yet. My thought has been to use a solar concentrator as the heat source, or even geothermal if you can go deep enough for a good, stable temperature. About the only thing I dislike about them is that they are dependent on a commercial supply of refridgerant & hydrogen, if you get a leak. This is fine if the supply chain is still functioning, but not so good if you need it and can't get it. Hydrogen can be made readily enough with electricity, copper, & water - and I don't think much hydrogen is needed for personal-sized systems - but I believe making a refridgerant like ammonia takes quite a bit more effort.

What I'd really like to see is an insulator that allows me to "capture" a -40 day, and contain it. I am familiar with vacuum insulating, and aergel, but I don't think either of these is capable of blocking thermal transfer entirely. Neither is within reach of mortal wallets, on a large scale, either.

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"it's basically effortless"
My hydro bill is equal to about 1 days pay or or 5% of my income(@20 working days per month)at certain times of the year - anything but effortless. OK - on average maybe only 3%
Swapping out frozen jugs takes 5 free minutes.

OK, I get your argument , but is all your electricity going into just your fridge? Also, when they say "effortless", I suspect they mean it's reliable, convenient, and virtually perpetual - it takes no effort to use it, beyond stocking it. The work they perform, which makes running that appliance possible, is work they would have to do any way. The money that is spent running it could have gone into something else, but the convenience of it make the thought of managing the ice undesirable.

While your fridge was/is down, did you consider switching to a "camping" cooler for refridgeration? I think you'd find you'd have to swap your ice out less often, if the chest is large enough to hold all your food.

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you can make great ice blocks using the winter rubber tubs, the water freeze's solid, they pop out and can be stacked well, not quite the same as cutting blocks but it got me effective easy to create and all the same size, weight to work with.

This is what I was thinking, but I am only familiar with plastic tubs. My experience with making blocks in a Rubbermaid tub was that it was sometimes difficult to remove the block, and because the plastic became brittle as it got colder, I usually ended up breaking it by spring. Do you actually have a container made of rubber, or silicone, or some other material that stays pliable in the cold?

http://www.miller-mfg.com/RBPAN.html

these are the kinds you are looking for.. tough as nails, never get brittle and will last for years of wear and tear, and if you flip over, it just dumps out.. and you can adjust sizes as you wish..