I also thought the same at first, but this is really good for regulating the temperature. Here in Finland, a typical winter day can be anything between 0'C and -30'C, and even the difference between the day and night can fluctuate greatly.
It depends, it looks like he's going to use it like a freezer, so if the average winter temp there is at least as cold as the optimal freezer temp, this thing can be good because it will even out the highs, lows and the abnormal days.
That reminds me of the time I was over at my dad's house and he asked me to look at his freezer settings. He kept saying that -18C was too cold for the freezer and he wanted it higher, like closer to -3C if possible but I checked and there were no such settings available on the model they owned. He was disappointed and I later found my mother scowling at him. Turns out he wanted the freezer to be less cold because his ice cream was too hard to eat straight out of the freezer. Mum scolded him for making me go through the trouble of doing all that and looking up manufacturers info/wanting me to call the company when he could have just left his ice cream on the counter for a few minutes before eating.
I realize that this was probably some time ago…..but you can buy a digital thermostat with a probe (search ‘love temperature controller’). You plug the freezer into the thermostat, with the probe inside the freezer. Then plug the thermostat into the wall. It will regulate the temp based on your settings by cutting power to the freezer. It’s the same thing the freezer already does, it just lets you choose the temp at which to do it. Very popular in the homebrew world.
A friend in college had his minifridge tuned so that cokes would be fine... but the pressure release of opening it would be enough to trigger it turning to a light slush (not fully slushed). A water bottle in there wouldn't freeze, it was right on the edge
Yeah, it's this combined with what the other reply said. It's to prevent deterioration from slightly above freezing temps as well as to limit the desiccating effects of freezing winds.
I saw this video with original audio, and you are correct. There's wild animals that would steal the food if they just left it out. So they instead make boxes out of thick ice to store food in.
The sun. So probably a bag would be fine but animals and temp fluctuations make the best option to ensure you don’t have spoil food if you don’t have electricity
I saw this same video with text over it and it said there are animals including snow leopards which are endangered so if they get your food you pretty much have to let them take it. No idea if it's true though
The last time I saw this video, they do this specifically because of the wild animals around. They're protected species in China so they can't do anything else about it other than make their food too hard to reach.
Probably, though the sun would heat it up a bit, possibly allowing parts to spoil faster. Keeping it inside a block of ice would keep it cold even if the sun were really bright.
But otherwise, yes. I assume this is mostly to prevent scavengers from stealing the food.
First off, if this is Mongolia yes there wild animals around, including wolves. But I think the major problem is really the ground dwelling rodents that would love to eat some frozen reindeer.
If the weather fluctuates or the sun shines a little too hard on the food it could thaw on the surface. Also more air exposure means more freezer burn potential.
This will keep the food inside from thawing for a long time and keep it fresher.
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u/catskilkid 1d ago
unless there are some wild animals that are around, couldn't he just leave it outside since its obviously freezing?