Root Cellar exterior (February, 2020)
Deep Roots Food Hub (a non-profit group based in West Carleton) has built an above-ground and off-grid root storage structure on NCC land close to the Federal Government's Communication Research Centre's campus on the western portion of Carling Avenue. Our community-funded facility provides small-scale vegetable growers with a post-season sustainable and energy-efficient storage facility providing longer root crop storage and extended sales and/or distribution possibilities.
Our innovated Quonset-styled metal building is designed to capture and circulate ground-sourced geothermal heat to maintain a near-constant + 2 C. temperature and 90-95 percent humidity within the structure's root storage chamber. The off-grid design utilizes three solar panels and four 12-volt vehicle batteries to capture and store energy to power the air circulation fans, monitoring instrumentation, and required interior lighting. The root cellar's modular structure allows for future expansion by simply adding arch sections to achieve any desired length.
An eight-inch layer of spray foam insulation, with a fire-proof and water-proof membrane, has been applied to the inside of the storage chamber's arched walls. The perimeter of the building, to five feet beyond the concrete footings, is insulated with high-density insulation panels reducing the transfer of frost to the inner wall and under-floor soils of the root cellar. The storage chamber's insulated floor is raised, supported by cement blocks, to allow under-floor air circulation of cool air (passively transmitted, in winter time, through the insulated walls) or naturally-warmed air, tempered by the underlying soils, to maintain the desired interior root storage temperatures.
The root cellar's storage chamber, as seen below, has a usable storage area of 21’ (W) X 20’ (L) or 400 square feet. There is also a 25' (W) X 12' (L) entrance chamber where utilities, air inlet and outlets, and storage batteries are housed. Once shelving units are installed we'll be better able to estimate the ultimate storage capacity of the storage chamber. Currently (thanks to a half dozen donors) has about 5,000 pounds of various root vegetables in storage. The following image summarizes the insulation and flooring details designed to provide insulation from always-available geothermal heat tending to provide unwanted heat during moderate outdoor temperatures and also provide access to this "free" heat during extremely cold mid-winter periods.
A detailed, 90-minute YouTube presentation on the root cellar structure is available at the following link:
https://canadiancor.com/an-off-grid-root-cellar-barry-bruce-zoom-of-2020-11-25/
Our innovated Quonset-styled metal building is designed to capture and circulate ground-sourced geothermal heat to maintain a near-constant + 2 C. temperature and 90-95 percent humidity within the structure's root storage chamber. The off-grid design utilizes three solar panels and four 12-volt vehicle batteries to capture and store energy to power the air circulation fans, monitoring instrumentation, and required interior lighting. The root cellar's modular structure allows for future expansion by simply adding arch sections to achieve any desired length.
An eight-inch layer of spray foam insulation, with a fire-proof and water-proof membrane, has been applied to the inside of the storage chamber's arched walls. The perimeter of the building, to five feet beyond the concrete footings, is insulated with high-density insulation panels reducing the transfer of frost to the inner wall and under-floor soils of the root cellar. The storage chamber's insulated floor is raised, supported by cement blocks, to allow under-floor air circulation of cool air (passively transmitted, in winter time, through the insulated walls) or naturally-warmed air, tempered by the underlying soils, to maintain the desired interior root storage temperatures.
The root cellar's storage chamber, as seen below, has a usable storage area of 21’ (W) X 20’ (L) or 400 square feet. There is also a 25' (W) X 12' (L) entrance chamber where utilities, air inlet and outlets, and storage batteries are housed. Once shelving units are installed we'll be better able to estimate the ultimate storage capacity of the storage chamber. Currently (thanks to a half dozen donors) has about 5,000 pounds of various root vegetables in storage. The following image summarizes the insulation and flooring details designed to provide insulation from always-available geothermal heat tending to provide unwanted heat during moderate outdoor temperatures and also provide access to this "free" heat during extremely cold mid-winter periods.
A detailed, 90-minute YouTube presentation on the root cellar structure is available at the following link:
https://canadiancor.com/an-off-grid-root-cellar-barry-bruce-zoom-of-2020-11-25/
Storage Chamber (February, 2020)