I got brave today and charged Iceballs SN 775 and it works, not bad for a 70 year old refrigerator. I reread the two different instruction manuals I have. Following the directions I drained the cold ball into the hot ball, put the hot ball on a propane camp stove set to a medium flame (outside), put the cold ball in a large tube of water and waited. The direction say 90 minuets. I didn't want to push my luck so I only let it heat for an hour. The direction say after heating to take to cold ball out of the water and put the hot ball into the water for about 10 minutes to start the cooling process. After 10 minutes in the water I took the whole assembly out and the cold ball started to cool down. Water, from the dip in the bucket, that was on the bottom of the icy cube tray hole froze fast. Now 3+ hours latter the cold ball is still frosty, a thermometer in the icy cube tray hole, in contact with the bottom, shows about 18 degrees F. The warm ball gets warm as the cold ball gets cold, I measured about 82 degrees F with a thermometer I stuck in one of the cooling fins. This is all with the balls just setting on the floor no insulation between them, in my shop at about 60 degrees F. As I heated the ball you could hear what I assumed was the gas boiling off the liquid in the hot ball. Now in the cooling mode you can hear a clicking sound that I assume is the gas after liquefying dripping back into the hot ball. Well, I hope you enjoyed my Saturday science experiment. Jim...

On the original unit I suppose you didn't have to use a propane stove to get it running. I guess that the principle of refrigeration is similar to the function of the old "drinking bird" toy that eternally dips its glass beak in a glass of water, cooling and warming, cooling and warming. I have long thought that we should build huge drinking birds along the lakes and oceans to generate power and to keep vacation home developments away from hurricane-prone areas. It would make an interesting shoreline, don't you think? Miles and miles of drinking birds eternally drinking and diving and waiting. Although a tall stovepipe hat and a bowtie aren't necessary for proper drinking bird functioning, I think there is a definite aesthetic reason to include these, too. I have nothing to say about Crosleys today, sorry.

Sorry for not giving more information. The Iceballs is an intermittent heat absorption type of refrigerator. A water/ammonia mixture is used as the refrigerant. The original came with a kerosene burner, but any heat source could be used. More info at the following URL. http://CrosleyAutoClub.com/Odds_and_Ends.html Jim...

I did notice the icyball on the Crosley Odds & Ends page, but did not read it carefully. Where did you find your Iceballs? I wonder if anyone has thought of heating their icyball with solar power and using a portion of the energy to rotate the icyball out of water and into the cooler. Add a fan and we have free air conditioning. Several icyballs could be used in a rotating sequence to assure cooling as long as the sun heated the hot side of the ball. Being from Miami, I like the idea of free air conditioning. We could sell millions of these and make the Sahara and the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia habitable, We could use the proceeds to erect a thousand Oceanic Drinking Bird Generators along the Florida Coast! All because you kept your Iceballs. I can't imagine a wife that wouldn't throw anything like that out.