Historic Hood River
Heart of Cold Storage
Notes
This image from the Davidson collection shows the heart of a refrigeration unit for a fruit warehouse. The exact location is unclear. This article describes the first cold storage unit Horatio Davidson built using water from Joe Wilson’s reservoir in the Heights. This image does not match the unit in the basement of the Union Building today, but I believe that unit was installed a decade or two later. It’s not clear if this unit was removed (unlikely) or perhaps it’s buried someplace below the structure.
This unit compressed ammonia from gas to liquid state, so it could boil off and extract heat from the warehouse as it circulated in pipes. The gas would circulate back to the compressor to begin the cycle again. HFC’s and their successors replaced ammonia in most refrigeration, but the engineering is very similar.
Tags: 1900s, Davidson, Davidson Fruit Company, refrigeration, Union Building, Wilson
Dale Nicol
Ever wonder where the name “oiler” came from?
It was not originally from a large ship oil tanker, but the fellow above holding the oil can is a oiler and mechanical engineer.
Nice photo containing the single electric hanging lamp/light bulb too.
Roger Sheldrake
I remember the heavy ammonia smell in what was the Carnation milk/ice cream building. Just past the train station to the south east. Run by Mr. Russ Guppy. His wife wrote Over the Picket Fence articles.
kmb
Ammonia is still used as a refrigerant in some systems to this day, including for ice rinks used for skating. However, it can be very dangerous. Ammonia system leaks in an enclosed indoor space can be deadly, and while rare, people still die from this today.