The simple clay-pot refrigerator is ideally suited for preserving vegetarian foods in hot and dry climates. The refrigerator works on the evaporative cooling principle. In this paper, steady-state performance of the refrigerator is analysed using Reynolds flow model of convective heat/mass transfer. For the assumed respiratory cooling load, the preservation temperature is predicted under a variety of ambient temperatures and relative humidities. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.