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Hi all,

Just got back from a two week camping trip with my 3 daughters. Our camp site was situated on an island in the middle of Lake George, NY. Pretty spartan with only an outhouse, picnic table and fire pit. Needless to say everything you need must be brought out to the island with you.

My question is this: How to make ice last in a cooler for as long as possible?

I went through at least a 20 pound bag of ice each and every day as well as some blocks of ice, which I thought would last a bit longer and keep the water cold and slow the melting time of the cubes.

One cooler wasn't too bad, but a new Coleman just didn't keep the ice.

Any suggestions?

By the way, we had a great time, relaxed, and had beautiful weather.

Thanks....Teemch5

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For stuff that you plan to keep frozen, get a 20lb block of dry ice. It will last a long time if you don't open the cooler much. But, do not, I repeat, DO NOT put anything that you DON'T want frozen in the dry ice cooler (soda, mayo, mustard, eggs, etc). Dry ice will freeze them solid in about 30 minutes and make them explode. I did the dry ice thing on a camping trip a while back, 30 minutes outside of town, my wife heard this strange noise coming from the cooler in the back, so we stopped to look. By this time, the soda had exploded (that was the sound we were hearing, the cans exploding in the cooler), the eggs had exploded, the mayo and the mustard. The cooler itself was frozen to the seat of the car. Three days later, I used one of the steaks (which was thawed when I put it in the cooler) to drive a tent stake into the ground. One bag of regular ice on top of the dry ice lasted well over a week.

Edited by GrumpyOne
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Another trick from photo days -- put a white towel over anything you want to keep cool. Reflecting sunlight off the item helps....

Yep, Igloo marine coolers are white, and their insulation is thicker than their regular ones.

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Block Ice will last much longer than cubes. Put a cookie sheet and a towel over the ice, then put a blanket over the cooler- keep the cooler out of the sun- and most of all KEEP IT CLOSED! Living in the desert has taught me a lot about keeping things cool.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

I have had several brands of coolers. I just bought my first Yeti, and it is worth every peny. I have spent days on the river with other brand Marine coolers, and nothing comes close to the durability or the ability to keep stuff cold of the Yeti.

wg

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The Coleman Xtreme coolers will keep ice for an honest week if you don't open it very often. The trick is to have 2 coolers, a big one that only needs to be opened occasionally and one with drinks in it that everyone will be opening constantly. When you have to open the "long term" storage cooler to get food or whatever, replenish the drink cooler's ice.

Whatever you do, don't drain the water... When you drain the water, something has to replace the water and that something is hot air. No faster way to melt your ice!

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Go to www.thehulltruth.com and search for best cooler if you want a lot of suggestions. The boating guys are pretty clued in to what cooler is best. I've had really good luck with the igloo marine ultra and maxcold ultra. No, you can't use them as hard cover in case of a pirate boarding but they do the job well and will keep ice for several days in the Florida summer.

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The dry ice is the best for long term. Wrap it in newspaper and place it in the bottom of the cooler for a refrigerator effect and place it on the top of items in the cooler for a feeezer effect. A good point for dry ice is that there is no water mess as it melts so you don't have to waterproof everything in the cooler. Also, make sure all of your items are cold before placing them in the cooler. Putting dry ice in with regular ice will melt the dry ice quicker until the regular ice drops in temperature some.

If I am using regular ice, I either pack some myself or purchase some a couple weeks in advance and keep it in my deep freeze at -15 until I am ready to use it. It lasts quite a while that way. If you have room in your freezer, put your cooler in there for a couple days before use also.

And yes, Yeti coolers are the way to go!

Dale

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Actually, dry ice DOES indeed melt:

Dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) DOES melt like regular ice. The difference is that the pressure of the vapor of dry ice at its melting point is about 5 atmospheres. This occurs at a temperature of -57 C. Now when you have a lump of dry ice in a container of some sort, the pressure applied by the atmosphere on the dry ice is only 1 atmosphere, rather than 5 atmospheres. The temperature at which the vapor of dry ice is 1 atmosphere is -78 C, which is lower than its melting point. So the dry ice passes directly from solid to vapor because you don't have the needed 5 atmospheres for it to form a "normal" melting liquid.

This is not all that mysterious. It happens with water all the time in the winter where often we can observe frost disappearing from a window or driveway in the morning without first melting. The process is a little different, but the concept is the same. In the case of frost, the wind blows water vapor away at temperatures less than 0 C., and eventually all the frost (ice) disappears without ever turning into a liquid.

Vince Calder

It is still the best choice for long term in an ice chest. :goof::sight:

Dale

Edited by Dale Rader
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