Dry Ice Precaution/Is it worth it?

[stank.243]

Looking at packing my RTIC cooler with wet ice and then having 20 lbs of dry ice along with it to help elongate the wet ice life. This is for a 7-10 day hunt, but to get more ice would be an hour drive so I'd prefer not to have to do that. Any tips or precautions to take doing this? I have never used dry ice before, but have done some reading online. Sounds like wrap it in newspaper, place it on top (for my purposes), and vent (I assume opening a drain plug?) the cooler so I don't create a 140L dry ice bomb. Seems simple enough?

However the need to vent it, in my mind, seems counterintuitive though as that will be allowing cold air to escape consistently vs a good sealed cooler with wet ice. Am I wrong? Is it even worth trying dry ice?

 

[SuperDUECE22]

To me the amount of dry ice you'd need to buy to last 10 days isn't worth it.

Prechill your cooler and make your own ice using salt water or fill your cooler with standard ice and then put ice cream rock salt all over it and you'll be good to go (this will reduce the freezing point and help ice last much longer). If possible, try to keep cooler of the hot ground a little and if you can get a little airflow underneath, you'll be golden. Keep the lid closed & the plug in because that water will help keep ice longer, if you keep the cooler drained air will then get in between ice & it will melt much faster. Lastly the lightest color cooler the better because you want to reflect sunlight & not absorb it.

Not bashing your cooler because i to own a RTIC but they don't perform near as well as others. Over the years we have accidently performed alot of tests of the higher end coolers full of ice parked at trailheads.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

This is what I do and consistently works for 7+ days (Cabelas Polar Cap and RTIC coolers):

1) Prechill my coolers. Usually this is get them out of our hot garage and bring them into the house where it's 30+ degrees cooler during the early seasons.
2) Fill 2 L soda bottles or tea bottles (square - these rock) with water and freeze for several days. -- Most bang for the buck.
3) Load up meat/cape cooler(s) full of the ice bottles (#2) and fill in any gaps with old towels (extra insulation).
4) Grap 1-2 blocks of dry ice (depending on weight) and throw in cooler(s). Do not open cooler(s) until kill. Do not drain cooler(s) until kill.
5) If cooler(s) with dry ice are in my vehicle, I periodically purge the air (roll down windows) to get rid of any CO2 that may have escaped; if coolers are directly exposed to air (ex: truck bed) then I do not worry about it. Never had felt the need to vent the cooler.
6) Keep in the shade at camp site. Do not open nor drain until kill time.

Dry ice really shines when you buy ice on your way out. Store bought ice tends to be barely frozen and melts too damn fast. If you deep freeze the ice ahead of time, it will last longer. Dry ice also shines on keeping meat cold, or make meat cold, on the drive home especially when it is hot.

This is for use in AZ year round and I have used the same method to transport meat from TX to AZ during the summer months the same way. In Arizona and Mexico, I've successfully used this for 5+ day hunts for March/April black bear, August black bear, September elk, October black bear, November deer, December deer, and January deer.

--- According to a WKR I am what is wrong with Internet forums.

 

[EdP]

Prechill your cooler and make your own ice using salt water or fill your cooler with standard ice and then put ice cream rock salt all over it and you'll be good to go (this will reduce the freezing point and help ice last much longer).

The thermodynamics of this situation is not at all clear. It is true that salt dissolved in water lowers the freezing temp, but it also lowers the heat that has to be removed to go from salt water to ice.

 

[rayporter]

a few pounds of dry ice on top of your regular ice will extend the ice several days more than you would normally have.

 

[stank.243]

Thanks guys!

 

[197]

You need block ice or frozen gallon jugs and then a piece of dry ice on top 5-10 lbs won't create a bomb.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I would think that the ice melting would cause a problem with the dry ice if the dry ice contacts the water. It would cause the dry ice to evaporate quicker, which defeats the purpose. If you can put a layer of insulation to keep the dry ice separate from the melting ice (water), it would probably be more effective to use both.
Using frozen plastic containers (milk jugs), would also keep the water from contacting the dry ice.

 

[MallardSX2]

Fill a cooler full of ice and don't open it and it will last a week as long as you keep it in the shade.

I use this one. Its really good for the money.

Igloo Polar White 120 qt Cooler - Ace Hardware

For over 70 years, Igloo has been the worldwide leader in ice chest coolers, cooler bags, lunch boxes and hydration systems. We offer quality, durable and innovative products to keep your drinks cold and your food fresh on your next adventure.Find the COOLER POLAR WHT 120QT at Ace.

www.acehardware.com

 

[SuperDUECE22]

The thermodynamics of this situation is not at all clear. It is true that salt dissolved in water lowers the freezing temp, but it also lowers the heat that has to be removed to go from salt water to ice.

I guess I can't agree or disagree with your statement because I am not a professional in this field. All i know from personal experience is that if you have 2 of the exact same coolers and one is full of freshwater ice & the other with saltwater ice that the one with the saltwater is colder (determined with ir temp gun) & will last longer. The salt water does take longer to freeze but once its solid it will last longer vs. freshwater.

I am by no means a scientist or geologist; these are just the results i have encountered.

 

[WCB]

If you are just packing a cooler with ice just to have ice....pack it to the gills and leave it shut. I agree with cooling it before you stuff it with ice. Keep it out of the heat as best you can and zero reason anything other than a Coleman would loose much ice. crap I've got back from hunts taken the meat out of the cooler and a couple days later ice is still in the bottom.

 

[Lawnboi]

Dry ice is only good after you put the meat in the cooler. It’s a waste of money before hand.

Usually on the way home a few blocks freezes the meat solid, along with any remaining ice.

 

[Breddoch]

I guess I can't agree or disagree with your statement because I am not a professional in this field. All i know from personal experience is that if you have 2 of the exact same coolers and one is full of freshwater ice & the other with saltwater ice that the one with the saltwater is colder (determined with ir temp gun) & will last longer. The salt water does take longer to freeze but once its solid it will last longer vs. freshwater.

I am by no means a scientist or geologist; these are just the results i have encountered.

I hope someone smarter than I chimes in. When you put hot beer on ice you add rock salt to speed up the beer cooling off. In doing so the ice melts faster. And you use salt to dissolve ice on roadways. How could adding salt make ice last longer? I’ll be back, I’m going to do some googling.

 

[jmez]

Looking at packing my RTIC cooler with wet ice and then having 20 lbs of dry ice along with it to help elongate the wet ice life. This is for a 7-10 day hunt, but to get more ice would be an hour drive so I'd prefer not to have to do that. Any tips or precautions to take doing this? I have never used dry ice before, but have done some reading online. Sounds like wrap it in newspaper, place it on top (for my purposes), and vent (I assume opening a drain plug?) the cooler so I don't create a 140L dry ice bomb. Seems simple enough?

However the need to vent it, in my mind, seems counterintuitive though as that will be allowing cold air to escape consistently vs a good sealed cooler with wet ice. Am I wrong? Is it even worth trying dry ice?

We do this every year. Have never vented any of them. So far no explosions!

Sent from my moto g power (2021) using Tapatalk

 

[Joeyfingis]

I don't think you need to actively vent the cooler, I regularly do two blocks of dry ice at the bottom of my cooler then a layer of paper (broken down beer box), then regular ice, everything sits on top of that and stays plenty cold. I go into the cooler often enough that the pressure never builds up and I've had this last a week in Utah in the summer when I keep the cooler in the share.

 

[inkedspot]

I have hauled meat 10-14 hour drive across Texas with dry ice in Yeti, RTIC and Cordova coolers. wrap the dry ice in something. and if you can pile some newspaper on top of it to add a little bit of insulation it helps. The rubber straps that hold the lid closed can stretch so if the off gassing started to cause pressure, the latches would stretch enough to allow it to vent the pressure. Dry ice works great but it is expensive for sure.

 

[stank.243]

Just a little update on what we decided to try: since my buddy and me had both never used dry ice we decided to just give it a shot and at the very least we know for future trips. We bought 3 10 lbs blocks of dry ice. We put 20 lbs in the RTIC with 60lbs of regular ice and 2 packs of water. That cooler was never opened (unfortunately). When we got home the dry ice was gone but the regular ice was hard as a rock and very little melting had occurred.
The other dry ice we put in a igloo 120 with our food and drinks and 20 lbs of regular ice. This dry ice lasted a couple days, but seemed to make the regular ice colder and last a lot longer. 20 lbs of regular lasted us 5.5 days before it was gone with lots of opening, some sun, and a 92 degree day mixed in.

All in all, I think the dry ice definitely helped get the regular ice colder and harder, but next time I will just buy ice a few days in advance and throw it in a chest freezer until I leave.

 

[Joeyfingis]

Thanks for the update!

 

[EdP]

. The thermodynamics of this situation is not at all clear. It is true that salt dissolved in water lowers the freezing temp, but it also lowers the heat that has to be removed to go from salt water to ice.

I guess I can't agree or disagree with your statement because I am not a professional in this field. All i know from personal experience is that if you have 2 of the exact same coolers and one is full of freshwater ice & the other with saltwater ice that the one with the saltwater is colder (determined with ir temp gun) & will last longer. The salt water does take longer to freeze but once its solid it will last longer vs. freshwater.

I am by no means a scientist or geologist; these are just the results i have encountered.

Adding salt to ice causes it to melt because it lowers the freezing point. No addition or subtraction of heat is involved. That strikes me as counterproductive. You just end up with a cooler full of water sooner.
The situation you had where you started with frozen salt water in jugs is more complex. What I have found is that adding salt to water lowers the heat that has to be added or removed to make a degree temp change vs pure water by about 6.5% when liquid or solid. That affects the cooling capacity of your jugs of ice only when totally liquid or totally solid. Going from water to ice is a different matter, and is actually where the vast majority of heat is involved. Several sources state that the heat that has to be removed to freeze/melt salt water is lower than pure water, but I cannot find any data. Multiple sources state the heat of fusion (what must be removed from a given mass to go from water to ice). In the English system that is 144 Btu/lb. It's the same value to melt the same mass of ice. Based on the lack of data, I think the value is so close as to be insignificant. With frozen jugs, whether pure or salted, the temp is below that required to freeze. So, with salt water you have ice that requires less heat for every degree required to get up to its melting temp and melts at a lower temperature with the addition of less heat. The melt water is colder, but it requires less heat for every degree temp rise from there.

The differences are not significant, especially if the water is in jugs and there is no inclination to drain it off to help ensure the meat is kept dry. If not in jugs and water is drained off, I think pure water is clearly a better choice.

If checked with a temp gun, especially during the melt period, the salted water ice will show colder. This is the period you want to be in for all or most of the trip. I don't believe the difference in how long it lasts vs pure water ice is significant enough to be determined in any test other than controlled conditions.