Keeping ice

[69ChrisCraft]

Has anyone tried digging a hole and partially burying an ice chest in an attempt to keep ice longer? My thought was to partially bury it and park the pickup over it to keep bears and thieves away. I will also line the interior with reflective roll insulation.

Any other tips for long term I've storage... besides a yeti.

 

[quackaddict]

Dry ice. And don't break open the bags of ice. They keep a good bit longer by just keeping the bags whole.

 

[realunlucky]

Heavy insulation in top, keeping the lid closed. Block ice and something that I've noticed makes a difference is putting ice in a couple days in advance and cooling the ice chest down and draining and topping off before a trip. Fyi pre chilling of the chest is recommended by most manufacturers

 

[muleman]

Heavy insulation in top, keeping the lid closed. Block ice and something that I've noticed makes a difference is putting ice in a couple days in advance and cooling the ice chest down and draining and topping off before a trip. Fyi pre chilling of the chest is recommended by most manufacturers

Took the words out of my mouth.

 

[Browtine]

What's already been said, plus duct tape around the lid to make even more air tight.

 

[Zbowman1]

Watch what you set them on. A lot of coolers don't have a lot of insulation on the bottom. If you set them on a hot surfaces (concrete, hot sand, warm rocks) it tends to melt the ice faster.

 

[Shrek]

All the things that have been said ! Out of the sun with any extra insulation on top and underneath helps . Really cold dry ice to start . Pre cool the cooler and fill it to the top , no air space. Keep it closed .

 

[5MilesBack]

I just freeze gallon milk jugs full of water and load them in. Keeps it dry that way except for condensation, and they last at least a week for me.

 

[69ChrisCraft]

Appreciate it. Heading in for 9 days, chasing blacktail and bears.

 

[mt100gr.]

I just freeze gallon milk jugs full of water and load them in. Keeps it dry that way except for condensation, and they last at least a week for me.

This. And if possible, store them in a separate cooler and don't open it until you need em. Pack them in tight and surround them with insulation and you have lots of ice. And more water if you need it.

 

[SDHNTR]

A few pounds of rock salt in your ice will help a lot, in addition to the above. A pre cooled cooler, no dead air space, a good seal, in a good cooler, in the shade, salted down, and ice will easily last 5-7days even in hot weather. And crushed ice is the best if you can get it. Pack it in tight, layer the salt, and you could get 10 days out of it.

 

[Forestryguy]

Make a water and salt brine and freeze it, so that it fills the cooler. I have mixed the brine in the cooler and froze the entire cooler to make one block. You could put dividers in the cooler to make smaller blocks to use. DO NOT drink the melted ice.

Or use dry ice.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Personally I wouldn't bury it. For long term ice it boils down to insulation, temp differential, and total amount of solid ice. Oh and conduction rate between ice and cooler walls.

Freezing water into jugs can significantly increase melt time.
But the total amount of ice you can get into cooler will be reduced. Unless you can find rectangular jugs that stack into the cooler well with minimal air space.

To address conduction rate between ice and cooler walls (ice melt rate).
Keep drain plug cracked to allow melt water to escape.
Unless you using jugs that is.

The larger the blocks of ice, the longer the blocks last.
I have a fish & bait freezer that I use to freeze my own super cold blocks with. I use the dry box from the cooler to make HUGE blocks that perfectly fit the cooler. I fill the dry box 2" at a time to avoid freeze swelling/expansion cracking the box. I size the blocks as big as possible and still get the lid closed. I should point out that blocks from my freezer are MUCH colder than blocks from the store. When I have my cooler plugged full of super cold blocks, I don't see melt for at least the first 3days. And that is with a your typical 150qt Coleman cooler. I wouldn't be surprised to see 25% ice left after 14days.

Improve cooler insulation.
This can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it.
Just laying a folded white canvas tarp over the cooler will help tremendously. You can also apply adhesive reflective foam to the outside of cooler and this will do even better. Or you can do one even better by making a wooden box & tight lid and lining it with Reflectix & 3" Styrofoam. Paint the box white as well. Probably should keep drain plug closed in this case.
Adding the white canvas tarp over the box to break the wind/breeze wouldn't hurt either.

Hope this helps,
Hunt'nFish

 

[quackaddict]

There's some good info in this thread...almost sticky material?

 

[Ryan Avery]

We also have a good article on this.
http://www.rokslide.com/2012-01-09-...the-heat-cool-strategies-for-ice-conservation

 

[Hunt'nFish]

I don't recommend adding salt to ice.
It only reduces the melt point and makes the ice & melt water colder,
which increases the temp differential & increases the thermal conduction rate.
Salted ice will NOT last longer, it will melt FASTER.

Now if there was a compound we could add to ice/water to RAISE it's melt point we'd have something.
Hunt'nFish