Dry Ice And Cooler Questions

[ronerjones]

Is anyone out there using Dry Ice in their coolers?

Anyone know much about the new coolers out? I was in Bass Pro Shop the other day and they have a large cooler that is rated for 7 days, sounds great but the price tag was a bit steep $150.00. I don't mind spending the monie if it will keep the ice longer than 1 day.

Our last outing about a month ago we went through about $25.00 worth of ice in 4 days. I just have a run of the mill cooler. We have never had to worry about keeping things in the cooler for more than a day or so, now that we are camping we really rely on the cooler to keep foods cold.

[AustinBoston]

Depending on the size, the "Extreme" or "Max" coolers can cost less than that.  Both Coleman and Igloo make Extreme/Max coolers that are rated for at least 5 days at 95

[chasd60]

http://www.dryiceinfo.com

[volzjr]

A couple of years ago I hosted a large graduation party on a Saturday, so I employed all my coolers for the various beverages. I had two Coleman Extremes (5-day rating) and a handful of other coolers including a couple of wal-mart cheapies and an older Coleman metal-jacketed model. After the party, since our house is the one all the kids hang at, I just left the coolers out on the deck and figured the kids would empty them as the week went on. They sat in the full sun all day. The "other" coolers were ice-free by Monday morning, so I started condensing their cans into the Extremes, which still had plenty of ice. I did this all week, and it wasn't until Friday evening that the last of the ice was finally gone from both Extremes. I am convinced that the Extremes (and other 5-7 day rated coolers) will considerably out-perform the the average cooler, based on this experience. But I wouldn't pay $150 for it... I don't think I paid more than $50 for either of my coolers. (I'm too cheap!   )

[Iceblue - Tom]

Is anyone out there using Dry Ice in their coolers?

Due to the safety issues with dry ice, I wouldn't use it if camping with children.  JMO.

[CajunCamper]

A couple of years ago I hosted a large graduation party on a Saturday, so I employed all my coolers for the various beverages. I had two Coleman Extremes (5-day rating) and a handful of other coolers including a couple of wal-mart cheapies and an older Coleman metal-jacketed model. After the party, since our house is the one all the kids hang at, I just left the coolers out on the deck and figured the kids would empty them as the week went on. They sat in the full sun all day. The "other" coolers were ice-free by Monday morning, so I started condensing their cans into the Extremes, which still had plenty of ice. I did this all week, and it wasn't until Friday evening that the last of the ice was finally gone from both Extremes. I am convinced that the Extremes (and other 5-7 day rated coolers) will considerably out-perform the the average cooler, based on this experience. But I wouldn't pay $150 for it... I don't think I paid more than $50 for either of my coolers. (I'm too cheap!   )

I'm sure your extreme coolers did fine in Illinois. By the way what time of the year was it. We were very disappointed in our Coleman Xtreme cooler this summer while camping in Florida. We kept our Xtreme cooler in the shade at all times and only opened it two or three times a day. We kept our drinks and other items we felt we would need access to on a regular in a seperate ice chest. We had to buy ice everyday for both coolers. It was 98 degrees in the shade and the humidity was brutal. Very disappointed in the Coleman Xtreme.

CajunCamper

[AustinBoston]

I'm sure your extreme coolers did fine in Illinois. By the way what time of the year was it. We were very disappointed in our Coleman Xtreme cooler this summer while camping in Florida. We kept our Xtreme cooler in the shade at all times and only opened it two or three times a day. We kept our drinks and other items we felt we would need access to on a regular in a seperate ice chest. We had to buy ice everyday for both coolers. It was 98 degrees in the shade and the humidity was brutal. Very disappointed in the Coleman Xtreme.

1) Did you leave it sitting on the ground?  At those temps, conduction through the ground can be a big factor.

2) Did you compare it to an ordinary cooler?  I'd bet you would have needed to load an ordinary cooler with ice several times a day.

3) Was it subject to wind?  Moving air significantly increases convection.

Austin

[srds]

also try using table salt -sprinke across ice be careful are you will freeze the eggs.
                                                                           srds

[volzjr]

I'm sure your extreme coolers did fine in Illinois. By the way what time of the year was it.
CajunCamper

It was a graduation party, so it was in mid-June. Temps were average for us, which means daytime highs in the low to high 80's, and night time lows in the high 60's to low 70's. I certainly had more moderate conditions than you had in Florida. The point of my post was to compare the relative performance of both kinds of coolers in the exact same environmental conditions. I see you had both types of coolers in use as well, so I can't say why your extremes performed so poorly vs your average coolers... perhaps there is a limit to how high the ambient temp can get before even the best of coolers can't keep up and perform well. You certainly had extreme temps that week.  :yikes:  I can't say as I've ever camped in temps like that with my extreme coolers, so I can't speak to their performance under those conditions. I know I tent camped in Orlando back in the 1970's, with temp's like that. We took care of our cooler problem by getting an air-conditioned hotel room.  :sombraro:
Do you drain off your water? I know that one time we accidently left the drain open in a gravel site, and we were putting much more ice in that cooler for several days until we noticed our goof. Keeping it full of water goes a long way towards keeping the contents cold. Given the thermodynamic properties of water vs air, it's way better to have the ice keeping some water cold, rather than a comparable volume of air. Water is slow to heat up, and isn't largely evacuated every time you open the lid.
I hadn't thought about ground conduction... I just lined them up on the wooden deck for the convenience of having them close to the house. The deck is on the west side of the house, so it was in the shade only in the early morning hours, but received full sun for the remainder of the day. I can't say for sure (it was two years ago!  :confused:  :eyecrazy: ) that every day was sunny, or maybe some days were partly cloudy, who knows. The important part was that all the coolers were side by side, and experienced the same ambient temps and the same sunlight exposure. In those conditions, the two extreme coolers substantially out-performed their counterparts.

[CajunCamper]

1) Did you leave it sitting on the ground?  At those temps, conduction through the ground can be a big factor.

2) Did you compare it to an ordinary cooler?  I'd bet you would have needed to load an ordinary cooler with ice several times a day.

3) Was it subject to wind?  Moving air significantly increases convection.

Austin

Here's the exact situation. We set up camp in the early evening which included our awning and add-a-room with an indoor/outdoor carpet on the ground. Both of our coolers sat on the carpet in the add-a-room the entire trip. Never exposed to sunlight or wind, the air was pretty still there in the campground. The extreme cooler did not perform any better than our regular Igloo.

The contents of the coolers were cold when we loaded them and we immediately filled them with ice the night before we left. During the trip when the ice melted we just continued to add ice without draining the cold water. Still we were not happy with the performance of the Coleman Xtreme cooler at all.

Maybe I got a lemon.

CajunCamper

[campdaddy]

to post a reply agreeing with your assessment that the Coleman Extreme is no better than any regular cooler out there because that has been our experience too. We have both a Coleman (56qt) and an Igloo Legend.  In our experience the Igloo far and away outperforms the Coleman. I

[AustinBoston]

Here's the exact situation. We set up camp in the early evening which included our awning and add-a-room with an indoor/outdoor carpet on the ground.  Both of our coolers sat on the carpet in the add-a-room the entire trip. Never exposed to sunlight or wind, the air was pretty still there in the campground.

Was the add-a-room open to air movement?  If not, it could have been much hotter than 98

[mike4947]

CC, if you bought your Extreme at a discount store or wholesale club store there is a very good chance you didn't actually get an Extreme. We found quite a few places had 5 day stickers on coolers that were not the much thicker walled Extreme Coleman or Ultra Igloo coolers. The Extreme and Ultra walls are IIRC about 50% thicker than the normal coolers.

[CajunCamper]

I made my purchase at Sports Academy and the cooler itself is clearly marked Coleman Xtreme.

Austin to answer your question, yes the flaps were up on the add-a-room allowing air to move through.

[AustinBoston]

I made my purchase at Sports Academy and the cooler itself is clearly marked Coleman Xtreme.

Austin to answer your question, yes the flaps were up on the add-a-room allowing air to move through.

I wonder if they did everything except inject the foam...oops.

Austin