Ice chest . . . pour water out?

[rolmops]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

This is getting a bit stale,but I am gonna add my 2 cents anyway.
If you have a good freezer,mix water with a lot of salt and freeze it.It will freeze at roughly 12 degrees Fahrenheit.Now you have COLD ice.Put this ice in a container that is open at the top,but cannot leak and put it in your cooler.Your cooler temp will be around 16 degrees.
Make sure that you have a good cooler and you will have to defrost your cans for a while after taking them out of the cooler.
Do not allow the water to leak into the cooler because it will really freeze the contents of your cans.

 

[NW Redneck]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

"We keep a wet towel draped over the cooler also. when its 110-115 degrees outside, it seems to make a pretty big difference."

Seconding this. The evaporative cooling of the wet towel takes away alot of external heat load from the cooler and it will keep cold much longer.

 

[Expidia]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

I guess the consensus is to leave the water in.

I do like that wet towel idea though. My favorite cooler for day boating has a nylon outer shell and the top is black yet, so the towel thing will help a lot.

Thx for all the replies.

 

[skargo]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

This is a great thread!

Of course, today we went out, and I just busted open a bag of ice and threw it ontop of our sodas and water Just realized I left them in the boat, which I just finished covering.

What do you guys think of in floor coolers? The PO of my boat insulated the outside of the cooler, and it seems to keep my stuff cold for an entire day. It was in the 80's and humid today and there's still ice in the cooler.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

I guess the consensus is to leave the water in.

I do like that wet towel idea though. My favorite cooler for day boating has a nylon outer shell and the top is black yet, so the towel thing will help a lot.

Thx for all the replies.

yep, and when the towel gets a little warm, just drop it in the 70 degree water wring it out and drape it back over. works great! haha. i guess kinda like a swamp cooler for da cooler lol.

 

[eavega]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

i guess kinda like a swamp cooler for da cooler lol.

Great trick when living in the desert, that evaporative cooling. When I would go out on my motorcycle down in Tucson, I would take my shirt and basically drench it in cool water, then put it back on. My jacket was very well vented, so as the water evaporated it would keep me cool, even in 110 degree heat!

-E

 

[FBPirate95]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

A lot of people have a misconception that when water melts in a cooler, the water has a higher temperature than the ice. This is not true. When you have both ice and water exisiting in the same solution, the temperature of the water is 32 degrees F, just like the ice. Its not until all the ice is melted that the temperature of the water starts to increase.

I could get into a detailed thermodynamic explanation of why that is, but I'm sure it would bore way too many people on here. Not to mention I would sound like a complete egg head. LOL.

 

[mthieme]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

I empty the water out of mine when I get back to the pier since I have to go about 50 steps.
No matter how technical you wanna get...my p.o.s. still has ice in i the next day when it's 95 degrees out.
That's good enough for me.

 

[Big Keepers]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

The one thing nobody mentioned is to double wrap your sandwiches and edible food so it doesn't get soaked in the water and go bad. Soggy sandwiches are no fun. I usually wrap the sandwich in aluminum foil then stuff it in a quality zip lock bag. Keeps it fresh and dry.

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

The one thing nobody mentioned is to double wrap your sandwiches and edible food so it doesn't get soaked in the water and go bad. Soggy sandwiches are no fun. I usually wrap the sandwich in aluminum foil then stuff it in a quality zip lock bag. Keeps it fresh and dry.

We usually have a seperate smaller cooler with icepacks in it for sandwhiches and food. the food usually only has to last about 4-5 hours til lunchtime anyways for us lol. I have been thinking about a waterproof rubbermaid container or something for puttin sub sandwiches or something in so it can go in the big cooler though.

 

[wca_tim]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

screw the cooler and the melting is a constant temperature transition, sa long as water hasn't warmed above meltingpoint leave it in unless you have a poorly insulated cooler then the liquid increases the heat transfer rate and increases heat influx and melting, etc... conversation...

drink warm water, eat sandwiches before they die, no worries, problem solved... stop by the marina for an ice cream, tie up in town and get drinks at the water hole...

or, make your buddy bring the cooler and worry about the details. chastise him if things don't stay cold

 

[redone4x4]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

or, make your buddy bring the cooler and worry about the details. chastise him if things don't stay cold

lmao, this is the best solution yet! haha.

 

[tollus]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

Myth Busters did an episode on the fastest way to chill your beer.

They had several methods, a few of which are unrealistic on a boat so I'll only try to recollect the practical methods.

Ice only came in last place. The abnormal surface area of the ice didn't create as much contact with the cans and therefore took longer to chill the beer. Took 30 minutes to chill it to 37 degrees.

Ice and water came in second. The ice lowers the temp of the water to 32 degrees and the water comes in to full contact with the cans, thus lowering the temp faster. 15 minutes

The fastest method was to use salt water and ice. The salt does lower the freezing point and chilled the beer the fastest. I don't know if it causes the ice to melt faster or not. 5 minutes


My vote, and the way we do it on our boat, we start with everything cold from the fridge anyway, so we just add ice to keep it cold. As the ice melts we leave the water in there to help insulate and keep the temp down. As others said, as long as there is ice in the water, the temp of the water is 32 degrees. Once all the ice is gone, the water takes longer to warm back up than air does, so it will still keep everything cool longer.

 

[FBPirate95]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

Myth Busters did an episode on the fastest way to chill your beer.

They had several methods, a few of which are unrealistic on a boat so I'll only try to recollect the practical methods.

Ice only came in last place. The abnormal surface area of the ice didn't create as much contact with the cans and therefore took longer to chill the beer. Took 30 minutes to chill it to 37 degrees.

Ice and water came in second. The ice lowers the temp of the water to 32 degrees and the water comes in to full contact with the cans, thus lowering the temp faster. 15 minutes

The fastest method was to use salt water and ice. The salt does lower the freezing point and chilled the beer the fastest. I don't know if it causes the ice to melt faster or not. 5 minutes


My vote, and the way we do it on our boat, we start with everything cold from the fridge anyway, so we just add ice to keep it cold. As the ice melts we leave the water in there to help insulate and keep the temp down. As others said, as long as there is ice in the water, the temp of the water is 32 degrees. Once all the ice is gone, the water takes longer to warm back up than air does, so it will still keep everything cool longer.

gotta love myth busters.....

 

[bekosh]

Re: Ice chest . . . pour water out?

We usually have a seperate smaller cooler with icepacks in it for sandwhiches and food. the food usually only has to last about 4-5 hours til lunchtime anyways for us lol. I have been thinking about a waterproof rubbermaid container or something for puttin sub sandwiches or something in so it can go in the big cooler though.

Stick to the seperate coolers for food and drink. Your food will stay cooler because you aren't constantly opening and closing the lid to get a fresh drink.

Also, freeze your water bottles in the freezer & pre-cool your drink cans in the fridge before putting them into the cooler. That way you aren't melting ice to cool them down.