Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Cosmo » Tue Jul 19, 2016 7:55 pm

Another option

Not a recommendation but he does get points for thinking outside the box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F5JB8STYLc

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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby gudmund » Wed Jul 20, 2016 9:59 am

at W-M when buying my 48 qt Igloo cooler I walked it across the isle to the container isle and found one that fits and now floats up and down with the ice level which helps keep things dry. I also use a indoor/outdoor $10. "Acurite" brand temp gauge (also at W/M in the home improvement section) wrapping the outdoor radio sensor in a Zip-lock bag than putting it in the floating container with the food. When on the road I have the inside gauge inside the truck cab with me on the console and can keep tabs on my cooler/truck cab temps when traveling - works great!! When I see the temp go into to the 40's, I know the ice is getting thin.
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Treeview » Wed Jul 20, 2016 10:32 am

Great tip! Having the remote doing its work without having to open the cooler and loosing cold air.

i found them for $5 to $10!
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Trebor English » Wed Jul 20, 2016 11:03 am

Cosmo,
Thanks for posting the you tube link. I didn't know it was there. That's me and my faux TD. It's not a trailer but otherwise very similar, rear hatch, side doors, low ceiling, 4x6 inside etc.
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby GuitarPhotog » Wed Jul 20, 2016 12:12 pm

gudmund wrote:at W-M when buying my 48 qt Igloo cooler I walked it across the isle to the container isle and found one that fits and now floats up and down with the ice level which helps keep things dry. I also use a indoor/outdoor $10. "Acurite" brand temp gauge (also at W/M in the home improvement section) wrapping the outdoor radio sensor in a Zip-lock bag than putting it in the floating container with the food. When on the road I have the inside gauge inside the truck cab with me on the console and can keep tabs on my cooler/truck cab temps when traveling - works great!! When I see the temp go into to the 40's, I know the ice is getting thin.


I like the remote thermometer idea, but remember that temperatures above 40F are considered "not food safe" so you might lower your threshold for buying ice. I try to keep the temp in my food cooler in the 36-38F range at all times.

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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Cosmo » Wed Jul 20, 2016 3:13 pm

Trebor English wrote:Cosmo,
Thanks for posting the you tube link. I didn't know it was there. That's me and my faux TD. It's not a trailer but otherwise very similar, rear hatch, side doors, low ceiling, 4x6 inside etc.
Trebor



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Am I reading this corectly?
That is you showing the do it yourself cooler in the video?

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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Trebor English » Wed Jul 20, 2016 4:54 pm

Yes, it's me. It is Bob Wells of http://www.cheaprvliving.com who asked the questions and recorded. It was at RTR near Quartzsite, AZ in January. It was great fun.
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby gudmund » Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:22 pm

Chas, I have always understood the temps to be between 36 to 42 and now when looking at my Taylor temp gauge in my home refer, you are right - it does show 34 to 40 for refer's, but when I look at the paper work I have from the State Of Washington Health/Food Department it just shows any temp under 45 for refer's. The bottom line is - I know that "I" have a lot better idea of what is going on in "my" ice chest than most people being I do at least have a way for keeping track/watch on what is going on when driving down the road. When I see temps crossing into the 40's, it's time for ice. (is it spelled refer? isn't it or is it reefer? guess it depends on what we are talking about here. No matter the temp's here - the beer will survive around all of the temp's spoken here!! and it's a food also, isn't it?????????????????????????) Ted
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Cosmo » Wed Jul 20, 2016 6:58 pm

Trebor English wrote:Yes, it's me. It is Bob Wells of http://www.cheaprvliving.com who asked the questions and recorded. It was at RTR near Quartzsite, AZ in January. It was great fun.
Trebor


Amazing! I follow Bobs blog and videos (as you can see).
I hope to camp with that group when I retire to pick up a few tricks. I like what Bob is doing.
Thanks for your contribution to the cooler thread.

More Enigmadic Nomadic videos here.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_W_E5 ... BTg/videos

(sorry to temporarily lead the thread into the weeds due to an interesting coincidence).

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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby beakman » Wed Jul 27, 2016 8:58 am

S. Heisley wrote:Add salt?
I recently saw that adding salt to your ice chest water before freezing it will keep food colder longer. (The article didn't say how much to add.) Has anybody tried it? What's the ratio of salt that should be added?


Common misconception. Adding salt lowers the freezing point of ice, not the temperature itself. So if you add X amount of salt to some water, it won't freeze until it's 29 degrees, for example. That's why they salt the roads in winter. The salt reacts with the ice and snow, lowering the freezing point (which of course is also the melting point when the temperature is going up). That helps the ice melt quicker and clear the roads. That's also why they don't salt once the temperature gets too low. The salt can only lower the melting point so much.

I think the "add salt" idea comes from the homemade ice cream crowd. You DO add rock salt to your ice when you're making ice cream, but that's just to allow the water from the melting ice to stay below 32 degrees. The churn turns easier in water than ice, of course, so you turn the churn more easily, yet keep it below freezing.

After years and years of camping, ice cream making, picnics and parties, here are the best ways I've learned to keep ice longer:

1. Do NOT break up the bags when you get them. Yes, it will cool your beer, etc FASTER when you break it up, but that's because it is losing it's coldness faster to whatever is in the cooler. In other words, it's melting faster. That's because breaking it up gives it more surface area. Breaking it is good for parties, not so good for food and camping. That's why ice for ice boxes was always delivered in big blocks back in the old days.

2. Frozen is frozen, but your deep freeze will give you ice at zero degrees generally, so it will stay cold a lot longer. Depending on your settings, your refrigerator's freezer is probably just a few degrees below 32. The ice machine at the gas station/campground/etc is at 31 or so. Why? Cheaper to keep the temp higher, and of course you'll need ice sooner if it melts faster.

3. Keep your cooler in the shadiest spot you can find. The temp is what it is outside, but of course we all know it feels cooler in the shade. Your ice will feel the same way. :)

4. Open it as little as possible. Every time you open it, you're letting in warm air. So if you're getting stuff out for dinner, get it all out at once.

5. Use one of those cooler covers. Yes, those silly looking foil bubble-wrap contraptions. They really do work (especially out in the sun), even if they aren't the highest quality. ANY kind of insulation helps. On the boat we sometimes wrap our towels around and over the cooler, for example.

6. Don't drain the water. I know some of you won't agree, but I've done lots of unscientific testing on this. As long as the food, drinks and new ice fit in the cooler still, I never drain the water. Its mass holds the cold better than air. In other words, if your cooler is nearing empty on food or drinks and you keep the water drained, that's just more air in there. Then when you open it, warm air goes in. If you keep the water in there, that's less warm air coming in (same principle as the ice cream churn I mentioned above). This is also why keeping frozen jugs of water in your deep freeze is a good idea if have empty space. That and the fact if you lose power, you have all that mass keeping your food cold.
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby prayingcowboy » Wed Jul 27, 2016 1:00 pm

We use a small vinyl fold up camping bucket that holds one bag of ice. We stick in one corner of our engal high efficiency cooler. No more soggy food. As a side note yes the rotoformed coolers are expensive but we go at least every other weekend in the summer and at least 2 stretches if 8 days. We have never had the ice completely melt or anything spoil especially milk. What we have saved in ice over the last two summers has mare then paid for the cooler. Yes we were just out for 4 days last weekend in 94+ temperatures my son used 10 bags if ices I used 1 and some left over to put back in the freezer. My point is if go slot in the summer splurge and upgrade.it is worth it.

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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby jstrubberg » Wed Jul 27, 2016 1:38 pm

greygoos wrote:
jstrubberg wrote:
S. Heisley wrote:I freeze water in plastic containers that are built like a cereal box and put one of those at each end. When the ice melts, I refill the containers with ice from store-bought bags...no mess.

Watch out for carcinogens!
Incidentally, they have recently found that plastic that is frozen will release even more carcinogens into the thawing water than when hot water is put in plastic; so, don't drink that water!

Add salt?
I recently saw that adding salt to your ice chest water before freezing it will keep food colder longer. (The article didn't say how much to add.) Has anybody tried it? What's the ratio of salt that should be added?


I doubt the salt thing is true. Adding salt to water and THEN freezing it can get you longer lasting ice, because salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water. Adding salt to existing ice isn't likely to do anything but make the melt water salty.


Sprinkling a handful of Kosher salt to a cooler of ice will keep the ice for a longer period and it will melt slower. Think of an old fashioned ice cream churn. You add salt to the ice to keep it from melting rapidly.



No, you add salt to the ice to force the ice to melt and give up it's cold to the churn more quickly. Adding salt lowers the freezing point of the water int he ice. If the freeze point goes above ambient, the ice melts. Same way you clear your driveway with salt.
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby working on it » Fri Mar 10, 2017 11:10 pm

beakman wrote:...After years and years of camping, ice cream making, picnics and parties, here are the best ways I've learned to keep ice longer:

1. Do NOT break up the bags when you get them. Yes, it will cool your beer, etc FASTER when you break it up, but that's because it is losing it's coldness faster to whatever is in the cooler. In other words, it's melting faster. That's because breaking it up gives it more surface area. Breaking it is good for parties, not so good for food and camping. That's why ice for ice boxes was always delivered in big blocks back in the old days.

2. Frozen is frozen, but your deep freeze will give you ice at zero degrees generally, so it will stay cold a lot longer. Depending on your settings, your refrigerator's freezer is probably just a few degrees below 32. The ice machine at the gas station/campground/etc is at 31 or so. Why? Cheaper to keep the temp higher, and of course you'll need ice sooner if it melts faster.

3. Keep your cooler in the shadiest spot you can find. The temp is what it is outside, but of course we all know it feels cooler in the shade. Your ice will feel the same way. :)

4. Open it as little as possible. Every time you open it, you're letting in warm air. So if you're getting stuff out for dinner, get it all out at once.

5. Use one of those cooler covers. Yes, those silly looking foil bubble-wrap contraptions. They really do work (especially out in the sun), even if they aren't the highest quality. ANY kind of insulation helps. On the boat we sometimes wrap our towels around and over the cooler, for example.

6. Don't drain the water. I know some of you won't agree, but I've done lots of unscientific testing on this. As long as the food, drinks and new ice fit in the cooler still, I never drain the water. Its mass holds the cold better than air. In other words, if your cooler is nearing empty on food or drinks and you keep the water drained, that's just more air in there. Then when you open it, warm air goes in. If you keep the water in there, that's less warm air coming in (same principle as the ice cream churn I mentioned above). This is also why keeping frozen jugs of water in your deep freeze is a good idea if have empty space. That and the fact if you lose power, you have all that mass keeping your food cold.
  • It's time again, for me to try something different than what I've tried before, to keep at least one ice chest/cooler from going from ice-to-water during any camping trip. On every two-three day trip I've been on, not to mention the hundreds of racing excursions before, I've seldom started with ice and returned home with 50% ice or better. One time, I kept one ice chest in my air-conditioned trailer for three days, but it makes the 4x8 trailer a bit cramped. Usually, in North Texas, from mid-May to mid-September, the daytime temperature stays at 90 degrees or more. Ice chest/cooler manufacturers advertise "keeps cooler cold for xx amount of days in 90 degree heat", but I've never had one yet that could live up to that claim.
  • I've had about 20 coolers, over the years, but I have had the best luck with a Coleman Extreme (I think I have a similar Igloo cooler), that has been able to make it two days, but was water after three. I was lucky to have it cold after that time when over 100 degrees. I performed an experiment,http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61135 using reflective mylar-faced Ultratouch denim -backed (chopped denim) insulation, in September's mid 80's-mid-90's temps. I completely wrapped the (loaded with ice and beverages) Coleman Extreme cooler with it, and rested the wrapped cooler on a mat of the same material for 72 hours, only opening it twice, during the test. At the end, there was no ice left un-melted.
  • I came back to this thread to see more ideas for sustained cooling at camp, after watching many YouTube videos. I'll try the frozen bottle trick next time, and maybe seal the top with a foam lid seal, held tighter using bungee cords. With at least 6 coolers (some unused) laying about the garage and sheds, the wife won't sanction a Yeti (or even an Ozark Trail) purchase. Any body have a fresh solution lately?
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby JaggedEdges » Sat Mar 11, 2017 9:11 am

jstrubberg wrote:
S. Heisley wrote:I freeze water in plastic containers that are built like a cereal box and put one of those at each end. When the ice melts, I refill the containers with ice from store-bought bags...no mess.

Watch out for carcinogens!
Incidentally, they have recently found that plastic that is frozen will release even more carcinogens into the thawing water than when hot water is put in plastic; so, don't drink that water!

Add salt?
I recently saw that adding salt to your ice chest water before freezing it will keep food colder longer. (The article didn't say how much to add.) Has anybody tried it? What's the ratio of salt that should be added?


I doubt the salt thing is true. Adding salt to water and THEN freezing it can get you longer lasting ice, because salt water freezes at a lower temperature than fresh water. Adding salt to existing ice isn't likely to do anything but make the melt water salty.


Both kinda wrong.... it takes energy to dissolve the crystal structure of salt, break those bonds and put it into solution in water. (Sugar too) So it sucks heat out of the environment to do this. When this environment is ice or ice water, freshly put in salt can suck it down as low as -14 centigrade, for as long as salt is still trying to dissolve in it. Thus if you pre-dissolve the salt, then it does all it's energy sucking while you're freezing the salt water, making your freezer colder in the process maybe, but not doing anything apart from maybe giving you "wetter" ice when it does melt, because a saline solution wants to be liquid above -14C...

So... dumping salt on your melting ice in the cooler, while in use, draws heat out, making things colder.... but it will also "melt" the ice, meaning making it liquid, though not actually raising the temperature of it....

I think it's possible to get some supercooled water, dump enough salt into it and see it freeze. The classic home method of making ice cream when only ice was available, not a freezer was to dump salt on crushed ice, to get a -14C bath to freeze the mix in a bowl inside it.
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Re: Coolers! Soggy Food! Solved?

Postby Socal Tom » Sat Mar 11, 2017 4:16 pm

drhill wrote:Actually adding salt does not change the heat of fusion of the ice. ie= the same amount of energy is required to turn the ice from a solid to a liquid. But is does lower the freezing point. That is why salt is added to the ice when making ice cream so that the freezing point is lowered below 32F so that ice crystals can be formed in the ice cream.

Adding salt to water lowers the freezing point. That means the water in the bottom of the cooler will be below 32f ( remember making ice cream). However it doesn't change the ice ( unless its frozen salt water). Adding ice to the cooler will likely melt the ice faster, but the water will be colder.
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