I went back to the trailer one hot day and found that the coolers plastic exterior was hot to the touch. I figured this can't be good, and the insulation can only do so much. Too much heat must be getting in at my ice block, maybe I can help it out.
I had some aluminized space blankets and I wrapped the cooler loosely with one of them.
Instant difference! Next time I went to the cooler I found that the outside of the cooler box was now cool to the touch under that simple flimsy little reflective cover.
My buddy had a 7 x 14 too, parked right beside mine, making it a perfect control test platform.
He used coolers too, and as it turned out, my ice lasted twice as long as his, due to that simple trick.
So I made myself a blanket for this cooler (actually a fully encasing cover with a bottom) out of Reflectex insulating material, cut to shape and duct taped. Just like the energy saving hot water tank blankets you can buy. The cooler blanket's lid has velcro tabs to help it stay closed, that can barely be seen in this pic.
Doesn't take up much more space, doesn't look that bad, and it works like a hot damn, to use an inappropriate metaphor...
Looks simple and reasonably cheap!
