Cooler, Fridge, Yeti et al

[khigh]

I think for my first build I'm going to go without a fridge. I'd like to, anyway.

I've never put much thought into coolers before but I want to make the right move.

Anyone use a Yeti? I went in thinking "If I get the very best, it will work the best", but I went shopping for them yesterday and I just think it's overkill. I was looking at a $349 Yeti at Academy and right down the way from it was a Coleman on sale - twice the capacity and 1/10th the price that claimed to hold ice for 5 days. Do the Yetis hold ice significantly longer? Heck I don't even think I need 5 days. Maybe 4. I don't MIND paying that much for a cooler if it buys me value but heck I don't know if it would even hold 4 days worth of water, soda, food, and the ice to keep it all. Even if I can fit all I need in there, wouldn't I gain something by having a bigger cooler with more ice?.

Their other claim to fame is durability. I don't think I'd be challenging it that much. I could possibly have an "indoor cooler" and an "outdoor cooler" I'd keep out by the canopy for convenience during the day. In this kind of scenario, the main cooler wouldn't get much abuse at all. I could even whip up a cushion for it and use it as a bench.

I'm assuming that all of the "electric" coolers are garbage? That you need to either pick a conventional cooler or a plugin kind, that you can't put ice in the electric ones and just use the electric for backup/boosting?

Anything I'm overlooking?

Thanks for looking.

[Doublacola]

I think you have a great idea. Keep It Simple. There is a you tube video out there comparing ice chests and I think Coleman or Igloo was the winner. I think I might try it myself. I just checked and they concluded you get the most bang for your buck from the Coleman extreme. Another advantage is I have seen coolers used as seats on boats.

[jwhite]

I asked this same question a few weeks ago and I decided to buy a coleman extreme cooler because of the price 55.00 and the size it's really large and I felt like it being so large I could freeze and carry more frozen water and things in the larger cooler.
I haven't put it to a real test with frozen blocks of ice but when I ice down beer on the weekends using regular crushed ice which I buy it only last about 2 days and then it's just cold water so 3 day max.
But I do believe with frozen blocks of ice and regular ice cubes not the crushes ice plus filling it to the top with ice it should last 4-5 days.
I also have one of the larger dorm size refrigerators and if I have power when I am camping I can use that and it works great, my plan now is to buy a 100 watt solar panel and hook it to my 2 golf cart batteries and see if I can run the refrigerator through my inverter and have the solar panels recharge the batteries enough in the day.?
My original plan was to use the ice chest first and when I have used up the ice switch over to the refrigerator but till this day I have not had to go that route yet

[GuitarPhotog]

Unless you need the protection under extreme conditions (bears, off road travel, etc) that Yeti and similar high-end coolers provide, you can buy a lot of ice for the difference in price!

I use a Coleman Extreme 70 quart cooler with a "cooler cozy" and seldom have to buy ice more often than every 3rd or 4th day. Part of the trick is to have a separate cooler for beverages, so the food cooler stays closed, and cold.

Those electric coolers are capable of cooling only about 40F below ambient, which means your food is at 60F if the ambient is 100F. And 60F is not food safe.

<Chas>

[khigh]

Thanks - 2 days is a little underwhelming. I'm just trying to think about going maybe a long weekend with an extra day stuck on without dealing with "civilization".

One of the main reasons I don't want to get into a fridge is the need to power it 24 hours/day - even with a tri fuel that's some sort of power suck all day.

Conversely - and someone tell me why this wouldn't work... If I got a portable RV countertop ice maker, I could run it several hours a day and recycle the melted ice through it in a continuous cycle.

Any reason why that wouldn't work? The drawback is that it wouldn't be "clean" water, but if you're just recycling it back it wouldn't matter. The dometic I was looking at spits out ice every 13 minutes. If I ran that say... four hours a day - basically dumping the new small amount of ice in every time I opened the cooler, it seems like it could keep up.

Also I don't drink a lot of beer or soda - mostly water. I'm thinking if you freeze all the water bottles solid along with other non-soda drinks in plastic bottles (like juice) and maybe the meat for day three and four, that would be a big help.

[jwhite]

like in the above post keeping drinks in a separate cooler is key to making you ice last longer. I think instead of buying a extreme cooler the money would be better spent on a small freezer if you don't have one or have enough freezer space and freeze water in those rubber made containers and freeze large ice cubes and use that along with a couple large ice chest to keep food in one and drinks in the others
I rarely camp more than 4-5 days but I don't want to have to leave to go get ice,

[asianflava]

The problem I have with refrigerators is that they won't always keep your stuff cool while traveling to your destination. I use the indoor and outdoor cooler method. One stays in the back of the Car/SUV/Truck and the other one is in the galley of the TD.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

Any thoughts about using 'Dry Ice' ?
One could build a small shelf to hold the dry ice up off the bottom
to help create a frozen section then place the cold but not frozen
in above the dry ice. Thinking some of that chloroplast (like they
use for those "Vote for Me" signs with some holes to allow the really
cold to migrate down and some to allow the not so cold to migrate up
would do fine and last several days ... Any thoughts ???

hank

[wtcreaux]

Used dry ice once, won't use it again...at least with food........CO2 + H2O (in the food) = H2CO3 (carbonic acid).......granted it is a weak acid but left a "bite" to the apples, oranges, grapes, etc..........

[pmowers]

Conversely - and someone tell me why this wouldn't work... If I got a portable RV countertop ice maker, I could run it several hours a day and recycle the melted ice through it in a continuous cycle.

Any reason why that wouldn't work? The drawback is that it wouldn't be "clean" water, but if you're just recycling it back it wouldn't matter. The dometic I was looking at spits out ice every 13 minutes. If I ran that say... four hours a day - basically dumping the new small amount of ice in every time I opened the cooler, it seems like it could keep up.
.

I have a little STS? icemaker that I bought for $100. We have used it on several trips, it makes hollow ice cubes about every 12 minutes, until the ice bucket is full (1.5 qt.) then we empty into a gallon ziplock bag for the cooler. Water from the ice melting is recycled into new cubes. They claim that mine will make 35 pounds per day. You just have to keep emptying and filling the reservoirs, about once/hour.

The Dometic, Magic Chef, and several of the others all appear to be the same machine, just different labels ($x3 if it says Dometic).

[Gonefishin]

I have a Coleman Extreme for the food, and a smaller one for the drinks. I go days between ice needs. I use a block on each end of the food cooler. Cubes in the drink cooler. Freeze water bottles prior to trip. Same with a pound of bacon. They are very close to the Yeti and Yeti-type coolers in terms of insulation at a fraction of the cost. Mine are 4 years old, still like new. I have no A/C in my conversion.

[hankaye]

wtcreaux, Howdy;

Used dry ice once, won't use it again...at least with food........CO2 + H2O (in the food) = H2CO3 (carbonic acid).......granted it is a weak acid but left a "bite" to the apples, oranges, grapes, etc..........

What were you thinking .... fruit don't need coolin', ... beer do,.. as well as some zip-locked meat and other important stuffs !!!!!

hank

[Shadow Catcher]

We have a WAECO refrigerator supplied by the solar panel on the trailer. depending on the setting it will freeze things at the bottom. We spent eight days with out restocking on the north shore of Superior this uses a compressor. For a comparison http://www.campinglife.com/camping-gear ... t-shootout

[Olddog1]

Back in my hunting days we would use 120 qt. coolers, can't remember if they were Coleman's or Igloo's. We would freeze three blocks of ice in Sterilite containers, took a bit to find just the right containers, then use the empty container to keep the food items out of the melt water. Additional cubed iced would be used to fill open spaces around the blocks of ice. It may be contrary to some lines of thought but we would block the end opposite the drain up on a 4x4 and leave the drain open. This method allowed us to maintain ice over a 2 week period in the south Georgia woods where temps varied from below freezing to 80°f. We probably made some gain when it was freezing but that didn't happen often.

When my wife and I went fulltime I was working at an RV dealership and purchased a Uline under cabinet ice maker. Plumbed it in and never had to worry about ice. I tend to like a full glass of ice with my Bourbon and never ran out. Plus if we were day tripping the bin would be full to dump into the small cooler and the bin would be full again when we returned. Then it quit! It would have cost more to fix than I paid for it and I had left my discounts behind. HD had their counter top on sale for $100+ so bought it. Plugged it in and never looked back. Just a bit more of the hands on but it will make ice faster than I use it and I can still get some into gal. ziplocs for those day trips.

For the planned built I am planning for an 8cf RV fridge, if I can get a good used one from my buddy, but I'll still be using the counter top ice maker.

Had to come back and edit. Just a word of warning. If you do buy and use a Yeti make sure that it is secured. They are a thief magnet. Took my nephew a couple of times to learn that lesson on his offshore fishing boat. Both happened while he was weighing in at a tournament. Dumped everything in the cooler out in the boat and were gone.

[Hiflyer]

Unless you need the protection under extreme conditions (bears, off road travel, etc) that Yeti and similar high-end coolers provide, you can buy a lot of ice for the difference in price!

I use a Coleman Extreme 70 quart cooler with a "cooler cozy" and seldom have to buy ice more often than every 3rd or 4th day. Part of the trick is to have a separate cooler for beverages, so the food cooler stays closed, and cold.

Those electric coolers are capable of cooling only about 40F below ambient, which means your food is at 60F if the ambient is 100F. And 60F is not food safe.

<Chas>

Thermoelectric does about 20 celcius difference which is a huge cause of concern for me

Why I got an arb with a compressor. Does 40+ celcius difference