update on my electric ice chest project..
I did the test with the 10 pound bag of ice before I was really done with things just to make sure I wasn’t wasting my time with something that wasn’t going to work. I did not have the clamps on the two lids installed yet (and still don’t..) so the lids were just held down by gravity.
The beer stayed very cold from end to end in the food chamber. However, the 10 pound bag of ice only lasted 2 days. One good thing about this is that this showed I can just throw the ice in still in the plastic bag..
With the lids just kept on by gravity, I could feel a little cold around the lid over the ice compartment but could not feel this around the food compartment lid and I think what is happening is that the fan creates a slight high pressure in the ice chamber and a slight low pressure in the food chamber. So air leaks out the ice chamber lid and air leaks in the food chamber lid. I believe this is where I had the main "cold" loss.
So.. I think the lid latches will help.. I also think that if I just do a good job sealing the ice chamber, that will solve most of the problem (if air can’t leak out, it also won’t leak in).
I am also going to add a switch to turn the fan off that is on the side of the chest. This will also have two very low power LED's. One to show there is power to the ice chest, a second to show when the fan is turned on. If I were to get "fancy", I would add a toggle switch to turn off the fan when the food lid was opened and could also add a somewhat simple circuit to actually measure the temperature in the food area and turn on and off the fan. The last picture shows the food tray that elevates the food above the drip water plus has the air ventilation holes.
So far, I’m liking it... I had almost reduced the insulation in the lids to 1 inch but didnt - they are 2 inches thick like the rest of the chest. Im glad I did this because unlike a regular ice chest where the cold stays low, the fan circulates the air over all surfaces.
I did the test with the 10 pound bag of ice before I was really done with things just to make sure I wasn’t wasting my time with something that wasn’t going to work. I did not have the clamps on the two lids installed yet (and still don’t..) so the lids were just held down by gravity.
The beer stayed very cold from end to end in the food chamber. However, the 10 pound bag of ice only lasted 2 days. One good thing about this is that this showed I can just throw the ice in still in the plastic bag..
With the lids just kept on by gravity, I could feel a little cold around the lid over the ice compartment but could not feel this around the food compartment lid and I think what is happening is that the fan creates a slight high pressure in the ice chamber and a slight low pressure in the food chamber. So air leaks out the ice chamber lid and air leaks in the food chamber lid. I believe this is where I had the main "cold" loss.
So.. I think the lid latches will help.. I also think that if I just do a good job sealing the ice chamber, that will solve most of the problem (if air can’t leak out, it also won’t leak in).
I am also going to add a switch to turn the fan off that is on the side of the chest. This will also have two very low power LED's. One to show there is power to the ice chest, a second to show when the fan is turned on. If I were to get "fancy", I would add a toggle switch to turn off the fan when the food lid was opened and could also add a somewhat simple circuit to actually measure the temperature in the food area and turn on and off the fan. The last picture shows the food tray that elevates the food above the drip water plus has the air ventilation holes.
So far, I’m liking it... I had almost reduced the insulation in the lids to 1 inch but didnt - they are 2 inches thick like the rest of the chest. Im glad I did this because unlike a regular ice chest where the cold stays low, the fan circulates the air over all surfaces.
