QOTD: How long does your ice last?

[Bob Camarena]

More Cooler Questions

I did a little investigating of the electric coolers a couple of years ago. As I recall, they're limited to cooling to 30 degrees or so below ambient temp. This is fine if you're sailing in Puget Sound, but how about here in the California Delta where it's 100+?

 

[Don Evans]

Peltier Effect Refridgerators

I also gave up on ice, and converted to an Koolatron type fridge. They typically draw about 3-4 amps, so its not to hard to determine your amperage/hour draw. If you have say 240 amp/hour batts, drawing down to 50% of their capacity would be 120/4 or 30 hours. But remember there would be other draws on that batt, so total up its entire amperage draw. Peltier effect refridges, although vastly improved over the years can take the inside box temp down to about 40 degrees below ambient air temp. Origo has solved some of this by having the external bi-metallic heart of their refridgerators' mounted on the keel, presumably in cooler water environment, thus allowing a much reduced inside fridge temp. Actually, they can get so cold that they have a freezer compartment built into theirs. The cost of their fridge is quite a bit more than your department store Koolatrons though. For an overnight or 2 though those cheap fridges can't be beat, if you have the juice to run them.Don EvansMuskoka Lakes, ONO'Day 25

 

[Tom Ehmke]

LaDonna from Tom

Did you use the cooler power and the coleman ice packs together. I couldn't tell from your message whether you ran it UNTIL you got onto the boat and then turned it off, or whether the ice packs kept everything so cool that the cooler motor didn't run.Thanks to all,Tom

 

[Jay Kent]

Frozen Water Bottles

We refill the natural water bottles (the ones with the large mouth) and freeze them. We add three to four to the regular ice box each weekend. As they thaw (which is, very slowly) we have ice water. Cheap, good recycling and it works well!!!

 

[Bob Camarena]

Catalina Icebox Insulation

I've seen many articles on insulating Catalina iceboxes which are notoriously underinsulated. All are a lot of work. I've found that the biggest problem is the almost total lack of insulation in the top. I skipped all the under the cabinet work and glued 2" of rigid blue insulation board (from Home Depot) inside the top of my C-30's icebox along with insulating the bottom of the wooden lid. It's not perfect but it's doubled the life of my ice. On a hot weekend in the Delta we can get by on a block and a bag. This all started when a friend told me to try putting a pillow on top of the icebox. The bottom of the pillow got so cold (and made such a difference) that I knew I'd discovered the weak point.