Keeping ice longer

[nodjule]

Anyone got any tips on keeping ice longer in Esky's, when I lived in Darwin we used to wet down hessian bags and lay them down on top of the esky, dip them in the water every hour or so to keep them wet, No doubt whatsoever it kept the ice for at least 40% longer then not using the bags.

[dfox]

A few good hand fulls of course salt thrown over the ice helps...

[NeilD]

If you have the freezer space buy it beforehand and make sure its frozen solid. Some of the ice you buy is already melting as you carry it home. It is only about a couple of degrees below 0oC. A home freezer should get it about -18oC. Thats a lot of latent heat to melt it. Good ice from Coops etc almost burns it is so cold.
Good insulation and keep out of the sun helps.

Neil

[jimfisher]

The Hessian bags are a great idea

i agree with dfox : Plenty of salt & the the most logical, keep the esky out of the sun.

Jim

[brett_rokesky]

Steal some of the wifes tupperware and make yourself some ice (bigger the better) I've got mine on a rotating cycle most of my blocks have been freezing for up to 3 weeks. (Solid as)
I pack my esky with the blocks at the bottom, I buy one/Two bags of party (depends on the trip) and i pack newspaper on top to make a perfect seal.

I've had ice last up to 4 days over Xmas.

Another tip is to keep the kids out. The less you open it the better it keeps.

[Seahorse]

buy an evakool

[brentasauros]

Anyone got any tips on keeping ice longer in Esky's, when I lived in Darwin we used to wet down hessian bags and lay them down on top of the esky, dip them in the water every hour or so to keep them wet, No doubt whatsoever it kept the ice for at least 40% longer then not using the bags.


thats..a..bloody..good..idea..cheers.

[Fishing_Freddy]

When we camp on the beach we half bury the esky in a shady area and found it keeps the ice about 25% longer than if its on top of the sand
Ken ;D ;D ;D

[Seamus]

Nodule,

Have a trawl through the previous 2-3mnths of threads, as there was one on this and various esky brands which made good reading.

Seamus

[Seamus]

Curiousity piqued, I looked back through 25 pages, but couldn't find it. >:(

The only other thing I could offer is to take up any air space within the esky with scrunched up paper.

Seamus

[McCod]

Some of the cheaper eskies have no insulation in the lid and you lose a lot of energy out the top . If the lid has an inner and outer skin you can drill or punch a hole in each end. Buy a can of space invader and inject it into the lid…. Works a treat! Or you can clue a piece of polystyrene on top or under the lid. The good old broccoli box is still one of the best eskies around. But ya can’t beat an Everkool Esky # #

# #Cheers Les

[Spaniard_King]

I got a small opening cut into my 160L Evercold so we could lift a small pannel out and slide the fish in...works a treat ;)

I am also a big fan of salting down the ice and adding a moderate amount of salt water to the esky(enough to cover the fish) I buy 25kgs of Cooking salt for around $8


Garry

[Big_Ren]

Have to agree with Garry. A little bit of salt water helps to a make a damn cold ice slurry. Keep out of the esky as much as possible and FWIW I also pre-freeze a couple of two litre cordial/fruit juice bottles of water for the bottom of the esky, covered with a couple of unopened bags of party ice.

Cheers
Paul

[PinHead]

If you have the freezer space buy it beforehand and make sure its frozen solid. Some of the ice you buy is already melting as you carry it home. It is only about a couple of degrees below 0oC. A home freezer should get it about -18oC. Thats a lot of latent heat to melt it. Good ice from Coops etc almost burns it is so cold.
Good insulation and keep out of the sun helps.

Neil


Neil, As long as it is below 0C you don't have to worry about latent heat.

The best ice to use is dry ice.

[whichway]

Hi

I have a slight interest in the salt / ice issue, and found the following excellent web site (for tech heads).

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/why-salt-
melts-ice.shtml

So if you add 23% salt by weight into water, the freezing point drops to -21 below 0.

334 kj/kg is the latent heat of fusion of fresh water, and 199 kj/kg is the heat of sublimation of dry ice so it takes more energy to melt (water) ice than dry ice (even allowing for the greater density of dry ice (1562 kg/m3).

So ice would seem to be a better source of cooling than dry ice (assuming that the specific heats of water and CO2 are not significant compared to the latent heats).

There is something wrong here, but I don't know what it is. I'll ask some of the engineers at work, but I would welcome any other comments.

Whichway.

[juicyfruit]

When I was a little tacker, I watched The Curiosity Show (those too young or those too old to remember, it was a science show that followed the show 'Skippy'....lol....anyway)

The Curiosity Show did an experiment on best ways to keep ice frozen longer.

Salt was in the end the best result.


Gasbagging Juicy [smiley=rifle.gif]

P.S. Doesn't this smiley look like it needs more fibre in its diet [smiley=snobby.gif]

[bungie]

Found the best way to keep ice during camping was to place a block of dry ice in the centre of the esky and bags of party ice either side of it. A few sheets of news paper and then the stuff to keep frozen, meat and such, then more newspaper and the rest of the products that I just wanted cold. Would last about a week. with no water sloshing around my food.

[redspeckle]

To help make ice live longer I uesd rock salt ,newspaper,and Hesin bag,
Last years camping trip to fraser for 9 days took my tropical 126 litre ice box the lasted over the period with the help of dry ice and what mention above and store it out of the sun and open it when have to get some thing really out every time you open it cold air escape's warm air comes in
Tropical are good ice boxes and they are built tough plus nearly uesd them as a liferaft as well ;D
Mitch

[grex]

There have been several comments on block ice in tubs or bottles. Add one more to that , I use 4lt wine bags. There is always a good supply of empty bags at my place.

Pop the black cap off , add 2 -3 lt water , replace the cap & berp ( remove the air) from the bag & into the freezer

Geoff

[thumps]

Pop the black cap off , swallow 2 -3 lt wine , replace the cap & burp

then

Pop the black cap off , add 2 -3 lt water , replace the cap & berp ( remove the air)


;) ;) ;)

[DICER]

Funny no one has mentioned ethanol and ice. It goes even colder that salt plus ice. The problem is that it creates some slush and most likely people would want to drink the ethanol rather use it to cool their items of food in the easky. It does however have a good 'cooling efficiency'

The cooling efficiency of dry ice is much weaker than salt and ice, and it has to do with quite a number of things. For instance you'd think that liquid nitrogen at -196 would have a great cooling efficiency, however it doesn't and it has very low cooling efficiency. You can dip things into liquid nitrogen for around 5 or more seconds and the're not frozen. It's partly to do with the gas phase. One of the best cooling efficiencies can be achieved with liquid propane. But I don't have any easy (non-flammable) recommendations here.

Anyway if you are trying to cool something down - blocks of dry ice are not the best way. It's better through an ice slush. However when we ship, or receive items on dry ice in foam eskies, the item has usually been frozen before hand. Further more its in a semi-airtight container to stop air movement. Though you don't want a complete airtight situation as dry ice gives off CO2 and pressure will build up (=bomb)

Approx 5kg dry ice lasts 4-5 days transit and it's best in pellet form.

A word of caution about liquids, dry ice and driving in a closed car. Should you have to stop suddenly and much liquid water mixes the dry ice, it can displace the air in your car with CO2 causing you to black out. Therefore you should drive with a window partly down.

[brentasauros]

There have been several comments on block ice in tubs or bottles. Add one more to that , I use 4lt wine bags. There is always a good supply of empty bags at my place.

Pop the black cap off , add 2 -3 lt water , replace the cap & berp ( remove the air) from the bag & into the freezer

Geoff


good..tip..mate..thnx

I..was..just..filling..the..deepfreeze..then..with ..2lt..cokes..filled..with..water
I..got..a..90..ltr...downunder..icebox..fits..in.. the..tinny..perfect...sits..right..on..the..ribs.. and..it,s...low..and..wide..
with..a..good..centre..of..gravity

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e237/moistyman12/Picture002WinCE.jpg

[grex]

[quote author=thumps link=1136867824/15#19 date=1136931065] Pop the black cap off , swallow 2 -3 lt wine , replace the cap & burp

Thumps , your not wrong there. That is why we have a good supply of bags

Should also mention , fish spines & plastic bags don't mix so the bags normally only last 1 or 2 outings

Geoff

[szopen]

As I make my living freezing things I might offer a few ideas.
I will try not to go into too much theory as well.

One of the best ideas if you are making the ice by yourself is to use not pure water but a salt (NACl) solution.

As whichway wrote:
with ~23% salt solution the freezeing point drops to around -21C but:

this is not too practical as to freeze this you would need freezer working at -25C.

So the first step is to check your freezer temperature and than prepare water/salt solution with a freezeing point 5C higher than freezer temp.

Roughly:
Freezer temp. salt soluition%
-20C 18%
-15C 13%
-10C 8%

Prepare solution, fill into plastic containers leaving some space and than freeze over at least 24h in the freezer.

Keeping it.

It is the heat getting inside the esky that melts the ice, it gets there in a three ways:
- through insulation (walls, lids and bottom)
- through air going in during opening
- through various stuff placed inside for cooling.

Last two ways are quite obvious and what was said previously about limiting the frequency and duration of opening is perfectly correct.
Reducing the amount of stuff placed inside is a bit defiyng the purpose of the whole excersize but has to be kept in mind.

To reduce the amount of heat going through insulation it is important to:
- keep the esky in shade,
- keeping it buried in wet sand or covered with wet cloth is also a good idea,
- anything else that keeps the outside of the esky as cool as possible.

[Billo]

1. Buy a GOOD esky ( i have a good fibreglass , 2 bags of ice can last 2-3 days)
2. KEEP ESKY LID SHUT as much as possible ...everytime you open , you send the temp in there up 10 degrees and it needs to cool again
3. buy 2 ice bags , 1 party , 1 block. ( party ice warms on contact with fish , a block of ice helps keep the whole esky cool and the party ice lasts longer..dry ice block is better , but not worth the cost UNLESS you are going camping , then its a must
4. keep esky in a chest freezer till departue .
5. as said ...a handfull or two of rock salt

does me ok ....i normally wash the ice with a hose whilst in the esky when i get home , bag it , put it in the chest freeer and use it again next trip

[Cheech]

I use a couple of 3 litre juice bottles. About a week ago I decided to try out the salt thing and added a fair amount of salt to the water in the bottles. Gave it a test run and can confirm it is well worth doing. They would normally have stared to melt the next day, but they were still fully frozen in the esky with fish from 4.00pm till about 10.00am the next day.

[DaveSue_Fishos_Two]

I salt my ice down with pool salt from Woolies. About $3.00 for a 25kg bag. Does anyone know if rock salt is better?? Are there any real differences??

Cheers
Dave

[wayne_cook]

some great ideas i'm going to try what SZOPEN suggests with water & salt solutions. also i've had various eskys over the years & but have had great results with the tropical brand strong and deffinatly keeps ice longer well worth the extra expense. :)

[szopen]

As far as I can say there is no difference whatever type of salt is used.

The difference is in the purity of salt as the not quite purified salt is not really fit for human consumption.
If you use salt solution frozen into ice in sealed containers there is nothing to worry about.

I would not try any industrial grade salt in situations where it can directly contact with your food (fish included).