Dry Ice in the Cooler

[James.]

I was wondering if anyone uses or has tried using dry ice in their ice chest.

[Mike]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

Dry ice has the potential of breaking the plastic in most coolers just like those liquid nitrogen videos you see where people dunk flowers and other things in liquid nitrogen and then crush them.

Dry ice isn't as cold as liquid nitrogen, but it is cold enough that if you put it in direct contact with the plastic cooler and then bang the cooler around, it could crack the cooler.

If you bury the dry ice within the food inside the cooler, you should be OK.

Note that no matter how much dry ice you use, it will be nearly all gone within 36 hours. If you are using a small piece like the size of a bar of soap, it won't last even 12 to 18 hours.

[hwc1954]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

Here in New England, it's impossible to drive anywhere without driving by a convenient place to buy a bag of ice. I start with bottles of frozen water and buy a bag of ice to dump in the cooler as needed. Solid blocks of ice in frozen bottles seems to really make the bagged ice go a lot farther.

I just got a few of these: 64 ounce rectangular Nalgene bottles. They are about 6 inches by 9 inches by 3 inches and fit like gloves inside the cooler when they are frozen:

[MacGyver]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

I worked at a vending company that got deliveries of prepackaged sandwiches that came packed with dry ice wrapped in heavy brown paper. Even sitting out in the warehouse, the stuff stayed cold for hours but wasn't so cold that you couldn't pick it up. Even as just an experiment, it might be worth a try to see if that would work in a cooler.

[05Kingquad700]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

Yes, I tried it this spring/summer. Wasn't worth it IMHO. Once you factor in cost and PITA, I went back to reg ice. You cant put your food directly on it, it will freeze. I lost a brand new bottle of hot sauce this way. The first time, every thing in my freezer froze. Eggs, milk, hot sauce, pop etc. The next time, I wrapped it in a towel. That kept stuff from freezing, put it wasn't cold enough. The next time, I wrapped it in a towel and put it on top. Thinking cold air sinks. Yeah, well my family likes to open the coolers 1,500 times an hour. So I chucked the dry ice into the lake and went back to reg ice. I think a two cooler system works best with reg ice. One for drinks and one for food. I have the coleman Xtreme series that I got from wally world.
My 2 cents. More hassle than its worth.

[tplife]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

In my line of work, dry ice is more or less free. That said, I only use it for longer trips as a separate frozen food maintainer - it isn't wise (as many have found out) as a +5 c. cooling method. As long as the dry ice can't physically touch the wall of the cooler, it won't cause any damage.

[Diveralan]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

I have used dry ice with good results. However as already mentioned it can damage your ice chest if it is not compatible with it. It can also freeze everything in the cooler.

When I used dry ice it was on a 10 day trip and it was about a 40 mile drive from my campsite to get ice and I wanted to minimize trips to replace ice. I used a 120 qt Yeti cooler that had been pre chilled to -20 in a walk in freezer. I also prefroze most of my meat. On one side I put a 7-8 lb. block of dry ice on the other side I placed four 2 liter soda bottles filled with water and frozen. I then covered it all with about 3 inches of regular ice. The side with the dry ice was very cold and kept my meat frozen for about 5 days. The other side was a little warmer, the regular ice froze almost solid but the food on it was not frozen. I then covered the food with regular ice up to the top of the ice chest. I also used a separate ice chest for drinks so I only had to open the Yeti 2-3 times a day.

I was pleased with my results. The entire trip the ice chest was in the back of my car with the windows rolled up. The outside temperature was mid-eightiesin the day and in the forties at night. I started getting some water in the bottom of the chest on day 4 and had about 3 inches of water on day 6. Most of the dry ice was melted by this time. I drained all the water and added two more bags of ice on day 7. When I emptied the ice chest the day after I got home on day 11 itwas about 25% ice and 75% water. All of the dry ice had melted and each of the soda bottles still had a small piece of ice in it.

If you are camping where ice is readily available it is easier and less expensive to use regular ice. If you are camping a long way from an ice source dry ice can help keep your food cold longer.

[James.]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

Thanks for the info everyone. You gave me a lot to think about.

[ppine]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

I can think of two instances when it would make sense- a long boat trip like the Grand Canyon which can last up to 3 weeks with no resupply or keeping meat cold on a hunting trip after successfully harvesting a large game animal. Otherwise it is a lot of trouble.

[tplife]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

If you're in a group, even with a big Class A RV, the value of dry ice is quickly discovered - you can bring along a week's worth of frozen marinated meats in a 54-quart Igloo in the storage bins. That's not happening in the RV freezer, and the prep time saved by the chef is priceless!

[James.]

Re: Dry Ice in the Cooler

yeah, it seems like it would be great on a long trip with 2 coolers. One with dry ice to use as a freezer and another with regular ice to use as a refrigerator.