DIY Cooler

[James.]

I was reading a post by JoeN in another thread where he was thinking about making his own cooler and I thought it was worthy of its own thread.

Have any of you ever made your own cooler/ice chest? Or seen one someone else has made? JoeN was talking about making one out of 1/4" plywood which would work but then I started thinking about plastic totes. I figure it would be a matter of finding a couple totes of the right size. One bigger than the other where the bigger one would be the outer shell and the smaller being the inner shell. Fill in the space with foam insulation, drill in a drain and you have yourself a cooler.

I don't think you will save money vs. something like a Coleman Xtreme cooler but you could beat it by having THICK insulation....including insulating the top which is where I think most coolers really fall short.

Thoughts and ideas?

[Irate Mormon]

Re: DIY Cooler

I just use foam shipping containers (they kind the ship with dry ice). They are way better than off the shelf coolers, albeit not as durable. I thought about fiberglassing one, but as I always have a few laying around it's not really worth the trouble.
\

[Happy Joe]

Re: DIY Cooler

I just use foam shipping containers (they kind the ship with dry ice). They are way better than off the shelf coolers, albeit not as durable. I thought about fiberglassing one, but as I always have a few laying around it's not really worth the trouble.
\

I considered these from Omaha Steaks... they were too nice to throw away but started to take over the box room in the basement (I get given a couple w/steaks every Christmas); so I pitched them (except for a couple).

I have done enhancements to cheap blow/rotomolded coolers like filling them with Styrofoam, beanbag chair, beads; it helped insulate but was a real time consumer, not certain it was worth the effort...
Considered spray on foam but heard that it is difficult (and messy) at best to get it to fill blow/rotomolded coolers...
Plywood is too heavy, IMO but I, too, would consider laying down some fiberglass on one of the above Styrofoam coolers if I really wanted to build/was looking for another project; would have to do a test to see if the resin would eat the Styrofoam.

...since my youth (many moons ago...) the best coolers (those that kept ice the longest) were those that were the most air tight, not necessarily the best insulated...

Enjoy!

[James.]

Re: DIY Cooler

I considered these from Omaha Steaks... they were too nice to throw away but started to take over the box room in the basement (I get given a couple w/steaks every Christmas); so I pitched them (except for a couple).

I have done enhancements to cheap blow/rotomolded coolers like filling them with Styrofoam, beanbag chair, beads; it helped insulate but was a real time consumer, not certain it was worth the effort...
Considered spray on foam but heard that it is difficult (and messy) at best to get it to fill blow/rotomolded coolers...
Plywood is too heavy, IMO but I, too, would consider laying down some fiberglass on one of the above Styrofoam coolers if I really wanted to build/was looking for another project; would have to do a test to see if the resin would eat the Styrofoam.

...since my youth (many moons ago...) the best coolers (those that kept ice the longest) were those that were the most air tight, not necessarily the best insulated...

Enjoy!

Agreed. I was thinking that if I found a container that latched shut for the outside shell and had a lid on the inner shell it would make sort of a double air lock....AND you could max out the insulation too.

[MacGyver]

Re: DIY Cooler

It was over 20 years ago, so I forget what the project was, but I do recall that playing with that expansion foam wasn't an easy job. There was something in calculating the amount of expansion and the pressure it put on whatever it was I was trying to accomplish that didn't work out so well. Maybe that's why I don't remember exactly what it was - I don't want to!

[James.]

Re: DIY Cooler

It was over 20 years ago, so I forget what the project was, but I do recall that playing with that expansion foam wasn't an easy job. There was something in calculating the amount of expansion and the pressure it put on whatever it was I was trying to accomplish that didn't work out so well. Maybe that's why I don't remember exactly what it was - I don't want to!

Why not just over fill it and then cut out the excess once it dries?

Or you could do it in stages. bottom first and then do the sides.

[noelectricplease]

Re: DIY Cooler

I'm with the small shipping containers since bigger ones are too heavy for me. I did read somewhere that making quilted covers to fit over them does help. I like to divide meats from veggies from stuff. I quilt, so this is something I can work on now while the weather is ugly.

[MacGyver]

Re: DIY Cooler

Why not just over fill it and then cut out the excess once it dries?

Or you could do it in stages. bottom first and then do the sides.

That was the problem - it tended to overfill itself and the pressure from the expansion was too much and it warped the containers. That's why I figure plastic totes wouldn't work out. The plywood would probably work, but then you'd wind up with a ridiculously heavy box. Then again, a nicely stained wooden box might look nice. A cooler that doesn't look like a cooler.

[JoeN]

Re: DIY Cooler

If I ever build my plywood overbox, I intend to make it so that I can easily lift my cooler out of the box so I don't have to use it if I don't want to. The way I camp I usually leave the cooler in the back of my truck because once I get it full of food and ice I can't pick it up. However once I get to my site if I wanted to remove it from my truck I could lift the cooler out of the box, put the box where I wanted it, and then set the cooler back in the box. One thing I haven't decided is how to do the top. I realize the box will be heavy so I want to use the thinnest plywood possible but thin plywood makes it hard to attach a hinge. I have thought about using a full length piano hinge on the lid so I could lift it up but I am concerned the screws will break the plywood. I am now thinking about a simple lift off lid.

Some things I am considering. Should I completely encase the styrofoam in plywood, inside the box and out, or just the outside and let the bare styrofoam be pressed up against the cooler. Should I design a drain hole in the box or just lift the cooler out to drain it? I agree with James that the weak spot on a lot of coolers is the lid, both the lack of insulation and poor fit, so I want to make sure the top of my box has plenty of insulation and fits as tightly as practical.

[James.]

Re: DIY Cooler

If I ever build my plywood overbox, I intend to make it so that I can easily lift my cooler out of the box so I don't have to use it if I don't want to. The way I camp I usually leave the cooler in the back of my truck because once I get it full of food and ice I can't pick it up. However once I get to my site if I wanted to remove it from my truck I could lift the cooler out of the box, put the box where I wanted it, and then set the cooler back in the box. One thing I haven't decided is how to do the top. I realize the box will be heavy so I want to use the thinnest plywood possible but thin plywood makes it hard to attach a hinge. I have thought about using a full length piano hinge on the lid so I could lift it up but I am concerned the screws will break the plywood. I am now thinking about a simple lift off lid.

Some things I am considering. Should I completely encase the styrofoam in plywood, inside the box and out, or just the outside and let the bare styrofoam be pressed up against the cooler. Should I design a drain hole in the box or just lift the cooler out to drain it? I agree with James that the weak spot on a lot of coolers is the lid, both the lack of insulation and poor fit, so I want to make sure the top of my box has plenty of insulation and fits as tightly as practical.

Why not put a piece of wood running along the back so you could screw the hinges on?

[James.]

Re: DIY Cooler

That was the problem - it tended to overfill itself and the pressure from the expansion was too much and it warped the containers. That's why I figure plastic totes wouldn't work out. The plywood would probably work, but then you'd wind up with a ridiculously heavy box. Then again, a nicely stained wooden box might look nice. A cooler that doesn't look like a cooler.

What if you sprayed the bottom and walls of the outer container. Not full so it didn't warp the container, just enough to over fill what would be the space between the two containers. Then just cut out the excess so the inner container can be dropped in.

I think it would work. Even easier if you use the quick expanding foam they use in houses. I work on job sites where they use it. I think I am going to ask the next time I see them.

[MacGyver]

Re: DIY Cooler

What if you sprayed the bottom and walls of the outer container. Not full so it didn't warp the container, just enough to over fill what would be the space between the two containers. Then just cut out the excess so the inner container can be dropped in.

I think it would work. Even easier if you use the quick expanding foam they use in houses. I work on job sites where they use it. I think I am going to ask the next time I see them.

I'm literally sitting here chuckling to myself. I'm not saying you wouldn't have better luck with it than I did, but I'm just remembering how simple I thought it would be and then giving up when it got too frustrating. If you do go ahead with the project, I hope you'll think to take step by step pictures to show us how you brought it together. But what's really funny to me is that I'm now actually thinking about making a wooden cooler because of this thread.

[Happy Joe]

Re: DIY Cooler

Re; foam... there are several types now some have very low expansion and therefor lower expansion pressure... all are severely sticky though and I normally try to wear ragbag clothes when I do much with the stuff. Based on how insulating foam acts I would expect than any airtight cavity would need ventilation holes to keep the foam from compressing an air bubble then having the compressed bubble push it out of the cavity before it hardens.

I realize the box will be heavy so I want to use the thinnest plywood possible but thin plywood makes it hard to attach a hinge. I have thought about using a full length piano hinge on the lid so I could lift it up but I am concerned the screws will break the plywood. I am now thinking about a simple lift off lid.

Some things I am considering. Should I completely encase the styrofoam in plywood, inside the box and out, or just the outside and let the bare styrofoam be pressed up against the cooler. Should I design a drain hole in the box or just lift the cooler out to drain it? I agree with James that the weak spot on a lot of coolers is the lid, both the lack of insulation and poor fit, so I want to make sure the top of my box has plenty of insulation and fits as tightly as practical.

I have used soft EPDM self stick rubber weather stripping to improve the seal of a couple of blow/roto molded cooler lids; like most cooler improvements it helped... a little.

One of the best coolers that I have used (and the one that I measure all new cooler performance against) was a pre WWII (could have been from the 1920s or even teens) aluminum and steel cooler made without plastic or any welding, from thin sheet metal and insulated with pasteboard (yep the same as boxes) the sides, bottom and top were around 3/4" thick, the latches were over center latches, similar to foot locker latches, that clamped really well. it had a water tight, steel inside liner that was removed to dry any condensation from the pasteboard. The hinged metal (pasteboard insulated) lid fit so precisely that even without a gasket it would pop open from air pressure when the latches were released. Its downfall and eventual demise was the hinges that stressed and eventually destroyed the top. I am a big fan of piano hinges and if they had been used on that cooler it might still be around and functioning.
It was no big deal to drop in a block of ice and 4-5 days later on returning from a fishing trip to remove the remaining large chunk... it outperformed a classic metal skinned Coleman cooler by at least 2 days.

Enjoy!

[MacGyver]

Re: DIY Cooler

Re; foam... there are several types now some have very low expansion and therefor lower expansion pressure.

The way I figure it, the lower expansion foam might be easier to work with, but the higher expansion stuff would have more air pockets resulting in better insulation. But, after looking at the R-value of the canned foam, I'm thinking sheets of foil faced rigid foam might be a much better solution. A nice wooden box with no calculations beyond simple linear measurements for the insulation, glass it in and done.

I'm kinda hating this. I've always got about 20 projects in my head, of which maybe two might actually be done anytime soon. I curse you people for putting this in the mix! :p

[James.]

Re: DIY Cooler

The way I figure it, the lower expansion foam might be easier to work with, but the higher expansion stuff would have more air pockets resulting in better insulation. But, after looking at the R-value of the canned foam, I'm thinking sheets of foil faced rigid foam might be a much better solution. A nice wooden box with no calculations beyond simple linear measurements for the insulation, glass it in and done.

I'm kinda hating this. I've always got about 20 projects in my head, of which maybe two might actually be done anytime soon. I curse you people for putting this in the mix! :p

Well let me put this additional wrinkle in your mind. It seems to me that the spray sealer...you know the one they spray on a screen door and then put the screen door on the bottom of a boat? Anyway, it seems like that spray sealer could play a part in this. I just don't know how.