KidVermicious
New member
I'll do both. How now brown cow?
Thermoelectric cooler ... opinions?
- Thread starter diego
- Start date
I'll do both. How now brown cow?
1engineer
Moderator
I have done both but A) it seems lining the inside works better and B) I would inevitably tear or mar the outside liner all the time. When I took it off and just left the inside lined I didn't see much of a degradation of performance in beercoolability.
KidVermicious
New member
I've seen a definite increase in beercoolerability from insulating the outside with a thermal blanket, but maybe that's because I'm frequently in higher ambient temps than I expect you see.
At 95f in the shade, I think the blanket helps a lot. I'll try the inside stuff too and hopefully that will help even more.
At 95f in the shade, I think the blanket helps a lot. I'll try the inside stuff too and hopefully that will help even more.
Antman
Elite Member
Good post there Greg ^^^^^
One question...
Why the hell would you modify a perfectly good brand new cooler?:fishing:
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1engineer
Moderator
To make it cooler...
Jhalko
New member
Options, it's all about options, I actually have 4 different coolers. But since I only paid for two I feel ok about that. I actually don't take the 12v camping it's nice when I'll be on the road a lot since I don't have to worry about ice packs and opening it to get a juice box for the kids. They like them cold you know.
3wbdriver
New member
LOL! I am currently working in a small collection of generic store branded styrofoam coolers from across the southern states (Valero, Dollar General, Bucc-ee's). You know. The one that every grocery chain sells with the plastic carry handle and their logo on it? I keep getting caught 200 miles from home needing to cool down a 6 pack of water, lunch meat, milk, etc. And I have 3 different sizes of plastic ones at home already.
If you are going to drain the water (?) , best to install some sort of hand pump or syphon system to do it. Turning the cooler on its' side while restraining the contents with your hand, in order to dump out the water, and you are also dumping out all the cold air that you have paid to cool. (Cold air heavier:sinks) a simple drain tube out the bottom, with closure system, works well.
Another idea, borrowed from a time before refridgeration was invented. Drape a wet towel or cloth over the cooler, and re-wet it occasionally. As the water evaporates, it will suck considerable heat from the shell of the cooler. (self-cooling effect of evaporating solvent). This really works! I have kept ice more than twice as long this way on remote canoe trips. (Before you flame me for taking a cooler on remote canoe trips, I don't usually, but a few times it was necessary to keep the "boss" happy!)
Another idea, borrowed from a time before refridgeration was invented. Drape a wet towel or cloth over the cooler, and re-wet it occasionally. As the water evaporates, it will suck considerable heat from the shell of the cooler. (self-cooling effect of evaporating solvent). This really works! I have kept ice more than twice as long this way on remote canoe trips. (Before you flame me for taking a cooler on remote canoe trips, I don't usually, but a few times it was necessary to keep the "boss" happy!)
I use one of the coleman thermolelectric coolers, but not for food. I use it to keep my photographic film cool when I'm on shooting trips. If professional film gets warm, it is ruined, so it's a bit like trying to keep food cool. To give you an idea of how important this is, a box of 20 exposures of Fuji Velvia 50 8x10 costs $400, and I often carry 3 or 4 boxes of film with me in the field, so I'm trying to protect about $1600 worth of film.
Running a cooler off the car battery would not be a solution since I an often away from my vehicle for many days at a time -- I'm parked at a trailhead somewhere. What I've learned is that I can plug the cooler directly into a solar panel. The solar panel provides enough voltage to run the cooler at probably 70%, which will keep things nice and cool. To make sure it was working properly on my first trip, I put a gatorade bottle in the cooler along with my film, and when I returned to my vehicle after a long day of hiking, the gatorade was nice and cool, as though it came from a fridge.
It's important to keep the cooler out of direct sun to give it a fighting chance. To do this, I often just drape an extra down sleeping bag over the top of it.
The solar panel I use is now discontinued, but it's called the GoalZero solar briefcase. The other nice feature is that this solar panel folds in half, and fits perfectly in the spot below the rear sliding tray. The new model is a single piece setup. The only other thing necessary was an adapter that goes on the end of the cord for the solar panel, and adapts it to a female cigarette lighter adapter.
Running a cooler off the car battery would not be a solution since I an often away from my vehicle for many days at a time -- I'm parked at a trailhead somewhere. What I've learned is that I can plug the cooler directly into a solar panel. The solar panel provides enough voltage to run the cooler at probably 70%, which will keep things nice and cool. To make sure it was working properly on my first trip, I put a gatorade bottle in the cooler along with my film, and when I returned to my vehicle after a long day of hiking, the gatorade was nice and cool, as though it came from a fridge.
It's important to keep the cooler out of direct sun to give it a fighting chance. To do this, I often just drape an extra down sleeping bag over the top of it.
The solar panel I use is now discontinued, but it's called the GoalZero solar briefcase. The other nice feature is that this solar panel folds in half, and fits perfectly in the spot below the rear sliding tray. The new model is a single piece setup. The only other thing necessary was an adapter that goes on the end of the cord for the solar panel, and adapts it to a female cigarette lighter adapter.
1engineer
Moderator
Film? I also use one to keep my typewriter ribbon and 8 Track cassettes cool too! Just joking lol. I definitely understand something like film or medicine that has to be kept at a cool temperature will need something more elaborate than a cooler with a liner. Beer is usually pretty forgiving though.
The cool thing about film is that I can scan a 8x10" sheet of film to be hundreds and hundreds of megapixels. The images will print 10 feet tall without any loss of quality. It's pretty cool stuff.
Thermoelectric coolers are good for keeping drinks chilled while the engine is on, and that's it. I used a coleman model that I got on clearance on a long road trip so I could keep snacks and drinks in arms reach without having to stop and get something out of the fridge, but they are not a fridge replacement.
What? Greg didn't do the spray foam lid modification that's all over You Tube?
While I agree with Greg's method of modifying the cooler, my concern would be that after some time that "bubble wrap" would start to fall apart, the bubbles would deform/pop and the roughly 3/16" of air gap would go away. At that point you lose the insulation "R value" of the air gap and you only have the reflective surface.
I've thought about doing the same things but here's what I plan to use. I bought a middle of the road soft cooler, one of those with the flexible plastic liner. My plan is to fabricate a removable liner made out of a dynamat knockoff and formed to be essentially a watertight liner that can easily be removed. I will be essentially using a double wall dynamat with a mylar inside and outside which leaves the butyl rubber in the middle of the liner. This gives me a removable liner I can clean, protects the internals of my soft cooler a little, and gives me two layers of mylar for the reflective surface on the inside of my cooler.
While I haven't tested this, my lunch cooler is one of those cheapies with the removable hard liner. I can drop blue ice panels on the walls. As a super crude experiment, I put the liner in my cooler, left it in the garage for several hours. While the inside was still cold, the outside of my lunch cooler was sweating. I'm going to put one layer of the dynamat on the OD of my hard liner and repeat the test. I think I may not have enough insulation to stop the sweating, but I do feel confident I can reduce the heat loss on the lunch cooler. I will do about the same to my soft cooler soon.
While I agree with Greg's method of modifying the cooler, my concern would be that after some time that "bubble wrap" would start to fall apart, the bubbles would deform/pop and the roughly 3/16" of air gap would go away. At that point you lose the insulation "R value" of the air gap and you only have the reflective surface.
I've thought about doing the same things but here's what I plan to use. I bought a middle of the road soft cooler, one of those with the flexible plastic liner. My plan is to fabricate a removable liner made out of a dynamat knockoff and formed to be essentially a watertight liner that can easily be removed. I will be essentially using a double wall dynamat with a mylar inside and outside which leaves the butyl rubber in the middle of the liner. This gives me a removable liner I can clean, protects the internals of my soft cooler a little, and gives me two layers of mylar for the reflective surface on the inside of my cooler.
While I haven't tested this, my lunch cooler is one of those cheapies with the removable hard liner. I can drop blue ice panels on the walls. As a super crude experiment, I put the liner in my cooler, left it in the garage for several hours. While the inside was still cold, the outside of my lunch cooler was sweating. I'm going to put one layer of the dynamat on the OD of my hard liner and repeat the test. I think I may not have enough insulation to stop the sweating, but I do feel confident I can reduce the heat loss on the lunch cooler. I will do about the same to my soft cooler soon.
