Help me find the best ice chest/cooler ever!

[darelldd]

Howdy gadget-lovers!

I have several "standard" ice chests (and a powered one or two as well). What I don't have is a really well insulated ice chest that has high-tech insulation instead of just super-thick walls like you find in the current bunch of "extreme" coolers from all the major makers. There are many ways of insulating - and the cheapest way is to just use more of the same - thus the "extreme" coolers that have super-thick walls. The problem, of course, is that we all have limited storage space, and I want something that insulates as well as these thick-walled coolers - but without the extra bulk. For the ouside dimensions of these things, they sure don't fit much inside!

I'm looking for something that is roughly 12" x 24" inside. Just to give an idea of the size I'm interested in. I don't mind paying a bunch of money for something that is durable and really well insulated. I'm tired of packing stuff in ice, and needing new ice the next day!

For bonus points, I'd love to find a powered cooler that is totally quiet!

Thanks guys... looking forward to the replies!

[phumpher]

Hi Darell,

Check these;
Yeti
Icee
Frigid
Ultra

Hope one of them will work for you.

We use the Icee's for river trips, with diligent management we have ice for our drinks on day 10 in the Grand Canyon.
Would like to move to Yeti's as I think they are nicer, but it's a lot to spend for a small gain.
Have seen, but never used the Frigid's and the Ultra's.
Don't think I would buy the Ultra's, they look a lot like Yeti's old design.
I would consider the Frigid's if I could get them for a good price, but it's hard to beat the price we get on the Icee's and Yeti's.

Good luck,
Mike

[patsparks]

I have a 54 litre Igloo cooler
http://www.igloocoolers.com.au/legend_series.htm
I can go camping for a week with my son and still have ice in the esky on my way home.
I freeze everything I can freeze including my drinking water and I leave a block of ice in the esky over night before I pack it in the morning.
I use 2 litre bottles of frozen drinking water and 4 litre icecream buckets to make blocks of ice a week before a trip.
Cold drinks are stacked at one end, salad veg and fruit kept up high in containers or they will freeze and the ice and frozen meats down low. Don't open the lid more than you need to and avoid putting anything in the esky unless it's near freezing. Keep the esky out of the sun, when traveling put your prius windscreen sun refletive shade over the top with a towel on top of that.

[darelldd]

Thanks for the great input guys! So, if I'm not mistaken, there's just no getting around thick polyurethane insulation? It would seem that a layer of reflective foil (think space blanket) laminated to the interior walls would go a long way toward needing less bulk. The Quality and durability are just dripping off the units that Mike linked to... but where is the high-tech insulation that I just assumed would be out there somewhere... at some price? Has anybody ever attempted a vacuum insulation on something this big?

[PA Prius]

A few months ago I was doing a similar search for a cooler for our cross country trip. In the end we decided to use our cheap thin walled cooler and made sure we packed other things around it to exponentially improve the insulation. This worked well.

If you are more adventurous, try this-- leave your spare tire at home and take along one of those Fix-a-Flat kits. Tap and plug a hole in the bottom of your spare tire storage area (to drain water). Spray the inside of that lower storage area with insulating foam. Use a piece of 2" blueboard for the "lid," making sure you have a tight fit.

PA P

[hyo silver]

I was thinking you should have your own line of hybrid coolers out by now.

I have a small thermo-electric (Peltier) cooler that is quiet and does a reasonable job. As long as things are cold when they go in, and I keep the unit running and out of the sun, it's fine. I try to wedge it in among the sleeping bags when I'm packing the car, for better insulation. But for longer trips, and California heat, I think something better would be more to your liking. The Stirling-cycle powered coolers sound great, but I haven't tried one yet.

As for making your own, some foil on the outside to reflect radiant heat could be effective. Do you have any old down sleeping bags lying around?

[naterprius]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Sep 3 2007, 09:51 AM) [snapback]506298[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the great input guys! So, if I'm not mistaken, there's just no getting around thick polyurethane insulation? It would seem that a layer of reflective foil (think space blanket) laminated to the interior walls would go a long way toward needing less bulk. The Quality and durability are just dripping off the units that Mike linked to... but where is the high-tech insulation that I just assumed would be out there somewhere... at some price? Has anybody ever attempted a vacuum insulation on something this big?
[/b]

Darell, the foil is good for radiant heat. In space, since there is no air, and lots of sun, the foil works well.

On earth, inside a cooler, where it is dark and full of air, it is kind of useless, since you are trying to stop conductive heat.

What would work well is a vacuum cooler, like a thermos.

Nate

[patsparks]

Did you click on the link to Frigid? http://www.frigidrigid.com/index.html
http://www.frigidrigid.com/results/test_results.htm
They did tests on the coolers including the Igloo. The Igloo has half the wall thickness yet in some tests only took an 20% hit in efficency. Should you cover the top with a cheap windscreen sun deflector you would get most of the 20% back I think and especially if you bought 3 and covered the whole thing but for the bottom.
Engel car fridges can be assisted with an insulated cover, this would be the same sort of thing.
That's my opinion anyway.

[hyo silver]

How about this one? You can leave this or any other electric cooler running in a locked Prius by removing the mechanical key from the fob. Lock the doors with the button on the armrest, and flip the window button up. The car will turn on and off as needed to recharge the battery.

[qbee42]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Sep 3 2007, 11:51 AM) [snapback]506298[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the great input guys! So, if I'm not mistaken, there's just no getting around thick polyurethane insulation? It would seem that a layer of reflective foil (think space blanket) laminated to the interior walls would go a long way toward needing less bulk. The Quality and durability are just dripping off the units that Mike linked to... but where is the high-tech insulation that I just assumed would be out there somewhere... at some price? Has anybody ever attempted a vacuum insulation on something this big?
[/b]

I've done extensive research on this topic for sailboat ice boxes. They are built-in, but the same principles apply. It comes down to durability and cost. There are many types of insulation with better R values than blue board, but each comes with some baggage.

Some types of foam work well when dry, but rapidly absorb moisture and loose most of their insulating properties. Blue board is impervious to water.

Vacuum panels are incredible, and can used for large ice boxes. The limitations with vacuum panels are cost, inability to cut to size, and short life span. While they have great R values when new, in a couple of years the panel will loose its vacuum and then it's not nearly as good as plain old blue board. You also have trouble insulating the corners between the panels, and the whole assembly tends to be fragile.

Silica tiles like those used on the Space Shuttle would work well, but the price is also in low earth orbit.

What we found is that all of the higher tech insulations provided an R value gain only at great expense with limited life. Plain old blue board has the best overall characteristics. We use four inches of it all of the way around, and cover the outside with a heat reflective material, such as aluminized mylar. We line the inside with layed-up GRP (fiberglass).

Tom