Comments on: 3 Super Cool Ice Chests

By: thermoelectric cooler

thermoelectric cooler — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:31:53 +0000

I've used one of the Coleman Extremes for years and love it. You lose a little capacity with the thicker insulation, but it's a trade-off I'm willing to take for any trip that's more than a simple over-nighter. There are also some really great thermoelectric travel coolers now too that work well if you've got access to a 12V source. Most of them don't ever seem to get quite as cold as a traditional ice-cooler, but you don't have to deal with melted ice & soggy sandwiches.

By: Scott Christensen

Scott Christensen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:39:34 +0000

When I was in my teens, I had a military surplus blood bank cooler that could go for a week and a half with ice. the only problem was that it was big and people looked at us funny with the “Human Blood”. stamped on the side .

By: Bob Vaughn

Bob Vaughn — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:23:30 +0000

I went on line in search of the Rubbermaid 75 qt Durachill 6 day cooler and could find none of the big box stores that sell it…..Where have you found it locally ? I much prefer to inspect things before I buy them….

By: talapus pete

talapus pete — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:53:51 +0000

Someone told me they’d picked up an old 2nd hand cooler and used to that to store an extra block or two of ice, along with dry ice. I haven’t tried this. Has anyone?

By: Roy Scribner

Roy Scribner — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:15:02 +0000

Excellent advice, Chip. In fact, many of your points also apply to RV refrigerators. We monitor the temperature of our regrigerator with a wireless thermometer and we find that when we are in-and-out of it a lot (lunches, or kids getting snacks) the temperature can climb into the high 40’s and even low 50’s. When this happens, I’ll take a block of ice out of the freezer (we take extra ice for the cooler) and put it into the refrigerator until the temperature comes back down to 40 degrees. The ice will cool down the refrigerator pretty quickly, vs. more than an hour without ice (we dry camp, so our refrigerator is alway on gas).

By: Chip Martina

Chip Martina — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 19:27:57 +0000

I have the Coleman Ultimate Xtreme (their 6 day model). The regular Xtreme is a 5 day cooler. To get the cooler to perform as advertised you must use block ice, cold food and drinks and a chilled cooler interior. If you put warm or room temp soft drinks in your cooler and use ice that’s barely 32 degrees it will all melt in one day.

I work for a supermarket chain and have access to commercial freezers which get down to -20 degrees F (your home freezer or commercially available bagged ice will only be frozen to about 20 degrees above zero – a 40 degree difference). I super freeze my ice ahead of time and add it along with pre-chilled drinks to my pre-chilled cooler. Yes, there is ice left after 6 days.

If you don’t have access to a commercial freezer, try this: Put your pre-chilled drinks in your cooler, surrounded by with a couple opened bags of commercial bagged ice a day before you’re going to leave. The next day, drain out all the water from your melted ice (most of the ice will have melted.) Add one more fresh bag of ice surrounding your drinks with your block ice on top. I use 4-1/2 gallon milk or OJ cartons size ice blocks – use more if your cooler is bigger. Place your food in sealed Tupperware type containers on top of the block ice. From that time on, don’t drain your cold water, as it will help the interior stay cold. The cooler should then work as advertised.

By: John Jackman

John Jackman — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:59:19 +0000

I have a mid sized electric cooler that plugs into my dash or accessories plug. This works far better than any of the old ice types. I realize that sometime there is no plug but it does have an a/c adaptor and when that is not available I do use an ice model… I work at a big box store and we sell a type of bubble wrap/foil insulation that can be used to line a cooler that will definitely increase the life of the ice. When I use an ice cooler I try to add any bottles or cans in the early morning after the night air has cooled them down.
I generally use the ice cooler for drinks only as it will be opened and closed many times….

By: Roy Scribner

Roy Scribner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:27:17 +0000

Block ice, Pam – use two of those 10lb. bags of block ice and you will get three days out of them.

By: pam

pam — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:57:16 +0000

We have had the coleman and the rubbermaid and the ice did not last over a day .I have even used it in the house where it is air conditioned and the ice did not last over 3 days.I have not tried the other one.

By: JERRY THORNTON

JERRY THORNTON — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:16:07 +0000

I PURCHASED PORTABLE ICE MAKER, MAKES BATCH EVERY 6-8 MIN. AND IT HAS SURVIVED OUR AZ. DESERT HOUSEBOAT AND MEXICO PARTIES AND TAKE IN CAR ON SHORT TRIPS TO BE SURE OF ICE. LAST MONTH AT WEDDING, PUT OUT ENOUGH ICE FOR 2 DAYS PARTYING FOR 8 PEOPLE IN OUR CABIN, ETC………I DO USE DRY ICE FOR 3 DAY TRIP TO MEXICO WHEN WE TAKE OUR STEAKS, ETC TO MEXICO FOR A COUPLE MONTHS VISIT…