Dry Ice

[Craig Illman]

I'm going out for my first full week on my boat since I bought her in February. My local Safeway sells dry ice by the pound and the little brochure talks about putting it in a cooler with normal crushed ice to extend it's life. Has anyone used dry ice with normal ice in their icebox? It's not too warm up in Puget Sound, we're running with highs in the 80's this week. Water temp will be in the 50's.

Craig Illman
Espresso #1150  1991

[wilsonlb]

I have no firsthand knowledge of this, but my gut says this would be a bad idea.  Water (and water ice) are much better conductors of heat than air, so I'd guess that a blanket of cold water and ice would melt your dry ice faster than a blanket of cold air.

In other applications I've put a dry cloth on top of the dry ice to help preserve it.

I don't know why you'd want to go to the effort and expense of using dry ice at all, but my inclination - if I were to use dry ice - would be to cool the box with water ice first, drain the water, then put in the dry ice.

On the other hand, I've been wrong about many things many times before.

[Paul Blumenfeld]

The dry ice will help last longer but be sure not to mix with water, it will go away quick!  Fun to play with though.  I've got  a re-fridge now but use to use 1/2 gal or 1 gal frozen blocks of ice.  I think they may last even longer than the dry ice.

[Mike Smith]

I haven't tried dry ice, although Wally World sells it here.  I have a Norcold unit and, to help it along, I freeze a couple of plastic gallon jugs of water and drop them in the icebox.  This keeps the crushed ice from melting so fast.

Mike

[Ken Juul]

I have about an hour drive to the boat.  I have a gallon jug of water frozen I use to keep the food cool in the cooler for the trip.  Drop it in the bottom of the frig ( I have a Norcold unit) before putting the food in.  I can run the fridge on the lowest setting saving battery and still have about half a jug of ice left for the drive home.

[Brad Colon]

I have been using this alternative to ice for about the last 5 years.
These are sheets which you put in your freezer at home and then into your cooler. No messy water to clean up or leak. When I get to the boat I fold the sheets and put them into the evaporator next to the ice cube trays and they refreeze for the trip back home. Simple and clean and no mess. The only bad thing about them is that you can't put them in your glass with your favorite cocktail.
I just threw out my first set of sheets and they lasted for at least 5 seasons.





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