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It’s a .5 gallon plastic igloo thing that’s sold everywhere. Now that it’s hot outside, the ice and water melts too soon. I’ve switched to putting only ice but that still melted and stopped being cold too soon.

Is there something I can wrap it in that would be somewhat practical? What are your thoughts? Thanks!

It’s a .5 gallon plastic igloo thing that’s sold everywhere. Now that it’s hot outside, the ice and water melts too soon. I’ve switched to putting only ice but that still melted and stopped being cold too soon. Is there something I can wrap it in that would be somewhat practical? What are your thoughts? Thanks!

(post is archived)

[–] • 4 pts
  • Keep it in a bucket of water?
  • Keep it in the shade

And STOP USING PLASTIC! Use metal or glass, the plastic leeches into the water and slowly dopes you with phytoestrogenic esters called Phthalates.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

The lead he's going to need to keep it from floating will probably be worse than the plastic.

A 20lb weight attached to the bottom should do the trick. s/

Air is the better insulator. Water is good at keeping things the temperature of the water. Which is going to be hot, since the plastic bucket would be in the sun.

[–] • 2 pts (edited )

Have you tried putting salt on the ice? That will lower the freezing point of the water and make the ice colder. Not sure if that will make it stay colder longer though, it may just get colder, but for less time (so may be counter productive).

Do you add water to the ice? I would think that adding (cold, as cold as possible) water to the ice would increase the amount of time that the whole structure remains cold. This would be because the increased amount of water increases its thermal mass, taking more heat energy to increase the temperature of the water/ice. So, I think having as much ice in there as possible, then filling the gaps with water that is as cold as possible would maximize the cooling time.

If it's being heated from the outside, wrapping the entire thing in something that is insulating should also slow the melting of the ice. This could include insulating it from direct radiative heat (sunlight) and conductive heat. Some bubble wrap would probably be effective, not sure if practical though.

[–] • 1 pt

You can’t. Those things are pieces shit outside of being left in the refrigerator at which point it becomes pointless. A three gallon water cooler with 10lb bag of ice and and adding a gallon of water to it each day usually got me through two days working construction in the Arizona summer heat if left in the shade.

[–] • 1 pt

I probably have the exact cooler you’re talking about. It’s a consideration.

[–] • 1 pt

Pardon my mistake, what I had was a Gott 2 gallon water cooler. Doesn’t appear at a quick glance online that they make them anymore, though you can find used ones on eBay for a steep price. I liked them because they were light enough to lift up to get a drink from and took up little room compared to the same with a 5 gallon. Plus the lid screwed on and had a built in handle for easy carry and security. Igloo brand cooler lids can fly off going down the road in the back of the truck because they don’t screw in.

In reality the insulating value between your cooler and the Gott 2 gallon, while the Gott probably is thicker, has more to do with sheer volume than anything in that the warm air cannot penetrate as easily into the core of the container of the Gott as it can your smaller jug.

So yeah, try going bigger perhaps. Stanley makes a small water cooler (2 gal?) that I tried in my outdoor blacksmith shop that was a huge disappointment in comparison to the Gott but I wasn’t putting 10lb bags of ice in it either so…Gott and Igloo 2, 3 and 5 gallon water coolers seem to be the standard for guys that work outdoors in the heat.

[–] • 1 pt

I’ve got some classics in the garage and attic. I’m a sucker for buying them (coolers and such) when I go thrift store shopping.

[–] • 1 pt

Start with cold water. I find that starting with room temp water will consume most of the ice within minutes and soften whatever's left.

[–] • 0 pt

Yeah. I do start with refrigerated water from a brita pitcher. It’s true that the issue is it’s a cheap thermos. Expecting it to stay cold/frozen all day being mostly outside is asking a bit much.

[–] • 1 pt

Only use it for travels to extreme Northern Northern or Southern latitudes.

[–] • 0 pt

True. I think wrapping it in something plus using some big chunks of ice will do the trick. I’ll know in a few days.

[–] • 1 pt

Drill a few holes in the first layer of the plastic and fill it with expanding foam. Shade and a blanket over it. It'll stay cold long AF.

[–] • 1 pt

Drill a small hole and fill in beeswax. The wax has some superpowers preserving temperature. Couldn't try this out by myself though, yet

[–] • 0 pt

I threw away pounds of bees wax like 15 years ago. Really regretting that right now.

[–] • 1 pt

Prechill the unit the night before of possible. Block of ice rather than cubes. Use in shade and unenclosed places. If you put drinks inside (canned, bottles, etc.), prechill those first too

[–] • 1 pt

You're not using enough ice.

[–] • 1 pt

Make a slightly oversized "barrel" to put over it with this product. Leave a bit of air space between the jug and the foil. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Reflectix-R-21-50-sq-ft-Unfaced-Reflective-Roll-Insulation-24-in-W-x-25-ft-L/3011904 Use the aluminum tape they sell to put it together.

[–] • 1 pt

That's a cool idea.

[–] • 1 pt

I've provided a better solution but it seems a nigger rigged solution is what you're intent on. Good luck!

[–] • 1 pt

Yikes. #

[–] • 1 pt

Full disclosure: I was an area rep for the company ~30 years ago. It's a really good product for blocking radiant heat.

[–] • 0 pt

Keep it out of the sun, put a solid block on ice in there if you can, not ice cubes, and go buy a better cooler when you can.

[–] • 1 pt

I don’t have a giant freezer. The real estate adding a large block of ice would take isn’t gonna work. And yeah, a more expensive one would be nice but then how large would that be to hold half a gallon of water? Those better ones seem to be so much larger and hold so little.

Any other ideas?

Oh, and if I made larger chunks of ice by freezing water in ziplock bags, could I peel the bag away from the ice once it is frozen, or would it be stuck to it?

[–] • 0 pt

you can freeze bags of water that would work, the less surface area the water has on the ice the longer the ice will last. You could also wrap it in some kind of insolation like a Isomate, take it cut it up and wrap it around the container.

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