How to Improve an Ice Chest
Whether on a camping trip or a fishing excursion, it's often advantageous to have an ice chest. Taking an ice chest along ensures cool drinks and well kept food. Depending on the length of the trip, however, an ice chest might not maintain its temperature for as long as you would like. With a few methods in mind, you can improve the cooling abilities of an ice chest.
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Instructions
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Use fresh ice in the chest in different orientations. Fresh ice has more frozen mass and the different shapes it comes in effect the cooling differently. Use blocks of ice for longer sustained cool temperatures, but warmer temperatures overall. Add crushed ice to push temperatures lower than with block ice alone.
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Pre-freeze or cool items to be placed inside. Rather than wasting the cooling power of the ice chest to initially cool your items, cool them elsewhere first to make better use of the thermal energy. Place items destined for the ice chest in the freezer when possible. Refrigerate them if a freezer is not available. Allow the food to cool to maximum coldness before placing them in the ice chest.
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Create a seal on the ice chest lid. The lid is the place where the chest will lose most of its coolness, so sealing it will help maintain internal temperatures longer. Place rubber sealing material on the inside of the rim to form an airtight seal. During transport or long periods when the chest will be closed, place strips of duct tape around the seam to create a simple exterior seal.
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Eliminate as much open space in the chest as possible. Air is a very poor insulator and anything with a higher density will retain the cool temperature longer and better. Fill the chest halfway with ice, then add food and drinks, and then fill the rest of the chest with more ice.
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Use salt-enhanced water to create super-cold ice. Adding salt to water causes the water to freeze at a much lower temperature, which makes it give off more coldness. Fill ice cube trays and watertight plastic bags with salt water and freeze them. Place the super-cooled ice on to the bottom of the ice chest.
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Tips & Warnings
Buy a cooler with superior insulation qualities in the first place.
Duct tape may leave unsightly residue on the ice chest surface.
