How to put additional insulation in my cooler?

[yamsack]

Hi all,<br>I just got my 70qt Coleman Xtreme Marine cooler (in white).&nbsp; The thing is, the cooler has 4 cup holders at the top, which I don't plan on using.&nbsp; I was thinking about filling them in with some sort of foam insulation to help retain any cold that may escape from the thinner walls around these cupholders.<br><br>My current plan is to cut out some basic styrofoam rounds, stack them into the holes, then fill the voids with foam insulation from a spray can.&nbsp; Does anyone have any thoughts about how to do this?&nbsp; <br><br>

 

[SoulRaven]

I have the same cooler and as long as I can find block ice I can keep things cold for a week... But to answer your question some people use Styrofoam to encase the top, bottom and sides for extra insulation... I also leave my cooler in the van out of the sun and that seems to help allot because my van is cooler inside on a hot day...<br>

 

[Les H]

I have seen pictures where someone put a small cooler inside a larger one and then filled the void with Great Stuff canned spray foam insulation ( home depot or lowe's, about $4 a can) This crests a " super insulated" cooler. Some other tricks are freeze stuff solid ( as was already recommended) and the ones that top open lose cold slower than the ones that side open ( like a fridge) because cold air sinks to the bottom. Parking your car or van or camper in the shade is a big help, but cuts down on solar power if you have roof mounted panels.

 

[akrvbob]

<span id="post_message_1272372025">This is something I have given lots of thoughts to and I have done all these things I am going to describe:<br><ul><li>I think the floor is more important than the roof, so the first thing I suggest is a piece of Pink or Blue (white will fall apart) styrofoam Gorilla glued to the bottom of the <b>cooler</b>.Why is it more important? Becuase the ice water is in constant contact with the floor underneath. Water is a much better transmitter of cold than air (it has very little Resistance to cold), so the top of the <b>cooler</b> being air is better insulated than the bottom being water.</li><li>Next, get as big a&nbsp; bucket as will fit in the <b>cooler</b> and still let the lid close, and put the ice in their instead of the <b>cooler</b> itself. That keeps your food out of the melt water and keeps the water from being on the floor which will let more cold escape. I've used <b>Kitty</b> <b>Litter</b> buckets before and they work great. This also makes it easy to dump the ice water, you just lift the bucket out and dump it.</li><li>The next easiest&nbsp; thing to do is make a "blanket" that surrounds the walls with Reflectix. You want an small air gap between the walls and the Reflectix. Then make a "lid" out of Reflectix that goes over the top of the <b>cooler</b> and part way down the side of the walls. You fold the corners in a similar way as wrapping a Xmas present. At Home Depot you can get silver tape that is designed for duct work that works great with Reflectix. Use that to form the walls and lid.</li><li>If you want to do more it is better to cut styrofoam sheets to fit the walls and glue them to the walls first. Then use the Reflectix over it. You can skip this if you want.</li><li>An alternative to the styrofoam is closed cell foam backpackers sleeping pads. These have a very high R value--I have slept on a glacier with nothing but a 1/2 inch closed cell foam pad under me and slept warm. You can buy them cheap at Walmart or at military surplus stores. Cut and glue it to the bottom&nbsp; and top of the <b>cooler</b>. Put multiple layers till it is used up.</li><li>Finally, I keep a plain old Queen size bed pillow on top of my <b>cooler</b> all the time for insulation. Cheap and easy!!You might need a King Size.</li></ul>Bob<br><br></span>

 

[wrcsixeight]

Once, before a 3 month long trip down to the tip of Baja, I bought a 4x8 sheet of foil faced 1.5 inch thick foam board insulation.<br /><br />I &nbsp;removed the side handles of the cooler, and cut the foam just bigger than the cooler, and used bamboo skewers through the foam to hold it square. &nbsp;Then &nbsp;I duct taped the edges of the foam inside and out . &nbsp;I had a tight fitting weighted lid. &nbsp;The cooler was not perfectly square, yet my Cooler box was. &nbsp;I filled the void &nbsp;below the interior cooler rim with Cedar and Pine sawdust, and duct taped that area shut. &nbsp;I used a siphon to empty water from the cooler into my sunshower when I needed more ice.<br /><br />I had some tall square plastic containers inside not only to contain the ice blocks, but also the food and keep it dry. &nbsp;I used the extra foam to cover these plastic containers, and had a &nbsp;smaller section just for the beer. &nbsp;This way when I opened the lid, I only displaced a small portion of the cool air within.<br /><br />Some areas of the cooler were not really too cold so the more dangerous if spoiled food was in a container right next to the Ice containers. And sometimes I would put a bag of chipped ice in the bottom normal cooler style. &nbsp;At best, &nbsp;I was able to get 10 and 12 days out of 2 blocks of Ice and one small bag of chips.<br /><br />After that baja journey, I put that cooler within a cooler in my storage unit and downsized to a more manageable cooler. &nbsp;A few months later I opened it up and the sawdust had grown things. &nbsp;Science experiment type things. &nbsp;I tried cleaning everything out with various cleaning products. &nbsp;It was futile. &nbsp;The smell was unbearable, I would not put it back in my Van and sadly had to throw it out. &nbsp;the interior plastic cooler was also un salvage able. &nbsp;<br /><br />Expanding foam would have been a better call than the sawdust.<br /><br />It should be noted that ice is not ice. &nbsp;Some is frozen much colder and more thoroughly and melts much slower.<br /><br />Other tricks are to place ambient temp beer into the cooler first thing in the morning rather in the daytime. &nbsp;I would also lay a wet white towell over the cooler to take advantage of evaporative cooling in the dry Baja environment.<br /><br />My Fridge failed 2 weeks ago and I am just using a cheap Styro cooler while I wait for a new one to be delivered. &nbsp; I am doing the plasti c contaner trick for the ice blockswithin the cooler trick, but am going through a block of Ice every 2.5 days, and am totally irritated at the cooler lifestyle. &nbsp;The fridge spoiled me.<br /><br /><br />In the last 2 weeks, I have spent close to 20$ just on Ice, and probably wasted 5 more dollars on food that spoiled. &nbsp;One store I went into looking for a block of ice had them, and rang one up at $5.25. &nbsp;I walked out, iceless with a few fine curses at the establishment for such ridiculous prices.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

 

[Where~the~wind~blows]

I use those cheap insulation bags and rotate ice in them, I have &nbsp;tiny cooler, but two 7-8 lb bags if ice in each, do so every other day so every other day I am buying 1 bag of ice, I also make ice in my shop freezer when I am local. I put the stuff I need to stay the coldest in the bags with the ice and keep my sodas and stuff outside the bags, the entire cooler stays fairly cold, in the summer the ice melts quicker, but thats OK.... I might try double bagging the ice next summer. also somebody talked about a cooler within a cooler... got me thinking.

 

[SoulRaven]

I have just recently found a cool way to help the ice chest stay cool... I found a Sleeping pad with reflectix type material on one side... I cut and put one piece, reflectix side down, under it... Then I cut a piece to fit inside reflectix side to the ice and push it down to the food level make a cool chamber and not cooling off the excess air... and last I cut a piece for the lid with reflectix up to reflect any direct light it gets... This set up has worked great in 90 deg. weather with 2 blocks of ice lasting close to a week...<br /><br />The rest of the pad is used for Zeke's bed, with the reflectix down, two blankets and a pillow and he is very comfortable...

 

[twokniveskatie]

Steve, where did you find this pad with reflectix? I was just gonna try to glue reflectix to a pad, but it might cost more not to mention more trouble.

So 2 pieces of the reflectix where on the outside and one on the inside?

 

[SoulRaven]

I really lucked out, Bob and I went into this neat little sporting gear store in the lil town of Shaver lake... We shopped around, kinda killing time, and Bob found this&nbsp; sleeping pad with the reflectix on it... I have never seen a pad with material on it before but for my purpose it worked out excellent... So this is a deal where we have to scour the net to find this covered sleeping pad, as it simply works great...<br /><br />As for Zeke, as we all know the floor gets really cold in the winter, so making a base layer with this stuff has to help keep your pup worm in the extremes...<br /><br />There probably are even more uses but the cost is prohibitive to use for total van insulation, though it would work great if one has the money...

 

[joey]

here is a thermal sleeping pad with foil backing. http://www.amazon.com/Camping-Mattr...9&sr=1-3-catcorr&keywords=Thermal+Camping+Pad

 

[SoulRaven]

Yeah Joey that what I am talking about... WTG on the find, price looks right also...

 

[twokniveskatie]

Thanks, Steve, and everyone. Going cooler less for now, but as I am doing a lot of wok cooking, I may need to revert at some point.

 

[travlinman and wife]

A lot of coolers do not have foam in the lid .I drill holes and spray foam&nbsp; to fill the space . made a big difference

 

[LucyImHome]

I too am doing without a cooler. I insulated mine with the Reflextic, but with temps around 110, I was going through 2 blocks every 2 to 3 days. Too much money. I found I can just go to the store daily for now. Not the best, can't store any leftovers, have to buy small.... but for the time it will do.

 

[offroad]

Just saw a youtube about a waterproofing hydrophylic chemical.&nbsp; It makes even paper repell water.&nbsp; what this does is makes paper insulation, like a cardboard box becomes insulation.<br><br>am starting to wonder if we could see the beginnings of a different insulation material.<br><br>