Seems to extend ice in cooler

[AreWeLostYet]

I have an inexpensive 30 qt cooler chest by igloo that usually preserves 20 lbs ice for two, maybe 2 1/2 days in hot weather. I'm not at day 3 1/2 and have enough ice to ice my tea. What I've been doing different is I put one of those Reflectics windshield covers over the cooler and try and keep it out of direct sunlight. I think most of ice's cold is lost through the sides - sun heating the sides or or just ambient temperature and radiating into where the ice is. So anything you can do to reduce this will extend ice. I suspect that the more water is in with the ice, the faster this heat transfer takes place. Just as heat works as a heat transfer medium in a car engine.

 

[Weight]

Yes. Ice is all about insulation.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

Yes but insulation is usually talked about in terms of ambient outside temperature, seldome a mention about the radiant heat from solar exposure. The Reflectix adds a layer outside the main insulation which reflects some of the solar radiant heat. I haven't seen an ice cooler with a feature that reflects solar radiant heat.

But shurnuf. When I googled, someone made one:
https://dianarambles.com/diy-cooler-cover-keep-cold-longer/

 

[rm.w/aview]

here's anudder homemade model

 

[Beeps and eats]

I would imagine that the more insulation you have the cooler, the cooler.1" high density foam board covered in reflectex would be like doubling up your insulative values.

Sent from my Z981 using Tapatalk

 

[QinReno]

They now have those softsided coolers, which alone probably aren't all that good. I have a much smaller hardsided cooler, and what I did was to find a softsided one that it would fit into. The combination seems to work pretty well. I put ice in both parts, and put things like tomatoes and beverages in the outer section, and meat and cheese in the inner section.

 

[Dingfelder]

Definitely water will make the ice warm up faster, because water transfers heat more quickly than air.

I like your basic idea there. I think Bob has a number of videos showing people with their fridge and cooler systems, and lots of them say they get huge value out of further insulating their coolers. Bob agrees too.