Cooler mods: Has anyone done the foam mod?

Man

Member
I've had the Colman Xtreme5 from Sportsmans for about two years of full-time overlanding. I had changed my diet back then from vegetarian to be a meat eater and I was overlanding w/out a cooler for at least 3 years. Initially after getting the cooler and experimenting with ice usage, ice was lasting about 4 days where the last day there were a hand full of ice cubes left. I just had eggs and steak in there. The goal was is to only go to town once a week.

The first mod I made to the cooler to increase efficiency was a blanket setup. Last year I bought a roll of R13 insulation (in plastic), a clear plastic sheet, duct tape and blade to make a custom fitting blanket. It is actually one blanket that wraps the wide side, a top and a bottom. The wrapped blanket was made too wide and too tall so that the top piece is inset and the blanket wraps past itself. Then two straps I already had were used to fasten the blanket. With that setup and another change to remove the eggs to add more ice, it will last 7 days. Last week the heat was anywhere from 85-92F as a high and 55-65F for the lows. There was still enough ice to cover the remaining meat. But since it was hot I was wrapping additional blankets over it because of the extra heat so early this year.

Getting the most out of the cooler is becoming a hobby. I heard on Reddit about a cooler mod to inject foam. After doing searches I found the cheaper coolers aren't even insulated. No wonder the ice melted so fast, lol. I don't think mine is insulated. I've never done the mod and I'm pretty sure I can ******** this up, the foam could bust out the sides and I'll have to spend another $60 for a new cooler and I don't have that extra money right now. On the other hand, if the mod is done correctly it could increase the efficiency of the cooler so I can stay 8-9 days before going to town. So I bought a drill for $16 at Harbor Freight, a 5/16 drill bit and foam. There were several foam options at Lowes, but the only real difference was the color of the can and the price. The text on the can was all about how to use it and precautions. Then prices varied from $3.50 to $9.00 for 10 oz. Since there wasn't any clarity on what we get for that extra money, I bought the cheapest and it was red, lol. Red is good. One difference among the cans was the Red one indicates it can fill gaps up to one inch. Each foam can at the store said on the back not to use the foam for my use case, lol. It says "Not to be used for filling closed cavities or voids."

I'm planning to drill maybe 5-7 holes on each of the wide sides at the very top. Then drill 2 or 3 on the narrow sides at the top. Then start injecting and this is where I'm looking for help. I'm not sure when to let off the foam release trigger. Too much in there and it will ooze out but it may also crack open the cooler during expansion I think, or will it? Has anyone completed the foam insulating mod? How many cans did the cooler take and what size cooler was it? Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

R6ShkNA.jpg


MQae7iY.jpg
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Over the years people have tried just about every thing you can think of and even the most expensive coolers are average at best, And now with Fridge Freezers coming down in price with the likes of the LG powered Alpicool models being around the same price as the top of the range coolers It has become a no brainer just to invest in one of these new fridges,

There are many reasons as to why, Being not loosing half the space due to the ice needed and then having to buy a cooler that is twice the size in order to accommodate the Ice needed Plus your food as well as lossing all that extra space in your vehicle, And then there is the trips in to town trying to find Ice and then there is the cost of the Ice in remote locations as well as having to break camp in order to go and find Ice plus the Cost of the Fuel wasted trying to find Ice, And then there is the Ultimate PIA which is having Soggy Food along with wasting food that has perrished,

Sorry if that sounds like doom and gloom but in this day and age Coolers create more problems, I have a heap of fridges and there is no way would i go back to using coolers.
 

4000lbsOfGoat

Well-known member
The spray foam route is risky, as mentioned above. Definitely err on the side of using "not enough". You'll be amazed at how much that stuff actually expands.

If cooler longevity is your hobby, have you tried a simple wet towel? It's a trick I learned from an old river runner. Assuming you have ready access to water (doesn't need to be clean water, you aren't going to be drinking it) then just wet down a towel and throw it over the cooler. Re-wet as needed. The water evaporating from the towel will cool the cooler underneath. I've seen this done with a run-of-the-mill cooler that sat in the direct sun in a raft all day and still had almost fully frozen quart bottles of water after 4 days.
 

ITTOG

Well-known member
One difference among the cans was the Red one indicates it can fill gaps up to one inch. Each foam can at the store said on the back not to use the foam for my use case, lol. It says "Not to be used for filling closed cavities or voids."

That is to protect themselves from idiots. Without it they would be putting it in their personal cavities. This bunch is similar to those that put Gorilla glue in their hair.
 

Man

Member
I found a YT video of a lid being injected and that gave enough information to attempt injecting the lid. So I drilled a hole and there is already foam in there, lol. The body was the same.

I've now been thinking about buying a foam sheet and cutting sides to encapsulate the existing blanket, like a box. Then there would be an air space between the fiberglass blanket and the foam. I'm not sure how much I'd gain, but it can get ************** hot in the tent. The cooler is opened only twice a day. I'm not sure what else people have done besides buying a $1,000 refer and a battery pack.

I run a generator all day so I could technically run a refer on 120V no problem. The steak needs to be at ~33F so that it will last for at least 7 days. If it isn't covered in ice (and why I don't use block ice), the uncovered parts of the meat will go bad in a weeks time.

Even if my $500 budget is enough (and quality the refers I looked at are near $1k), I'd need another power source for night time and I have no more space for a battery. The generator could run all night, but I think that would spend a lot of gas and I don't have room for another 5 gallon can. It would be convenient not having to lug the cooler around though. There is about 30 pounds of ice and 25 pounds of steak in the cooler that I move from my car to the tent as well as in and out of the car while buying steak and ice. I'm super hesitant of dropping that money and then it failing. I'd be ************. The only failure I'm going to have now is poor planning since the ice-chest won't brick on a wifi firmware update or some ********, lol.
 

AbleGuy

Officious Intermeddler
[QUOTE="Man, post: 2914899, member: 175730"
I've now been thinking about buying a foam sheet and cutting sides to encapsulate the existing blanket, like a box. Then there would be an air space between the fiberglass blanket and the foam. I'm not sure how much I'd gain, but it can get ************** hot in the tent.
[/QUOTE]

That seems like a neat, simple cheap mod, and something I’ve always thought about doing to our portable cooler for our short, nearby camp trips. But being such an unmotivated procrastinator, I never got around to doing it. If you do try it, please let us know if you see a measurable improvement and if you’re satisfied with the results.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Man

67cj5

Man On a Mission
I found a YT video of a lid being injected and that gave enough information to attempt injecting the lid. So I drilled a hole and there is already foam in there, lol. The body was the same.

I've now been thinking about buying a foam sheet and cutting sides to encapsulate the existing blanket, like a box. Then there would be an air space between the fiberglass blanket and the foam. I'm not sure how much I'd gain, but it can get ************** hot in the tent. The cooler is opened only twice a day. I'm not sure what else people have done besides buying a $1,000 refer and a battery pack.

I run a generator all day so I could technically run a refer on 120V no problem. The steak needs to be at ~33F so that it will last for at least 7 days. If it isn't covered in ice (and why I don't use block ice), the uncovered parts of the meat will go bad in a weeks time.

Even if my $500 budget is enough (and quality the refers I looked at are near $1k), I'd need another power source for night time and I have no more space for a battery. The generator could run all night, but I think that would spend a lot of gas and I don't have room for another 5 gallon can. It would be convenient not having to lug the cooler around though. There is about 30 pounds of ice and 25 pounds of steak in the cooler that I move from my car to the tent as well as in and out of the car while buying steak and ice. I'm super hesitant of dropping that money and then it failing. I'd be ************. The only failure I'm going to have now is poor planning since the ice-chest won't brick on a wifi firmware update or some ********, lol.
Depending on the Ambient Temp these fridges can use as little as 4Ah per 24 hours and in hotter temps a 100Ah battery will run a fridge for 2, 3 or 4 days and in colder climes it will power a fridge for up to a week or more, Like I said the LG Alpicool models use very little power and you can buy one New for 4 or 500 bucks or less,

A 1K fridge is not needed, I have a $400 Dometic and it uses between 4 and 12Ah per 24 hours and Dometic have been making Caravan/Camper Fridges since the 1950's, I'm affaid the info you are quoting is a little out of date, And you can still buy fridges without the WiFi Apps, You would be quite surprized just how good these modern fridges are, at pressent I have a few of them,

Another thing to remember is because you don't need room for the Ice you can get away with buying a fridge half the size of your cooler and canned drinks can be rotated putting just a few at a time,

Coolers have their uses but they were never intended for long time storage.
 
Last edited:
Use the GreatStuff "Window and Door" product. I've used a ton of it for various applications. I only drill one hole, if there isn't already a slot open, and start spraying with the tip of the straw almost fully inserted. As mentioned above, it's a bit of an art. Practice on a couple of scrap pieces of wood screwed together to form a 5-sided box first to get the feel for it.

Don't use the red can.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Man

Man

Member
The refer suggestion is what I should be doing. I did some searching here and found the truckfridge might be a good option since they have a portable model and it is said that it uses the Danfoss compressor that the high end refers user. It is an Italian brand (as are my Zamberland boots). I looked at the Alpicool and some models have the LG compressor, but size and availability of the LG models was a problem. What do you think of the truckfridge brand?

If I bought the Truckfridge TB31A or TB41A model I could crank the temp down an hour or two before bed, power it off and wrap it in that insulation blanket. It would be on 120V so it could draw max power. Then at sunrise power it back on. But I'm not sure if that will keep the steaks cold enough unless I got them slightly frozen. The TB31A and TB41A both draw 55W and use 0,192 kWh/24h, they user R134a and the compressor is the SECOP BD35F, but I'm not super concerned about efficiency as I am about longevity and reliability. They also have a free shipping deal and it is priced near my budget.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
The refer suggestion is what I should be doing. I did some searching here and found the truckfridge might be a good option since they have a portable model and it is said that it uses the Danfoss compressor that the high end refers user. It is an Italian brand (as are my Zamberland boots). I looked at the Alpicool and some models have the LG compressor, but size and availability of the LG models was a problem. What do you think of the truckfridge brand?

If I bought the Truckfridge TB31A or TB41A model I could crank the temp down an hour or two before bed, power it off and wrap it in that insulation blanket. It would be on 120V so it could draw max power. Then at sunrise power it back on. But I'm not sure if that will keep the steaks cold enough unless I got them slightly frozen. The TB31A and TB41A both draw 55W and use 0,192 kWh/24h, they user R134a and the compressor is the SECOP BD35F, but I'm not super concerned about efficiency as I am about longevity and reliability. They also have a free shipping deal and it is priced near my budget.
Truckfridge are the same as IndelB which are put out by National Luna which are Number 1 when it come to quality, Truckfridge/IndelB are one of the Unsung hero's in the fridge world, But what ever brand you buy just make sure that it has the Danfos/Secop Compressor and it will serve you well, 4 of mine have those compressors and they punch above their weight, The BD35F is the stalwart of the Fridge world followed by it's bigger Brother the BD50F which is normally fitted in much larger fridges, I'd like the TB31 but I think I would prefer that extra bit of room with the TB41, They have sold millions of them across the world and they are more than up to Task. (y)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Man

Man

Member
Awesome, thanks for the help! I estimated that at least $208 per year is what I spend on ice. I never added ice costs up until now. About $4 per week and the TB41A would pay for itself in about 2.5 years. Plus I won't have a hard time finding ice on/near a holiday, like last Easter lol.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Awesome, thanks for the help! I estimated that at least $208 per year is what I spend on ice. I never added ice costs up until now. About $4 per week and the TB41A would pay for itself in about 2.5 years. Plus I won't have a hard time finding ice on/near a holiday, like last Easter lol.
Well when you add on the fuel cost every time you have to go in to town and add the cost of the Ice to that it really mounts up and the further you camp from town the more the Ice costs,

It's a pity you weren't over here where I'm staying because I would loan you one to try out,

Another good thing about these fridges Is one night the house freezer died And I was panicing and then I suddenly remembered my ARB fridge and I managed to save all the food and fix the house freezer in the morning, Funny how these things always happen in the height of Summer or Late at night, It was 01:30am when my house freezer threw in the Towel, ? ? (n)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Man

billiebob

Well-known member
there were a hand full of ice cubes left
don't buy ice cubes, buy a block.

Blocks, less surface area melt much slower.

Cubes cool faster, more surface area, small cubes like those bars use in drinks cool even faster but melt faster too.

Crushed ice, if you ever drank a Seven Eleven slurpie fast...... your brain freeze is proof of how fast crushed ice refrigerates.

Use Block Ice only in a cooler. When I used ice, I froze a couple of 2L milk bottles. They lasted 5 days and never leaked.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
Awesome, thanks for the help! I estimated that at least $208 per year is what I spend on ice. I never added ice costs up until now. About $4 per week and the TB41A would pay for itself in about 2.5 years. Plus I won't have a hard time finding ice on/near a holiday, like last Easter lol.
If you do buy the IndelB and you want to use it as a fridge and a freezer at the same time, Try setting the Temp to -12*c / 10*f that way your food in the main compartment will stay frozen and the food/Drinks in the Dairy area will stay just above freezing +/- 1 or 2*, Then IndelB is like the ARB Classic Series which is a True Duel Zone Fridge Freezer, The Twin Door Fridges are Not a Duel Zone they are a Fridge "AND" Freezer OR Fridge and Fridge OR Freezer and Freezer like the ones we have at home.

Hope That helps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Man

Forum statistics

Threads
185,538
Messages
2,875,658
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top