Coleman thermoelectric cooler?

[akphotobob]

I have considered using one of these with ice in them. I would have them turned on when the rig was running and turned off when it wasn't. The idea would be to extend the life of the ice. The problem is that their insulation looks very thin. For it to work I would have to be able to add extra insulation to the outside and I don't know if that would wreck their heater/cooler unit. Any thoughts on this idea?

 

[akphotobob]

As I understand it, thermoelectric devices have a limit on how much heat they can pump above which they put heat back into the "cold" side..

This would result in an eventual temperature difference limit.. like for example if these ice chests had ideal, perfect insulation all around them so all of the energy they pumped out to the heat sink didn't seep back in from anywhere else... the inside would still never freeze if the outside was hot enough. In other words the inside could never be more than (example 40) degrees colder than the outside. In your ice scenario this means it might even actively warm up the ice to above melting temp. a considerably larger heatsink would allow more BTU's to dissipate for a greater temperature difference.

Thanks for the idea. I don't think I would ever actually try it. I can't afford an Engle but I would like to lower my ice costs and the ice in a thermoelectric was just a passing thought. Thanks again, Bob

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

In this particular model you cannot put ice in it without burning out the motor anyway....the fan is vented on the inside so when that ice started to melt you would end up with water in the fan and an overly-expensive ice chest :littlefriend:

So does anyone know where to find the best and cheapest model ARB/Engel/whatever fridge out there for our truck?

 

[akphotobob]

One trick I use on my cooler is to put a bucket in the middle of the cooler, and the ice goes in the bucket only. This has several advantages: First, my food stays dry, all the ice water is in the bucket. Second, the cold ice and ice water never come into contact with the cooler walls. This really helps to help the ice last. Third, it's very easy to dump the water, just pull the bucket out!

I could do this with the thermoelectric, but they are so small I wouldn't have much room for food.

 

[MaddBaggins]

I take 1 gallon freezer ziplocs, fill them 1/2 full with water and drop them in the deep freezer a few days or so before a trip. Those frozen blocks of ice go in the coleman ice chest. Plus I refrigerate everything for a day or 2 before packing the cooler. Everything that goes in the cooler is already cold or frozen, plus a couple of my blocks of ice and I've been able to get 6 days out of my cooler in moderate temps and about 4 in hot weather before even thinking about more ice.