Using a Yeti backwards?

john61ct

Adventurer
All depends on where you are, your usage patterns, bottom-line how long the cooler is in below-freezing temps.

Leave your living space for a four-day snow camping trek in Alaska and you'll sing a different tune.
 

john61ct

Adventurer
Also

> The ambient temps are going to be below freezing for most of the 3,000 mile trip to California.

All depends on, how far below, and where is the cooler?

My point is there certainly are circumstances where the topic is a real issue, worthy of discussion.

Those who think otherwise should just move on ignore the thread, rather than saying shut up and drink.
 

perterra

Adventurer
I was serious about just using ice in your Yeti. Ice is a insulator itself (snow caves, igloos). So if you fill your cooler with crushed ice it will maintain a close to 32º f temp for a while. There are a lot of little trapped air pockets where those little ice chunks meet and there not much movement of the air when solidly packed.

What does beer freeze at, 25º-28º? You can walk in most walk in beer coolers and see the thermometers running about 25º and the walk in isnt full of frozen beer. I'd think outside air at maybe 15-20º is going to take quite a while to convert the ice in a well insulated cooler to something cold enough to freeze beer. And if you think it is, just change the ice and it has to start the cycle over again.

Feel free to correct me if I am in error
 

perterra

Adventurer
Congratulations ! You just forced the beer contents closer to whatever below freezing temperature one is trying to keep outside the cooler. Further, the proposed ice scenario only works if one knows temperature of the ice to begin with is higher than outside temperature.


So whats the normal temp of ice, give or take 32 I'm guessing. And I'm talking bagged ice. Thats how catering trucks keep drinks from freezing, they dont heat it.

The only way I have ever had beer freeze in a cooler full of ice is when it's rock salted, even then it just plugged the top of a long neck. Or stick with high alcohol versions and your probably fine. It's going to be above freezing more than just an hour or two if your in the southwest.


We used to experiment with dry ice at work, Coca Cola would freeze in 3 minutes, took Budweiser 4 1/2 minutes.
 
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ITTOG

Well-known member
So what's the normal temp of ice, give or take 32 I'm guessing.
Depends on the temp of the environment is. If the environment is 2 F then so is the ice if left long enough to cool down . Ice does not stop cooling once it becomes ice. also water can be 2 F and not freeze.
 

JaSAn

Grumpy Old Man
I was serious about just using ice in your Yeti. Ice is a insulator itself (snow caves, igloos) . . .

So whats the normal temp of ice, give or take 32 I'm guessing . . . And I'm talking bagged ice . . .

Ice takes on the temperature of the surrounding environment, so if ice has been stored at 0ºF it will be at 0ºF when removed.
Snow is an insulator (because of all the air trapped between flakes), ice is not. It would be a cold igloo built with ice blocks.

If you add ice (at 32ºF) to an ice chest about freezing it will lower the temperature of the contents faster than without ice irregardless of outside temperature; exactly what you don't want to happen when trying to keep something from freezing in below freezing ambient temperatures.
 

perterra

Adventurer
I just looked at ’specs of retail ice display cabinets, Ranges 10 to 20°F.

Btw, air is a great insulator. Snow is what ? 90% trapped air ??


How much air is in store bought ice? And how much air is trapped within the packed chest? I dont know, just never had beer freeze.


Ice takes on the temperature of the surrounding environment, so if ice has been stored at 0ºF it will be at 0ºF when removed.
Snow is an insulator (because of all the air trapped between flakes), ice is not. It would be a cold igloo built with ice blocks.

If you add ice (at 32ºF) to an ice chest about freezing it will lower the temperature of the contents faster than without ice irregardless of outside temperature; exactly what you don't want to happen when trying to keep something from freezing in below freezing ambient temperatures.


I think the key is eventually. The OP is talking about the southwest. I have spent a lot of time in the southwest, and unless there is a pretty brutal front coming through, you arent going to see below freezing 24 hours a day for the length of time it takes to travel 3,000 miles through the deserts of the southwest. Sure high altitude can be very cold, but what percentage is high and what percentage is desert floor. I think the OP is over thinking the results of beer freezing.

If a Yeti will hold ice for 5 100º days, then it should be able to keep beer from freezing solid when it's 10º as easily.

All opinion mind you, like I said, never had ice freeze my beer and never seen a roach coach on job sites with a drink heater.
 

perterra

Adventurer
Depends on the temp of the environment is. If the environment is 2 F then so is the ice if left long enough to cool down . Ice does not stop cooling once it becomes ice. also water can be 2 F and not freeze.


I agree, it does keep cooling, but at how fast? And you arent going to see continuous 2º F in the southwest. Short stretches, yes,
 
No, I don’t think you want to risk freezing the beer. Drop it off at my house and I’ll keep a watchful eye on it and your brother-in-law can stop by when it warms up. I promise not to accidentally drink any of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

slowtwitch

Adventurer
Beer in cans is pretty resistant to freezing depending on how much alch and sug are in it, but even Coors is surprisingly resistant.
Constant 24 hr 32 degrees will not freeze beer in cans. No chance of that happening in the SW the next number of wks.
If it were iffy, simply opening the cooler when the days warm up a bit , and closing it up when temps dip would do it.
 

67cj5

Man On a Mission
You Guys are making this way tougher than it really is, What you need is a Dometic Waeco Tropicool TCX35, Not only will it cool 30*c/54*f below the Ambient temp but at the push of a button it can heat things up to about 149+*f So on it's lowest setting it will keep any thing from freezing, I have tested these coolers and they use as little as 9 watts on it's eco setting and at 27*c/80.6*f it still managed to keep an inside Temp of 1*c/33.8*f and it has one of the best thermal retaining habits of even the best of coolers.
 
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john61ct

Adventurer
What is the internal contents capacity?

Can't be used as a freezer.

Would really like to know its AH per 24hr consumption at lowest-temp setting in very hot weather.

Have yet to see a thermo-electric based unit perform anywhere near as well as a compressor-based one.

The heating function is interesting, I suppose good for bringing a stew to a pot luck? Is 150° hot enough to actually cook?

Wonder what the wattage drawn on that side is?
 

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