Outer Limits 4x4 Board

How good are ice boxes over eskys
I went over 2 rover park friday night for the rock crawling. I had 2 bags of ice in the esky and by sunday morning there was bugger all ice left so me and my mate grabbed a bag each and by this morning there was no ice left
The esky i was using is leaking so I wanna know, Will an ice box keep ice alot longer then an esky and what are the best brands on the market

Anyone got an eva kool ice box and how good are they

Thanx

James

EVA COOL eskys are the best by far dollar for dollar.... fully rebuildable and i think they still carry a waranty... all moving parts are marine plastic and all fixings are stainless steel... ive taken an 80ltr EVA COOL on a 4 day trip to MAYTOWN GOLD FIELDS(west of laura) and the outside temp sat on an average of 40 degrees during the day and i didnt have air cond .... i had 3 bags of ice and a slab of ice on the bottom and by the end of the trip there was only3 ltrs of water in the bottom of the esky and the slab has stil pretty solid....broken but solid

Engel fridges also make ice boxes (actually made by eva cool) an i sell them at my work and they and eva cool are pretty much the best on the market.

Waeco also make them but retail at less then the engel/eva cool ones.

Dave!

I've got an Ice cool ice box (Blue one) and there tough built and they keep ice good for 4 days easy

my mate has a tropical ice box (the orange 1's) and accross the nullabour and in perth, it kept good ice for 3 - 4 days, some of this time being in the sun, and kept the beer cold for about 5 - 6 days

JAKE wrote:EVA COOL eskys are the best by far dollar for dollar.... fully rebuildable and i think they still carry a waranty... all moving parts are marine plastic and all fixings are stainless steel... ive taken an 80ltr EVA COOL on a 4 day trip to MAYTOWN GOLD FIELDS(west of laura) and the outside temp sat on an average of 40 degrees during the day and i didnt have air cond .... i had 3 bags of ice and a slab of ice on the bottom and by the end of the trip there was only3 ltrs of water in the bottom of the esky and the slab has stil pretty solid....broken but solid

shouldda just wound ya windows up and opened the eva cool. free air con.

I have a 92 litre tropical ice box... Best things out, a lot cheaper than evakool and as long as you dont leave them in the sun when they are not being used they have a really long life.... (my mate found that out the hard way with a 105 litre one.. )

use dry ice instead. Lasts for ages and no water left over. We used some on a trip and it was great once we figured out ow to use it. Place a layer on the bottom of the esky then place a piece of carboard over it then stack your food on top in relation to how much cooling it needs.

We also had another 6 pack esky full of it that we used to cool our drinks down. The drinks were jsut in the back of the patrol put it in the dry ice and keep turning it around for about 30 seconds and you have an ice cold drink. Amazing to watch if you put a warm can onto the dry ice it creaks and groans and moves around as the rapid coling causes an energy transfer.

The outside temp was between 26 -32 for a 4 day weekend and we still had ice left and everything was nice and cold. The eskies were just standard Willow eskies

grimbo wrote:use dry ice instead. Lasts for ages and no water left over. We used some on a trip and it was great once we figured out ow to use it. Place a layer on the bottom of the esky then place a piece of carboard over it then stack your food on top in relation to how much cooling it needs.

We also had another 6 pack esky full of it that we used to cool our drinks down. The drinks were jsut in the back of the patrol put it in the dry ice and keep turning it around for about 30 seconds and you have an ice cold drink. Amazing to watch if you put a warm can onto the dry ice it creaks and groans and moves around as the rapid coling causes an energy transfer.

The outside temp was between 26 -32 for a 4 day weekend and we still had ice left and everything was nice and cold. The eskies were just standard Willow eskies

Where did you get the dry ice ???

I got it from the BOC gas place next to the South Melbourne market. Got about $14 worth which was ample fvor what we needed actually probably a bit too much

When chasing ice for the long term, make sure you get block ice. BUT, there is block ice, and there is block ice. A lot of places these days sell block ice which is just tube ice that has been compressed into a block. This doesnt last against a mould block of ice. This is where water is poured into a mould and allowed to set as one solid block. These will last a pretty good time, provided you take care with where you put your esky/ice box.

You could always try to find some cold room siding, aluminium/polystyrene/aluminium sheeting and make your own. Done right, it makes excellent iceboxes, and you can make them to the size that suits you.

i use an old tucker box freezer with the bottom (motor) cut out and a piece of the foam from the truck with freezers on there trays. it works great couple of bags of ice will last 4 to 5 days with crushed ice and that opening a lot with all the beer in there and sits out in the sun near the fire place. also to make your own block ice use milk bottles and cordial bottles fill them up and freeze with the lid a little loose then tighten once frozen when the do eventuly melt all the water stays in the containers i use these on the bottom of my other eskys as the meat keeps out of the water sitting top of the bottles

I've made a few Ice boxes out of cool-room panel costs about $45.00 for a sheet and about another $80.00 for angle, Hinges Etc.
Better than an Esky and prob almost as good as an Ice Box but much cheaper.
have used Dry Ice in one once and it was cold for four days in the back of the GQ think i could have gotten another day or two out of it.

Hi

Coleman have a range of 5 day rated units in addition to their normal range.

These have thicker insulation 50mm/35mm over most iceboxes and perform better. (The rating is to a particular USA standard )

They range in price around $150

They are not as strong as EVA kool etc.

They also have a deep and effect drain - as opposed to a hole in the side.

We have 2 different sizes - 1 for weekends and a larger 1 for long trip.

We did recent 3 week cape york trip using the larger 47lt one


Robin Miller

RobinM wrote:Hi

Coleman have a range of 5 day rated units in addition to their normal range.

These have thicker insulation 50mm/35mm over most iceboxes and perform better. (The rating is to a particular USA standard )

They range in price around $150

They are not as strong as EVA kool etc.

They also have a deep and effect drain - as opposed to a hole in the side.

We have 2 different sizes - 1 for weekends and a larger 1 for long trip.

We did recent 3 week cape york trip using the larger 47lt one


Robin Miller

How long did it hold ice on your trip??? Did it stand up to the "Coleman" rating??

From what i've seen, these coleman 'extreme' esky's just dont compare to say and eva cool / engel / waeco icebox!!!!!

Hi

I evaluated them as best I could and Colemans perform better - less heat loss - based on two dissimalar sized units. As a professional engineer I am aware of the variables and believe my results to be accurate.

Eva-cool for instance could not provide any thermal transfer figures - just consumer level type stuff.

Mind you - their is not much to them - one just has a more of same insulation than the other.

I do not think Coleman would stand up to punishment as would fibreglass EVA , I would not want to stack anything heavy on top of Coleman

The Coleman weighs about an icepack less , and physical shapes are interesting - the Coleman takes more volume because of its shape and thicker foam. Also Coleman has an Interference fit lid unlike the strap of the EVA.

EVA seem to go for the bigger - boat type market where I think toughness would be an advantage.
Coleman seem more camping related and you can get smaller sizes.

Robin Miller

RobinM wrote:Hi

I evaluated them as best I could and Colemans perform better - less heat loss - based on two dissimalar sized units. As a professional engineer I am aware of the variables and believe my results to be accurate.

Eva-cool for instance could not provide any thermal transfer figures - just consumer level type stuff.

Mind you - their is not much to them - one just has a more of same insulation than the other.

I do not think Coleman would stand up to punishment as would fibreglass EVA , I would not want to stack anything heavy on top of Coleman

The Coleman weighs about an icepack less , and physical shapes are interesting - the Coleman takes more volume because of its shape and thicker foam. Also Coleman has an Interference fit lid unlike the strap of the EVA.

EVA seem to go for the bigger - boat type market where I think toughness would be an advantage.
Coleman seem more camping related and you can get smaller sizes.

Robin Miller

thanks for that

How long did the coleman keep the ice for, and at what average temperatures???

Thanx for the feedback so far
Keep it coming

Also has anyone heard of the icey-tek ice boxes

Can not give any temperature figures ,largely because they do not mean much.
The variables are significant ,ice in particular can go from -1 to -18 depending on where you buy/make it , and larger eskies last longer because surface area is smaller in proportion to their volume.

Mine keeps ice in back of car for several days as others have reported with EVA etc.

And indication of how good these units can be is the mistake we made on last weeks long weekend trip. We forgot some tomatoes and brought some hours later at Mansfield. We tossed them into the esky in a hurry , where they rested on our ice blocks. That evening 1 tomato was frozen solid .

EVA ,Tropical and Coleman are in the order of 300% better than standard units which typically have 1/2 inch foam.
My own tests show that Coleman is only marginly (about 20%) better than EVA , which is slightly better than Tropical.

The test procedure is to place 2 litre of near freezing water into a unit
which is then left inside house overnight (to reduce wind effects).

Monitor temperatures with one of those dual thermometers.

It is not the temperature which is important but rather the temperature
difference change over time.

Using good eskies saves fuel in the same order as headlights about (1-2%)
To make most of them we take care to pack things individually ,often in platic seal bags such that we can usually use the water for drinking.

We freeze most of our own ice at home,so we know water quality and this
suffices for most trips.

To last 5 days most good eskies of under 50lt require about 1/3 of volume to be ICE. This seems like a drag but its not if rather than use ice you also freeze prima's ,ice coffee drinks, pies , small water bottles etc.
Freezer packs of course hold more cold energy ,but are a dead loss once they thaw out.

We have observed that the biggest threat to sucessful use of eskies is
that friends (with electric fridges) want to knock off our ice blocks
for their chardonay.

Robin Miller

P.S. The Colemans will suffer damage with dry ice because of the thin layer of plastic over the insulation.

Got a couple of prices today

62 litre tropical = $245
55 litre icey tek = $175
70 litre icey tek = $249

Is that around the average price for an ice box

Apparently u can get cold packs which can be put in the ice boxes and there got ones that last from 2-8 days.

rocknferoza wrote:Got a couple of prices today

62 litre tropical = $245
55 litre icey tek = $175
70 litre icey tek = $249

Is that around the average price for an ice box

Apparently u can get cold packs which can be put in the ice boxes and there got ones that last from 2-8 days.

2-8days thats a pretty large varible. I think I will stick with my engel that I paid to much for.
But if all you do is weekenders I reckon they sound pretty good.

I have a Coleman Extreme wheeled cooler and have been more than happy with it for the 2 plus years I have had it.

I'd prob rate it more like 4 days, depending on how you use it but that's more than enough for a long weekend. Make sure you don't put warm (ie beer) stuff into it mid weekend and even crushed ice will keep you going no worries.

The reason I chose this was the wheels, pain in the asss lugging a 50 litre cooler, full of ice, food and beer around by hand.

Just found this site that sells Tropcial Ice Boxes:

http://www.amanstoyshop.com.au/products ... election=7

The prices seem pretty good and they claim they'll beat any other quote.

Repco is also having a sale with 20% off Tropical Ice Boxes starting on the 25 March. (or at least here in SA they are..... )

I've made a few Ice boxes out of cool-room panel costs about $45.00 for a sheet and about another $80.00 for angle, Hinges Etc.

What types of places carry coolroom panels? I know my local bunnings doesn't carry them, would a retail aluminium supplier?
Cheers,
Justin

Yo dude, long time no chat.

I have myself a 62L Downunder Ice Box, i haven't treated it the best and is regularly used as a seat, table, work bench etc. It still is in one piece with only scuff and rub marks on it but no damage. It will keep most of a bag of ice for around a week easily if keep draining out the water and not constantly opening. Also when i had my Feroza with one rear seat folded forward it would slide up along side the other no problem, that is if your's has split rear seats and not single.

buggy wrote:

I've made a few Ice boxes out of cool-room panel costs about $45.00 for a sheet and about another $80.00 for angle, Hinges Etc.

What types of places carry coolroom panels? I know my local bunnings doesn't carry them, would a retail aluminium supplier?
Cheers,
Justin

Ring around your local refrigeration / Air-con repairers,Guys that build coolrooms etc.
Then get angle from a sheet shop. Make sure you remember handles and a drain. If you need any more help let me know

r0ck_m0nkey wrote:Yo dude, long time no chat.

I have myself a 62L Downunder Ice Box, i haven't treated it the best and is regularly used as a seat, table, work bench etc. It still is in one piece with only scuff and rub marks on it but no damage. It will keep most of a bag of ice for around a week easily if keep draining out the water and not constantly opening. Also when i had my Feroza with one rear seat folded forward it would slide up along side the other no problem, that is if your's has split rear seats and not single.

Hi Troy. The Downunder sounds every bit as good as the Evakool- 50mm insulation, fiberglass construction etc.
http://www.fishn4.com.au/seriesII/2002arevwk6.htm
http://www.ausfish.com.au/evakool/evako ... ifications

I'll probably buy the Tropical- purely because of the price. Their insulation is 40mm from the info I've found, and they're made from food grade polyethelene. Ideally I'd like a fridge but they're out of my price range at the moment.

I just ripped the rear seats out of the Feroza- my storage system is starting to take form.

The thing i thought i would have a problem with the Downunder, is the corners are rounded and unprotected which i thought may have led to them getting damaged. But this has not been the case.

One problem i have had with it, which is probably in a way a good thing. Is if you drop the lid to shut instead of shutting it gently, it forms a suction and locks itself shut, and you then need a screwdriver or something to pry the lid back open.

Hey Troy

I went 2 the gold coast 4WD caravan and camping show on saturday
I ended up buying a 50L downunder ice box for $266 ( show special ) normaly they retail around the $300 mark.
I wanted 2 buy an evacool but they didn't have the size i wanted at the show
Evacool had a 60L on display which they put some warm drinks in and 2 bags of ice. They did that at 5pm thursday night and it wasn't opened until saturday. It would've been opened alot of times over the saturday when i was there and I decided 2 open it and check the ice late saturday, the ice hadn't melted much at all

I have noticed a big difference in the common esky too, worst ones seem to be the old metal cased ones, then plastic with no foam filling, then best are the plastic with filling and the blue polystyrene ones, which are no good to sit on.

Of course an icebox with twice the wall thickness is going to whip any esky's butt.