dry ice?

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rctk1

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Labor day weekend is coming around the corner and my family and i will be out camping at the beach for the next few days. I have never used dry ice before but have read that it is more economical in terms of how long it can keep frozen foods frozen compared to regular ice. Is there a proper way of packing the dry ice in the cooler? can it be thrown on top of the goodies or should it be isolated away to prevent any freezer burns. And will it damage my cooler if it gets in contact with the plastic areas? like i said i have never used this stuff before just want to get all the info i can get before i screw things up. thanks
 
you actually have to be careful how you handle this stuff. Its so cold it will burn your bare skin. Also it emits alot of carbon dioxide so if you have it in your car make sure the cooler is cracked and the windows are open to allow the CO2 to escape. as far as cooling goes i found its best to have it on the bottom of a cooler and put cardboard over it and then the food on top. It will not damage any plastic items such as the cooler interior.
 
I use dry ice whenever I can to keep frozen things frozen while camping. Dry ice won't create a lot of moisture, and it is *colder* than regular ice, IMO.

It needs to be kept well insulated. I like to put it on the bottom of the cooler, well wrapped in butcher paper or paper grocery bags. Thin sheets of styrofoam work well too. The dry ice will not damage your cooler.

Don't let little folks touch it as it will freeze flesh very quickly.

If you use it with non-frozen items, it needs to be kept very well insulated from those things as it will freeze them.

Andy
 
thanks guys for the responses. another question....how much dry ice will be sufficent to cool a 100qt cooler?
 
most places sell it in 5lb bags. either pellet or block form. Id go pellet. it comes in shapes about the size of your finger where i get it. That should be more than enough.
 
Dry Ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is somewhat colder than water ice. Water ice has a melting point of 0C. Dry ice does not have a melting pint, but sublimes at -78C (-104F). Sublimation is the formation of a gas from a solid, not going through a liquid phase. No need to make a effort to keeep the cooler cracked. Most coolers dont seal tight enough to cause a pressurization hazard. In fact, when we ship stuff frozen in dry ice, we seal the lid junction of our styrofoam shipping boxes with packing tape, and the gas still finds a way out. Put the dry ice on the bottom, then a layer of butcher paper or card board, then the frozen items, then the non frozed items. The point about evolution of carbon dioxide gas should be considered while traveling in a car.
 
Listen to all these warnings about touching it with bare hands and never mix it with liquid in a sealed environment. As an example you can take a couple of pellets about half the size of your little finger,put it into a 2 liter soda bottle half full of water. Seal it ,shake it and get away. The police will arrive shortly looking for the dynamite. I have taken a 100 qt cooler of pellets to trade shows and still had small amounts left 5 days later.
 
One more thing- while it won't damage your cooler, the extreme cold will make the plastic harder & more fragile- don't drop anything in it too hard.
 
If you're going to be opening and closing the cooler on a regular basis, dry ice may be more hassle than it's worth. It'll likely last as long as regular ice, just colder and more expensive. It does keep exceptionally well in a very well insulated container that is never opened, for example when transporting frozen materials from point A to point B. But I notice no practical advantages for my camping needs.
 
When you're done with it, don't forget to...

(a) Push a nickel or quarter into some of the ice and listen to it squeal.

(b) Pour water over it and let it fog everything up. Kids will love it.

By the way, dry ice is great at parties...

Ask your host where their "powder room" is.

Go in to their guest bathroom and drop a pound of dry ice into the toilet.

When you walk out, warn the next person "careful...I think it was the guacamole."

When they walk in, they'll see a huge amount of smoke pouring out of the toilet.
 
rctk1 said:
Labor day weekend is coming around the corner and my family and i will be out camping at the beach for the next few days. I have never used dry ice before but have read that it is more economical in terms of how long it can keep frozen foods frozen compared to regular ice. Is there a proper way of packing the dry ice in the cooler? can it be thrown on top of the goodies or should it be isolated away to prevent any freezer burns. And will it damage my cooler if it gets in contact with the plastic areas? like i said i have never used this stuff before just want to get all the info i can get before i screw things up. thanks
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i'll speak from experience here....last year i had two coolers, both large, one for food, one for beer.

I poured in about 10" of dry ice on the bottom and stacked the beer up, layering dry ice and beer. All the cans were solid tubes, most had burst.

as for the food, it made the vegetables frozen solid, then when they thawed they were GOOPY messes of veg. It made the meat burnt and turned it a wierd color and horrible smell (it WAS fresh meat to start). The eggs went bad (after a few hours) The milk turned solid, but it too had a rotten smell. I could barely keep my stomach in when i lifted the lid . I suspect the lack of oxygen in the cooler maybe had something to do with it?

So, the next time i went out i did the following: i got smaller dry ice blocks instead, and put a thick towel over the dry ice and then a piece of cardboard, on top of that i put my food, with the veggies and bread and milk on top of the meat. I used powdered eggs instead of fresh.

for the beer cooler i use the dry ice blocks, and a thick towel.

fun with dry ice, aka homemade bear BOOMERS!

take a 2 liter plastic pop bottle, and fill a 1/4 of the way with water. Get dry ice pellets (1") and roll up in a paper towel (about 10 of them.lengthwise) wrap with saran wrap and leave a bit of paper towel sticking out. This will allow you to push the dry ice into the container, have time to tightly close the cap and throw. You have to be quick, you will blow off your fingers if you hold it too long (i have nerve damage on my pinky). Throw it and keep kids and pets away form it. it will take either a few seconds or sometimes a few minutes, but the resulting BOOM is freaking loud. The less water the better, a cup is fine.

best done at 3AM beside your buddies tent.....
 
On a biking/hiking/van trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island several years ago we went with the two cooler/one with dry ice way. It kept ground beef, sausage and other stuff well preserved for a week. We kept the block in heavy paper (grocery bags) and opened the cooler minimally. It worked like a charm and we ate like kings after biking 40 miles or so through the countryside. Definitely do it. It'll open up a whole new way of car camping.
 
One thing; it will give veggies like carrots and the like a fizzy taste. The carbon dioxide will get into some foods and carbonate them!

Andy
 
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