In hot weather my esky in the boat struggles to keep cool. I'd like to glue some sort of insulated panel to the bottom, sides and top of the esky to improve it.
Can anyone recommend an efficient insulation to use and where can I buy it in Perth WA?
Select to expand quoteSandS said..
Or the good old styrene foam .........
@bunnings
Select to expand quoteHG02 said..SandS said..
Or the good old styrene foam .........
@bunnings
The high density blue stuff!!
Go to your local foam and rubber, or learn how to properly an eski.
You want to pre chill the thing, and use big blocks of ice, i.e. 3L blocks rather than party ice.
By doing this my small 60L can get an easy 7 days of chilled use.
For a esky throw something over it like a thick blanket or a old quilt. Keep the sun away,any heat including the sun. Fill with frozen spring water bottles. And all of the above!
Select to expand quoteflyingcab said..
Go to your local foam and rubber, or learn how to properly an eski.
You want to pre chill the thing, and use big blocks of ice, i.e. 3L blocks rather than party ice.
By doing this my small 60L can get an easy 7 days of chilled use.
Also when buying ice take it home and put it in the freezer over night this will lower its temp even more and it will last much longer as the ice boxes temp you buy it from are set at just to hold the ice no more ( cheaper power consumption )
Select to expand quotesouthace said..
For a esky throw something over it like a thick blanket or a old quilt. Keep the sun away,any heat including the sun. Fill with frozen spring water bottles. And all of the above!
Mix as much salt into the water as you can to make a strong brine. Fill 3 litre milk bottles and freeze down.
Maybe buy some Glycol (very Cheap) and make you own eutectic tank. By mixing it at 3:1 you get a solution that freezes at about -10 Dec C. If the container holds a total of 4 litres then the stored latent heat is around 80 times what is required to change 4 litres of water just one degrees of sensible heat (sensible heat is what you read with a thermometer). Yes, 80 times.
Now pure water when frozen also stores latent heat but when it melts at Zero Deg C your frozen tucker has also (or is still in the process) melted. The benefit of using a Glycol mixture is that your tucker remains frozen because the glycol mixture is doing its latent heat transition at -10 Deg C.
You could also put one of these containers in a normal freezer to give it greater hold over capacity if turned off.
Read the article below to hear how stored latent heat can be used to its best advantage in a proper system that cycles off when the eutectic tank is frozen and cycles back on when the eutectic tank has thawed.
www.ozefridge.com/?page_id=22
Hello Zilla, just to get your thread back on track. Retro fitting insulation to an existing esky or fridge is always a problem due to the possibility moisture getting into the insulation you have just fitted. Once moisture gets into the insulation, you lose all those marvellous properties it had when it was dry.
If you try to encase your esky or fridge in an insulated and sealed enclosure, then as the air inside this new enclosure cools, it will reduce in volume and create a vacuum. If your newly fitted insulation enclosure has any air leaks, then air and additional moisture will be drawn into it.
Waco sell zip up covers for adding additional insulation to their fridges. Because these covers are flexible they are able to change size as they cool resulting in no vacuum being formed inside and no moisture being drawn into the insulation.
Your fridge at home is built to have a sealed outer skin and the moisture that gathers inside is collected and drains out a hole below the evaporator. This results in your fridge having dry air inside it. This process is also what keeps removing any moisture that may get into your insulation. If you build an esky or fridge that has a double insulation system then the outer insulation may have no way of getting rid of the moisture.
The fridge on my boat is crap due to poor insulation and I have been looking into this problem as well. I am down to 2 options, 1) buy a better fridge 2) build a better fridge for scratch.
Unfortunately neither option is cheap.
Thanks for the feedback guys.
In answer to some of the points raised...
It's an Evakool esky, about 30L. The sides and base are about 25mm wide and it is quite light so I'm guessing the insulation is only an air gap. Well perhaps a vacuum gap ! Anyway I remember when I first used it I was disappointed with the results. It did not perform anywhere near what it was advertised as doing.
Yes I always pre cool the contents and yes I always use block ice, not the useless party ice. I normally freeze 2L ice cream containers of water.
No it is never in the sun. In the boat it lives under the V berth up forward and in summer the ambient temperature in that spot would not go over 25 Celsius.
Yes a brine or glycol solution lowers the freezing point of the frozen block but I like to use potable water as the frozen block. It gives me more drinkable water if I ever need it.
Styrene foam is not a good choice for insulation because, if I recall correctly, it gives off toxic fumes in a fire.
I'll investigate the aerogel by telephoning the company in Perth tomorrow.
There was a lady in nsw selling aero gel on ebay maybe gone now it was pick up only
Dam it
Called aerogel in Perth. Seems they don't sell retail and only sell large rolls of the product.
I asked about offcuts and scrap pieces and they said they'd check on what product they had available and would call me back in an hour. That was 33 hrs ago. I guess they don't want my business.
Was at Bunnings today but didn't see the "high density blue stuff" you mentioned nswsailor.
