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Dry Ice in the cooler?

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Initially Posted - 06/11/2007 : 23:10:14

We are getting ready to make a one week trip over to Catalina. One idea we had was to use dry ice in our cooler to keep things cooler longer. I am concerned though about using dry ice down below. When I see it put into warm water for a fog it stays on the ground. Is carbon dioxide lighter than air or heavier? In the cooler will it sublimate slow enough to not be of concern? Has anyone used it before? Don't want to suffocate in my sleep.

Todd Hansen
Fiorghra'
San Luis Obispo, CA

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djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2007 : 23:37:06

Hi Todd, I've had that concern before. We ended up buying a colman cooler, cant remember the modle, but it keeps ice whole for much longer than the normal cooler. Cheers.

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 06/11/2007 : 23:41:02

We used dry ice a couple times with excellent results.

this is a picture of my 'freezer'

Through trial and error, we found that using a container such as a cheap styrofoam cooler to contain and control the dry ice worked best. As you may be able to tell from the picture, we cut the styrofoam cooler to fit. ($1.99 cooler from Safeway)
Along with keeping our food frozen, we used the dryice to re-freeze cooler packs that were helping to keep our portable cooler cold.
The basic idea on a long cruise was to keep the frozen stuff frozen in the freezer, and to keep the multiple access stuff in the portable cooler.
By keeping the dryice contained, it lasted much longer. It disappears rapidly when left exposed to air.
We had meat frozen solid for a week with a block of dry ice (according to my occasionaly reliable mememory) that was about 5 Lbs., which is about the size of large loaf of bread. The picture here was taken at the half-way point of a two week cruise.
We were told that a 5LB block of dry-ice did not pose a health risk as long as we didn't stick our heads in the freezer.

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OLarryR
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3442 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2007 : 05:22:42

CO2 is heavier than air. But do not believe you are so buttoned up in the cabin for it to be a problem. It is not like you left the stove burner on - the ice has to dissipate and since it is in something insulated, it does this at a very slow rate. Still...it's definitely raising the CO2 levels in the cabin if the cabin was all closed up. I do not intend to experiment with it to see if I stuck my head in the freezer and sealed off the air venting, what effect it would have but....as far as cabin concerns, it is probably more a psychological thing.... for maybe an environmentalist.

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Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2007 : 08:44:59

I have used dry ice many times - NOT A PROBLEM. a block of dry ice will sublimate slowly over two or three days and because it is heavier than air any gas that escapes the cooler will end up in the bilge. Also I am assuming that, because it is summer, you are leaving your hatches open to get ventilation at night. But even if you didn't it wouldn't be a problem.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/12/2007 : 10:14:48

An alternative is to freeze plastic gallon jugs of water and use them as your cooling source. Depending on the cooler and its use, you can get 2-5 days from them. Pull one out every now and then and let it melt for cold water.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/14/2007 : 16:04:06

We freeze 2*24paks of water bottles the week prior to our trip and load them into the stbd cabin locker (it's now a cooler with 2" of polystyrene sides and bottom and lid) The bottles defrost within 3 days easy! The '5 day' cooler holds ice for a couple of days too. It's only lack of info that prevents us using dry ice. I presume the concept is that the dry ice is at a much lower temperature then frozen water????

Paul

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atgep
Master Marine Consultant

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1009 Posts

Response Posted - 06/14/2007 : 17:13:11

Dry Ice pack a lot more -BTU's than Water due to it's temperature. I have never used it as my 5 day coolers are usually more than enough.

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Champipple
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
6855 Posts

Response Posted - 06/14/2007 : 20:30:20

We used to pack dry ice into the food cooler for the 24-48 hour races. Then we would tape the cooler shut with duct tape (not the standing cooler) so that it didn't crack open if it slid around when we were heeling. It worked great, was a PITA to work with (gloves etc). I'd go with the 1 gallon frozen jugs if it were my boat. But both work.

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 06/14/2007 : 22:28:27

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by britinusa
 ...I presume the concept is that the dry ice is at a much lower temperature then frozen water????<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Yup... -109F. Quite a bit lower. (Don't touch!)

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stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 06/14/2007 : 23:07:29

If I were going on a 5 day cruise, I would use my 6 day cooler. But if I were going on a 5+ day cruise in-which I needed to have frozen food kept frozen, dry ice is the answer.
Either way, I find that having two coolers is really the best way to keep frozen stuff frozen.
We often cruise on a very large lake where we stay in a secluded area with no marina or services - the dryice allows us to stay out there longer than frozen jugs.
Frozen 2 Qt jugs are perfect for weekend gunkholing.

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tmhansen
Captain

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USA
397 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2007 : 01:31:48

Thanks for all the ideas and experience. The cooler will be packed Monday am and has to last a full 7 days including trailer time. The Pacific ocean is pretty cold this year, around 61 degrees so it should not be too warm. In the past we prefreeze all the food we can and take two water containers frozen solid. We use a separate cooler for the drinks which is not as heavily insulated. I think our is one of the 5 day variety.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/15/2007 : 07:15:39

Todd, one very successful method we use is to precook several meals and vacuum pack them (seal a meal) and freeze them. They go in the bottom of the cooler beneath the ice, it doesn't matter if the ice melts, they are still colder than in a fridge where they would have a BBB date of a few months.

Hope you post details of your trip in the crusing section.

Paul

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britinusa
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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2007 : 05:39:11

Still thinking about the use of dry ice. I couldn't remember the details of Air Composition, so I googled it....


The sea-level composition of air (in percent by volume at the
temperature of 15°C and the pressure of 101325 Pa) is given below.

Name Symbol Percent by Volume
Nitrogen N2 78.084 %
Oxygen O2 20.9476 %
Argon Ar 0.934 %
Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.0314 %
Neon Ne 0.001818 %
Methane CH4 0.0002 %
Helium He 0.000524 %
Krypton Kr 0.000114 %
Hydrogen H2 0.00005 %
Xenon Xe 0.0000087 %

Source:

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
by David R. Lide, Editor-in-Chief
1997 Edition

So perhaps we should be using liquid Nitrogen ???
I have just sent an email to UIG on the subject. yanevano!

Paul

Paul

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 06/19/2007 : 07:29:23

You cannot get nitrogen in a solid form and liquid nitrogen is not safe to handle in a boat. Dry ice is the right product for a boat.

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