A question about Ice

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Triton 53
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A question about Ice

Post by Triton 53 »

Something I have been thinking about lately:

Will ice in a cooler last longer if,
1. drain the water once a day
2. leave the drain plug open
3. don't drain until the all the ice is melted.

I have some other deep questions like, why are there more horses rear ends than
there are horses, but those are for another day.

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Re: A question about Ice

Post by Chris Campbell »

I believe that any time you remove cold from the ice box you shorten the life of the ice - so my answer is definitely #3, since the water is cold. Leaving the drain plug out altogether can even give you a place where cold air can drain out, making it much worse (a U-shaped trap would prevent this, and have a little water in it always, of course).

I always have left as much water in the bottom as I could stand - having a low point covered by a tray of some point helps to keep the lowest contents out of the sea of cold water, of course.
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Rachel
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by Rachel »

On the other hand, I have always heard that water conducts temperature more quickly than air, and so it is better to remove the melt water because it will conduct more icy goodness out of the remaining ice than air would (I guess reasoning that the air in the box is equally cold and that the minimal amount of "new" air will adjust efficiently enough to still make air the better medium).

That said, I wouldn't "waste" the meltwater, but would use it for pre-cooling beverages or etc.

I don't know that this is true; it's just what I have heard.

Edited to add: But I do completely agree about not leaving the drain open, since coolers generally just have a straight drain, with no trap.

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Re: A question about Ice

Post by Hirilondë »

I must have gotten my info from the same place as Rachel. I leave my drain open. Another option would be to elevate the ice so that the cold water melt would stay in the ice box, but not speed up the melting by contact with the ice. Donald Street set up a really neat system on Iolaire where he collected the ice melt for drinking. This way he kept if from the ice and made use of it.
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by sscoll »

Once you've filled the cooler with as much ice as you think you'll need, fill it the rest of the way with sawdust as our ancestors once did. Then don't open it again and your ice will last indefinitely.
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by Rachel »

sscoll wrote:... fill it the rest of the way with sawdust as our ancestors once did. Then don't open it again and your ice will last indefinitely.
True, but then you can never get your cold beverages back out ;)
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by sscoll »

Who said anything about cold beverages?
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by earlylight »

No cold beverages? Hardly could be called a "proper yacht".
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by sscoll »

I'm just yanking her chain
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by One Way David »

My grand parents would cut ice from the Missouri river in February and pack it in the "cellar" (dirt root cellar) with straw. They would have ice through August. Might be nasty drinking water by today's standards.
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by sscoll »

Still having ice in Kansas in July packed in bright straw from last year's harvest would be equivalent of a bit of heaven is my guess.
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by Rachel »

Since we're on the subject of ice, I wonder if I might be permitted a wee rant?

So, I was at a semi-local store the other day - it happened to be one at which I had never bought ice, and I had been going to stop someplace else on my way home to get some. Well, the word "block" caught my eye, and so I said "Great - Block ice! Can you tell me if they are real blocks or 'fake blocks'? You know, the ones that are basically a bunch of ice cubes pressed into a square."

"Oh no, they're real blocks; the fishermen love them."

Well, I just about danced a jig right there at the register. Of course I said I wanted one, and then I was just getting so excited about having found a source of real block ice, that I did get a bit effusive, thanking them, and saying how great this was going to be, my icebox was going to love them, just wait till my boating friends heard, etc.

Of course they were fairly subtle about it, and kept their friendly, clerk-like demeanor on the exterior, but you could tell they were thinking "What a loon!"

So I paid and then, with a spring in my step, proceeded out to the ice freezers against the front wall of the store. Visions of clear, cold, solid blocks of ice were dancing in my head as I opened the door. I reached in through the deliciously icy fog and grabbed my prize.... only to find that the freezer was stacked floor to ceiling with..... fake blocks NooOOOOooooo! Talk about crushed.

I dragged back into the store, explained how, yes, they were fake blocks not real ones, and could I please get a partial refund as I might as well get a 16# bag of cubes as an expensive, 10# "square." The clerk who had assured me that the blocks were real, was actually interested - I have to give her credit for that - and said she had to see this, she thought they were real, and could I please show them to her. So we went out and she grabbed a block out of the freezer and of course you could see that it was just a bunch of small cubes half-heartedly pressed into a block shape. She even had the grace to be shocked and disappointed. At least now maybe she didn't think I was a total nut for having been so excited.

Sigh....

I bet a bunch of cubes pressed into a block shape would not have lasted too long in the old, sawdust-packed ice house.

Rachel
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by Tim »

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Re: A question about Ice

Post by sail_fix »

Several years ago, we found that the marinas in our area that used to have real block ice had quit carrying it in favor of cube ice. It seems that 99% of their regular customers were cruisers wanting ice for drinks or fishermen wanting it to chill their catch.
You are right about the difference between clear and "pressed" also.
The clear stuff always was a scarce item.
So, I put in a Frigoboat keel-cooler system and like it a lot. No more lugging 40# of ice back a half mile from some small town store to a guest dock, either.

If block ice (or better yet, the clear version) had stayed readily available like it was in in 80's, we would have stayed with the stock ice box a lot longer.
Lucky for us our boat always had a well-insulated box.

Speaking of modern times...... Having 38 degree beverages, both soft and "hard", waiting any time we visit the boat is REALLY nice.
:)

L
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by John Stone »

I have had the same trouble finding block ice. This is how I solved it. We have a small top loading refer in the garage. I bought a Rubber-Made 2 1/2 gallon plastic wash basin. I fill it with water and set it in the refer. In a day it is block ice. I take it out and drop it in a plastic trash bag and store it in the refer then make another and so on till I have what I need. It would be easier to buy it locally but we don't have it . . . and it's really not that much trouble.
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Re: A question about Ice

Post by JSmith »

that's just what I do in our freezer- I also lay a 10" piece of line draped over the edge with both ends in the water- instant handle to carry your block with- just pull them out of the ice box and reuse after the block melts.
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