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Can you use a coolbox in the water as a fridge?


Tara1234

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Hey so I am soon going to be getting myself a cheap boat. However from what I have researched electrical power is inneffecient. On campsites we have kept stuff cool by putting it in a bucket of water. Would dangling a cool box off the side of the boat be able to keep my dairy and meat products cool enough or will I need to buy a 12v fridge from somewhere?

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omg, you would not put food in the canal water, what are you thinking of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wash your mouth out with neat Dettol .

The water must not be touched as it is very likely to kill you.

In years gone by, I mean before Lidl  coolboxes, and even before there were cigar lighters, we used to caravan: milk was kept in a white box under the van, and we poured water in to a dip in the top, something to do with the Latent Heat of Evaporation. If no fridge, it is best to live on fries for a fortnight than risk pork pies for a day.

In a farm dairy, we used several clay flowerpots which we soaked with water, I can't recall the exact method, that was for butter which went almost liquid in summer.

Edited by ladygardener
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Well if it was a totally rubbish cool-box the water 'might' cool it down a bit, but not to the degree of preventing milk going sour over a day for instance.  A cool box by design either has a vacuum in its sides or insulation.  That vacuum or insulation is going to prevent the water cooling anything except the outer shell of your cool box.

If you are thinking of using a cool-box as a stop gap before you can install a fridge then get one that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. A couple of crocodile clips would allow you to connect it directly to a battery. (of course I assume this battery will be charging from time to time and you wont run it flat using a cool-box over long periods of time).

As has already been said I personally would not put any food or drink I might want to consume anywhere where it might be contaminated by canal water.

Edited by efanton
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2 minutes ago, efanton said:

Well if it was a totally rubbish cool-box the water 'might' cool it down a bit, but not to the degree of preventing milk going sour over a day for instance.  A cool box by design either has a vacuum in its sides or insulation.  That vacuum or insulation is going to prevent the water cooling anything except the outer shell of your cool box.

If you are thinking of using a cool-box as a stop gap before you can install a fridge then get one that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. A couple of crocodile clips would allow you to connect it directly to a battery. (of course I assume this battery will be charging from time to time and you wont run it flat using a cool-box over long periods of time).

As has already been said I personally would not put any food or drink I might want to consume anywhere where it might be contaminated by canal water.

The temperature will be too high anyway, we are not talking about glacier meltwater.

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Just now, ladygardener said:

The temperature will be too high anyway, we are not talking about glacier meltwater.

I know which is why there are apostrophes around the might

I was pointing out the fact that even if the water was capable of cooling anything the insulation in a cool-box would prevent it.

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5 minutes ago, efanton said:

I know which is why there are apostrophes around the might

I was pointing out the fact that even if the water was capable of cooling anything the insulation in a cool-box would prevent it.

I know what you  meant, essentially the water has to be at least 10 degree LOWER than the contents, whereas it is more likely to be higher than the contents when purchased from the chill section of Tesco, with a packet of frozen veg on top to reduce temperature

We might keepfood for 24 hours before consumption is needed, the use by dates assume good storage, so are irrelevant.

Edited by ladygardener
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I've kept milk, bacon, ham and butter in the base of a cupboard on a working boat, there is no insulation and it is below the water line. This has latest 2 or 3 days depending on the weather.

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In the heat of summer, which is when you really need to keep things cool, you might be surprised how warm canal water gets.  

If it was as easy as dunking a container in the canal everyone would be doing it.  

A low consumption 12v fridge will cost £400 upwards depending on size, but you really need to consider getting a solar panel as well unless you plan to cruise every day or you have access to shore power.  

You could try running without a fridge, there are folk who do it but most of us couldn't.    

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56 minutes ago, efanton said:

If you are thinking of using a cool-box as a stop gap before you can install a fridge then get one that plugs into a car cigarette lighter. A couple of crocodile clips would allow you to connect it directly to a battery. (of course I assume this battery will be charging from time to time and you wont run it flat using a cool-box over long periods of time).

One of those "fridges" will flatten a battery very quickly!

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A question could be, could I do with out a fridge? I've done without for a few years, but I rarely cook and buy daily.  Stuff like butter is usually hardest as you can't buy it in small enough quantities.  Milk will usually last a day in summer when kept in a cool enough place.

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When camping we keep stuff cool by buying ice and packing it in with fresh stuff in the cool box. It will melt so wrap stuff you don't want to get wet.

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If cost isn't the issue then 12v fridge and solar in summer is good.  In winter a cool box outside usually keeps stuff good for a while.   It's those in between summer and winter seasons where it's a bit hit a miss.

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We have found that by putting prefrozen iceblocks in the fridge icebox it keeps the fridge cold without using a lot of power, this is great if you are not cruising or charging your batteries for long periods everyday.

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1 hour ago, ladygardener said:

In a farm dairy, we used several clay flowerpots which we soaked with water, I can't recall the exact method, that was for butter which went almost liquid in summer.

2 clay pots one bigger than the other with sand in between, keep the sand damp and a lid on the pots. The evaporation of the water keeps the pots and their contents cool. 

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4 hours ago, Robbo said:

A question could be, could I do with out a fridge? I've done without for a few years, but I rarely cook and buy daily.  Stuff like butter is usually hardest as you can't buy it in small enough quantities.  Milk will usually last a day in summer when kept in a cool enough place.

Why would you keep butter in the fridge? It would indeed be the hardest...

I've been boating a few years without a fridge and here are a few ideas...

Find the coolest place in the boat - this is likely to be below the waterline. That you you get any advantages there might be from the coolness of the water without getting anything wet. Try to insulate this from the warmer places - eg, a bit of polystyrene on the top/between it and where the sun shines.

Insulated boxes are useless unless you actually have a means of cooling them - be that electrical (any cheap - peltier effect - cooling mechanism will eat electricity) or with ice blocks. Without this they'll just keep the heat in.

If you must have fresh milk, buy the filtered sort - it really does keep longer. The logic being that warmth will cause all bacteria to multiply faster, but the fewer you have to start with the longer it will take them to reach critical mass. Same goes for UHT milk. Keep it open as little as possible. We boat with soya milk - it's just easier to store, seems to keep a long time, and is marginallly nicer than UHT cows' milk.

Let the shop be your fridge - only buy meat if you're going to use it that day. Or let the pub store and cook it for you. We never buy raw meat - we'll have it when we eat out but base meals round tinned pulses when cooking on the boat.

Trust your eyes and your nose rather than what it says on the label - whether it's before OR after its date.

Live yogurt doesn't go off - it just gets more yogurty (the yogurt bacteria overwhelm any nasty ones). Pasteurised yogurt will.

Be prepared to use stuff as it needs using and base meals around this rather than having a fixed plan.

Don't dismiss tins - part of the fun of boating is eating stuff you wouldn't have at home. Tinned steak makes a great stew. Or corned beef (if you can't cope without daily meat)

Most stuff doesn't go off, and of the stuff that does, most of it won't kill you, so just minimise the amount of perishable stuff you need to use.

Edited by Chertsey
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14 minutes ago, Chertsey said:

Why would you keep butter in the fridge? It would indeed be the hardest...

Well margarine, does anyone use butter these days?  I use very little if it that when I do get some I end up chucking most of it do I basically do without.

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On 14/05/2017 at 16:37, johnnie1uk said:

We have found that by putting prefrozen iceblocks in the fridge icebox it keeps the fridge cold without using a lot of power, this is great if you are not cruising or charging your batteries for long periods everyday.

 

Errr, may I enquire???

What is the difference between prefrozen iceblocks and, say, just plain frozen iceblocks please? 

In fact this prompts a further question, what is the difference between frozen iceblocks and iceblocks?

Nice beer, this :)

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When milk goes off, leave it in the bottle until it goes a bit solid and then transfer to an old sock, a nylon one. Hang it up over the sink and let it drip and mature. In a few days time you will to be able to enjoy lovely cheezy cream cheese.

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1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Errr, may I enquire???

What is the difference between prefrozen iceblocks and, say, just plain frozen iceblocks please? 

In fact this prompts a further question, what is the difference between frozen iceblocks and iceblocks?

Nice beer, this :)

If we are away from the boat for a few days we freeze the iceblocks in a land freezer, iceblocks until frozen are unfrozen :P

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32 minutes ago, Robbo said:

Well margarine, does anyone use butter these days?  I use very little if it that when I do get some I end up chucking most of it do I basically do without.

Butter sales have increased greatly recently following some health scares about margarine.

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On 14/05/2017 at 21:23, johnnie1uk said:

If we are away from the boat for a few days we freeze the iceblocks in a land freezer, iceblocks until frozen are unfrozen :P

But did you prefreeze them first? 

Or after?

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1 minute ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

But did you prefreeze them first? 

Or after?

before we go back to the boat, so that the boat fridge doesn't have to freeze them because they are already frozen.

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