Dry Ice in Icebox

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Jaqun

During extended trips we use Ice Cubes in our Icebox and we go through them quickly. block Ice seems to be very hard to come by. Has anybody used dry ice in there icebox? Does it work well? Any problem with carbon dioxide gas?
Thanks

Be careful what you leave in contact or proximity with the stuff. It will freeze plastic hard enough to make it brittle. Frozen stuff, -40F, will take a long time to thaw but can be used in your drinks cooler if you are careful.

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Minnesail

Dry ice is great. You don't have to be quite and cautious with it as some people are suggesting. Any thin glove or washcloth is fine for handling. Bare hands are fine too as long as they're dry and the contact is brief.

For a fun trick put a small piece in your mouth. As long as you bounce it around on your tongue it won't stick, and you exhale steam. Dragon!

I've only used it in situations where the whole cooler was full of frozen stuff. Too cold for stuff you want above 32ºF.

I have a hard time imagining it sublimating fast enough for the CO2 to build up and be an issue.

Walk into a bar with a small piece in your jacket pocket and order a mug of draft. When nobody is looking, drop it in the beer. And it is true, a brief contact with dry hands will not be a problem. Been there, done that. Anyway then the beer will begin to smoke like one of Grandpa Munster's experiments. Really cool. Oh, don't swallow it. It will sink at first but after about 15 minutes it will develop a shell of water ice around it, and float. Would suck to swallow it, I think. Not been there, not tried that, don't even have the tshirt. But if you do, please report back with your experience.

[Nicholson58]

PUT A PIECE IN YOUR MOUTH?!

What’s the last thing a Youper says before death?, “Hold my beer while I show you sump’n”

Old enough to know better.

[Caliber40]

Originally Posted by Windy Patrick

Safety Note - Obviously Dry ice emits carbon dioxide. if the cabin becomes warm and the ice is sublimating aggressively it could fill a well sealed cabin with CO2 and harm the occupants.

I believe Paine Stewart was lost in his Learjet due to this.

Keep dry ice in a vented space.

No Paine Stewart did not die from dry ice sublimation.....and the chances of enough dry ice accumulating in a cabin, especially considering how slowly it gases off, is next to impossible. 10 Lbs of dry ice gases off approx. 80 CF of CO2....hardly enuf to kill anyone especially given the time it takes to sublimate in a fridge, even a poorly insulated one.

[Minnesail]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

PUT A PIECE IN YOUR MOUTH?!

What’s the last thing a Youper says before death?, “Hold my beer while I show you sump’n”

Old enough to know better.

I didn't say it was a good idea, I just said that I've done it...

"Hold my beer, I'm going to try something. I saw it in a cartoon once and I'm pretty sure it'll work."

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Caliber40

No Paine Stewart did not die from dry ice sublimation.....and the chances of enough dry ice accumulating in a cabin, especially considering how slowly it gases off, is next to impossible. 10 Lbs of dry ice gases off approx. 80 CF of CO2....hardly enuf to kill anyone especially given the time it takes to sublimate in a fridge, even a poorly insulated one.

I agree! If CO2 outgassing was an issue there would be hundreds of dead ice house Workers where hundreds of pounds is stored. I don’t know about your boat but mine is drafty as heck.

[Pirate PTG]

Unless you have your boat pressure sealed like an airliner, using dry ice shouldn't be any problem. I seriously laugh at this idea just in general...

I'm in Central Florida. Our church group does a week-long kids camp a couple times a year in the Ocala forest. All tent camping, no cushy buildings. We have two of the big honkin' Igloo "coffin coolers"... Don't know how many quarts, but they are about 2x5'. Each one gets a double layer of cardboard, four 10-pound blocks of dry ice, and another double layer of cardboard. We open and close those coolers all during the days while preparing dinners for our "staff kitchen". We routinely get the dry ice on Monday morning and switch to water-based ice on Saturday, if needed, just to carry the last couple of days. Sunday afternoon we pack out. That's five to six days in the Florida sun, not even thinking of any "cooler awareness"... Open and close whenever needed/wanted... Would think you could better that on board a boat using an "only open when absolutely needed" kinda protocol...

Be aware, we found out the hard way, if you use dry ice, use some thick-ish cardboard to protect your cooler. We were first told to just wrap the blocks in newspaper. That doesn't get it... Dry ice will freeze and crack the plastic. Use some cardboard to protect your food, too! All you need is a couple of layers from a packing box, 1/4 inch or so.

[DreamWeaver III]

The trick with dry ice is insulation and sealed fridge. Dry ice evaporates as it is only compressed carbon dioxide, so it is important to stop any airflow that causes it to evaporate quicker. another thing to realise is it is -78degrees C so if your icebox or fridge is not designed to operate at those temperatures it can cause damage to a cooling system

[hirondeller]

Here is an interesting story related to dry ice use for foods in fridge (foreshadowing: you really do have to vent the container):


In college I purchased a whole 60lb pig for an upcoming pig roast. Unfortunately, a misunderstanding caused me to take delivery of a cooled, but unfrozen, pig one weekend in advance. A friend offered me his lightly used apartment fridge. We removed the wire racks and I bought a 25lb block of dry ice and placed it at the bottom of the fridge then stuffed in the pig. It ended up 'standing up' with the head near the top freezer compartment. It worked great! The pig quickly froze. We were all set for the pig roast the following weekend. Around 2 am Tuesday night, my friend was suddenly awoken by a tremendous crash inside his apartment. He was terrified and tentatively headed for the kitchen, (where he could see a faint light that some intruder had turned on). He procured a baseball bat in case he had to fend off the intruder. There wasn't one. It turned out that the fridge's door gasket had initially held back the rising carbon dioxide gas pressure, but at some point the fridge door blew open and the frozen pig fell out and skidded across the kitchen floor; the faint light was just the fridge light coming on.


Lesson? As stated here before, don't use a gas tight container, vent 'slightly' when using dry ice. I think that in a very small enclosed space like a small boat cabin a 25lb block of dry ice might be dangerous when completely converted to gas; the final warning sign will be 'feelings of asphyxiation and gasping (hyperventilation).

[Ondemon]

I as well have cruised two weeks on my little 25 Catalina swing keel anchoring in the Bahamas, freezing all food and layering up dry ice between the layers of meat to poultry in my cold box. Keeping cubes was anther story as they were on top