Propane powered coolers?

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:40 am

Do Propane powered coolers really exist? I been trolling the 'net and I have found nothing, but I swear I saw one in a store once.

juanicoheal · Post by **juanicoheal** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 10:43 am

I'm sure they must, since my RV refrigerator runs on propane.

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:00 am

juanicoheal wrote:I'm sure they must, since my RV refrigerator runs on propane.

But I mean portable, like a Colement 96 qt cooler, but kept cool with Propane.

III · Post by **III** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:01 am

they do. they run a couple hundred bucks, and don't have a huge amount of storage space, but they are out there. the one person i know who got one swears by it, but she's also prone to, um, unique choices in other things so what works for her may not work for everyone else.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:22 pm

I was curious about this myself. A friend purchased one last year and loves it. I went camping with him a few months ago and we used it. Worked great, however it the outside temperature never got above 75 degrees, but he reports that it works just as well on the playa. The only draw backs that I can see is the cost (about $400), the size (rather a large item, but no problem if you own a van or truck), and I don't think (just a guess, I'm still researching this), that you can't use it in conjuction with ice, so if you need ice (like for your chai tea) you're going to have to bring along yet another cooler anyway.

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 12:54 pm

I don't see how it could that much more expensive or larger than the eletrical ones. I saw a 12 volt (Plugs into your cars cig lighter) for about $80 and in my mind, it should not cost more than $100 for the propane, unless propane is a real pain in the ass to use.

PS> Start printing the name of the products too.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 2:13 pm

Those 12 volt plug into the cig lighter ones don't really keep stuff "cold" especially when it's 110 degrees outside. Also most ot them wouldn't hold a weeks worth of food, not to mention the fact that unless you had some means of charging the battery (i.e. solar panel, wind generator, gas gennie) it would kill your battery long before the week was up. Also, (and I'm positive about this one), you can't add ice to them.

I've been thinking of buying the Dometic 3 way power fridge
http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus ... unum=17919

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 4:32 pm

Chai Guy wrote: I've been thinking of buying the Dometic 3 way power fridge
http://www.campingworld.com/browse/skus ... unum=17919

Very cool. The neat thing is that you can connect it to a large propane tank with a pressure regulator and forget about it.

The only problem I see is that is only 36 quarts. Too small, in other words.

juanicoheal · Post by **juanicoheal** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:48 pm

Too small, in other words.

Would you need it for everything though? I'm thinkin' it would be great for the late-week stuff. Maybe use a 3 cooler system: beer cooler/colder cooler/porta-fridge.

Thanks for the link Chai!

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 6:00 pm

Here’s a link to several different models including kerosene and Lp power:

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemID= ... C810%2C816

Check out the main site if you’re interested in other off grid, Amish livin’ type things. Great stuff...

If for some reason this link doesn’t work, go to the root site and click on Appliances. You should find it in short order.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 6:21 pm

One thing that may merit some investigation for these freezers is how much fuel they consume. My forge is propane powered and I have to use the 100 lb tanks. The 20 lb jobbies freeze up. The big guys get a nice, frosty ice layer on them (especially during the hot summer months) but have never given any freeze up problems. I should also note that my forge is pretty efficient... runs about 5 days, (+/-6 hour firing time/day) before running out.

Chai said his friend used on the playa and it worked fine, though I didn’t catch how big the model in question was. I imagine that the smaller one is designed to work on a small tank, but the bigger freezers might consume considerably more fuel. It would suck to cart it and your stuff all the way out there to have it freeze the valve up the first day. Anyone with any personal experience able to chime in here?

ChaiGuy? Didn’t you post a link to the guy with a jet engine powered beer cooler? Man... that was great. If you put up a large piece of propane fueled fire art, your getting a lot of free cold to make use. Just a somewhat related thought.

Meow

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 6:32 pm

My friend's cooler (which is the same model pictured in my link) consumes about 1 small green propane bottle (I guess you would call it the "lantern" size?) 24 to 36 hours, which dosen't seem that bad to me. It will run on any size tank, he also hooks it up to the tank on his 79 VW bus. We didn't have any problems with anything freezing up on our trip.

For those curious here is the Jet Engine powered beer cooler.
http://www.asciimation.co.nz/beer/

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 1:28 pm

juanicoheal wrote:
Too small, in other words.
Would you need it for everything though? I'm thinkin' it would be great for the late-week stuff. Maybe use a 3 cooler system: beer cooler/colder cooler/porta-fridge.

Hmmm...I think you are right. I plan to go by myself, so I would just need this and another cooler.

What I thinking is to get a real good 96qt cooler and just put a bunch of Dry Ice in it. That way, it will last for 5 or 6 days and keep my stuff cold. I plan to go in Food Style; Steaks, bacon, Fresh veggies and all the other things that make life worth living. Also, COLD beer.

Bob A · Post by **Bob A** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 8:23 pm

MrMullen wrote: What I thinking is to get a real good 96qt cooler and just put a bunch of Dry Ice in it. That way, it will last for 5 or 6 days and keep my stuff cold. I plan to go in Food Style; Steaks, bacon, Fresh veggies and all the other things that make life worth living. Also, COLD beer.

Just remember with dry ice the food will be deep-frozen and you don't want the dry ice to touch the food. Also The more you go into it the faster the dry ice will evaporate. Most people talk about keeping the dry ice cooler for storage and then moving stuff every few days to a regular cooler so they only go into the dry ice cooler once every few days. You can even keep regular ice in the dry ice cooler as long as water does not get on the dry ice. The propane cooler could work well for the daily part of this equation.

Bob A

MrMullen · Post by **MrMullen** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 8:35 am

Bob A wrote:
MrMullen wrote: What I thinking is to get a real good 96qt cooler and just put a bunch of Dry Ice in it. That way, it will last for 5 or 6 days and keep my stuff cold. I plan to go in Food Style; Steaks, bacon, Fresh veggies and all the other things that make life worth living. Also, COLD beer.
Just remember with dry ice the food will be deep-frozen and you don't want the dry ice to touch the food. Also The more you go into it the faster the dry ice will evaporate. Most people talk about keeping the dry ice cooler for storage and then moving stuff every few days to a regular cooler so they only go into the dry ice cooler once every few days. You can even keep regular ice in the dry ice cooler as long as water does not get on the dry ice. The propane cooler could work well for the daily part of this equation.

Bob A

Yes, but I plan to layer it. Dry Ice will freeze what every is on on it, or very near it. I would keep frozen steacs and chicken very near the Dry Ice and then have another layer (Cardboard seperators?) that would have something else, then another layer with another seperator with something else.

A Propane Powered Cooler and a regular cooler with Ice might be a better combo. So many choices.

polzicons · Post by **polzicons** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 9:17 pm

I bought a big Igloo cooler/warmer with wall plug and cigarette lighter adaptor a couple years back and I'ts been in the bottom of my pile ever since! MAYBE it would keep cold thing cool a little longer than nothing, and keep hot food luke warm, but for any type of roadtripping or camping it's completely worthless! If I bring it to BRC it will be filled with good old fashioned ice blocks! For smaller groups (1-5) the old Coleman or Thermos cooler works just fine. Freeze and/or vacuume pack your meats, place in your best cooler with dry ice. Take out only 2 days worth of victuals at a time and place in your block ice-filled cooler (with the cheese, butter, leftovers, etc.) In the 3rd cooler have cubed ice and refill daily. This keeps your drinks ice cold and the stuff you need to get at most often accessable. *Remember* Always practice good cooler management and you'll never have to scoop bloated bread mush, trim soggy cheese, or eat cross-contaminated meat!
IMHO you probably don't NEED a propane powered cooler, but it would be really cool. Think you'd have space for my deviled eggs?

-POL

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 10:04 am

If I bring it to BRC it will be filled with good old fashioned ice blocks!

Just remember that if you add ice to an electrical cooler bad things may happen.

Das Bus · Post by **Das Bus** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 4:09 pm

Every year, I plan to take our 3-way fridge, but never have. It just seems like a pain in the ass. I put it on my list for this year, but have already crossed it off.

To me, the 3 cooler system works best. One for frozen meats, one with block ice to keep perishables cool, and one to keep beer/water ice cold.

Propane powered coolers?

Propane powered coolers?

I think so...

Re: I think so...

I dont see.