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Topic: Not Impressed with my IceyTek Coolbox

AmyM

02/8/2013 at 4:33pm
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Hi,

I bought a 25 litre iceytek coolbox in 2011, this is the second summer we've used it for our main holiday (10 days away) and I don't think its that great.

I precool the box with a few old milk bottles full of frozen water (3 pints). We then filled it with chilled food, an icey tek ice pack and a couple of other frozen icepacks. As we use food we fill the space with some bubble wrap. We only opened it 2-3 times a day at most.

It was hot while we were away (25-30 C), but even with buying 3kg of frozen ice daily, it melted within 24 hours. Obviously this got expensive, I didn't have a thermometer, the butter was still hard, so it was under 16 C but obviously above 4 C or the frozen ice wouldn't have melted.

Does this sound right? Do you have an icey tek? Do you need to buy ice daily to keep things cold? Am I expecting too much?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
Amy

Mucker1884

02/8/2013 at 5:04pm
Location: Derby.
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From what I've heard of the Icy Teks, Amy, no, I don't think you are asking too much, and it seems something is amiss, to put it mildly!!

I have a Coleman Xtreme, which I personally would describe as "one step down from an Icy Tek".... and I get much better results.

Admittedly, I pre cool for at least 48 hours, as the first few loads thaw fairly quickly, but by the morning of our intended loading up and departure, you can literally feel the icy blast when you open the lid.
After that, load it with as much frozen drink and whatever foodstuff you have, and fill all the gaps with frozen bottles/ice packs. Keep it as full as possible at all times, open it as little as possible, and don't pour away any thawed water that may be in the bottom...... very cold water will simply be replaced with warm air, basically!!

With the above, mine will go at least 4 days without needing any ice adding or ice packs replacing. I was under the impression that the Icy Tek was a little better than mine (and reflected in the price), so, I'd suggest a little longer in the prep work?

I hate to say it, but I presume you are closing the lid properly? I'm forever checking ours, as Muckerette can be a little ditzy at times..... and I just don't trust her to close it properly!!

Mucker
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jayner

02/8/2013 at 5:26pm
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I love my Icey Tek and it's performed really well in hot weather including France. I also start pre cooling 2 days before a trip. If going away for more than a weekend I use 1 and a 1/2 Icey Tek blocks as well as freezing whatever food I can.

The customer service is excellent, maybe drop them an e-mail and they may be able to make some suggestions.

Tidburyboy

02/8/2013 at 5:46pm
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Agree with Mucker. I have an Igloo Maxcool similar to Muckers Coleman ie a "5 day" box. I didn't bother to pre chill last use. Avg daytime tempo were 28C + or so, the box was kept in the shade and it kept the food and more importantly the beer PROPER cold for the full 5 days. In fact the ice blocks at the bottom were still semi fredo. We did change the blocks at the top a few times.

AmyM

02/8/2013 at 6:17pm
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Hmmm, I wonder if there is a way to test if it is leaking heat (or cold! my physics isn't up to much)? It's over a year old so out of warranty now I'm afraid. We only really use it in the warm once a year. I thought last year might have been a blip, but this year was no better.

I do prechill for at least 24 hours, but I don't think prechilling for longer will make much odds. Thanks for the replies though.

jayner

02/8/2013 at 6:22pm
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The ladies at Icey Tek are great, even out of warranty I'm sure they would help solve your problem.

Mucker1884

02/8/2013 at 6:53pm
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Quote: Originally posted by AmyM on 02/8/2013
....I do prechill for at least 24 hours, but I don't think prechilling for longer will make much odds. Thanks for the replies though.

It depends whether you replace your ice blocks within that 24 hours. I find that the first lot start thawing after just a few hours, as the cool box starts of in the 20's. As soon as they start thawing, replace them, and wipe the inside of the box dry with kitchen roll. Each replacement batch will stay frozen longer.
By the time I get around to loading mine up to go, mid morning, the frozen bottles/ice packs that went in the night before are still frozen solid, (but I still replace them again, at this stage, with "fresh" ones) and the inside of the box is dry..... because everything is "proper frozen".

Mucker
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jthunders

02/8/2013 at 9:25pm
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I've a 25l Icey Tek and I'm always v impressed. Mine's from about 2007 so don't know if design has changed.

We tend to keep chilled stuff in it to a minimum (cheese/sliced meats/milk/butter), and stock it with lots of frozen meat for making meals. No special ice-packs, just a few kgs of ice cubes that are used for cocktails too - so gradually disappear anyway. We stopped pre-chilling once it seemed fairly pointless as had no complaints about performance that matched the specs.

In this heat I'd fully expect to be drinking icy cocktails 5 days after first packing - assuming basic coolbox etiquette followed (without being ocd about it). Cubes will be swimming in very very cold water but the coolbox would still be doing its job. On a 12-day campervan trip in slightly less heat than recently, we had to top up with ice cubes once, after about seven days.

I think you maybe need to be colder at the off. More frozen things in perhaps - be it packs, cubes or food. Ensure you manage the heat on the outside of the box too. Damp towel over is our usual method in really hot weather but rarely resort.

chappers2341

02/8/2013 at 10:41pm
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I have an Icey tek and we kept crushed ice and fish fillets for 10 days before on a trip to Alderney opening the box just once a day, to add fillets, we drained the water each day and repacked the ice. I would estimate we had half the ice still intact after that time.

I would say there is something at fault with your box, even during the hottest weather we had at the begining of July we were only topping up with a bag of ice every few days.

I have had quite a few cool boxes including a coleman that I still use and none of them have been a patch on the icey tek

feeblecat

03/8/2013 at 8:01am
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I cant rave enough about our igloo maxcold, really does keep our stuff frozen (in normal UK temps), cold (in 30 degrees) for days without having to change blocks.

I will say that last fortnight in Aviemore when it was the hottest place in the UK that I found bags of ice to be much less efficient (melted quicker but still kept food and beer very cold) than frozen bottles of water (which kept frozen for much longer). For me I would only use bags of ice when there isnt a freeze-block facility on site.

AmyM

03/8/2013 at 12:47pm
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Thanks, yes frozen bottles are better than cubes,but we couldn't refreeze the blocks so we were relying on supermarket ice.

It is nice that the weather is too hot to keep ice, but I think I will try a different brand of coolbox maybe I've just been unlucky.

Leon08

03/8/2013 at 2:14pm
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Just to add, we stopped using the small ice blocks and now we use frozen bottles in our Igloo Maxcold 70 as well and found they last longer, when we use ours for the 4 days we are at Leeds Festival it does the job very well and an added bonus is nice cold water when the bottles start to melt.

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