Another tip is to prefreeze your cooler. Depending on time of year you can leave it outside or in the garage the night before depending on time of year. I've also filled it with frozen water bottles and ice packs overnight and left them at home as I pack more frozen water bottles and icepacks in for the trip. Alot of people just grab it out of a hot attic and throw ice in it and wonder why all their ice melted before they left town.
I did the same to my coleman 50qt extream. But i take it one step forward. I put Styrofoam board inside the buttom of the insert you created and above it i put the aluminum cover. On top of the cooler in the inside i put another Styrofoam cover with the foil. So now the sealing is perfect.
That’s a good upgrade. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m getting some fungus smell in there even though nominally it should be dry. (Water kept in closed containers). I’m guessing it’s condensation that’s dripping then forming pools between the reflectix and the plastic at the bottom.
Radiant barrier this is what I have been talking about I know it will work better than just a cooler plain out. Also a key is to leave air between things if you pack it solid it will not cool as well unless what your packing is rock solid ice ice cold
Yeah also I went out of my way to keep it reversible back to the original. If you want it even better it could be possible to drill holes in the lid and insert some spray foam in it but I didn’t want irreversible modifications.
I plan on doing the spray foam lid, reflectix inside, also considering XPS blue/pink 2” insulation cut piece under it where it is sitting, maybe another very loose reflectix cover over the whole cooler like a cover on a gas grill to just toss off.
Good job, this brand of cool box is no good, they are cheats. However, I cut up car screens to size, then pulled apart the cool box and put the screen pieces in the hollow parts, then snapped the parts together again. At least 50% improvement! If you forget your cool box, wrapping cold/frozen food/drink in a car screen keeps it cool quite efficiently.
Thanks for sharing this hack! I can't wait to upgrade my cheapo cooler with your method. May I ask what kind of tape u used to adhere the reflective? Are those cold and wet resistant tape?
it's reflectix brand metal tape. It seems to hold up well even if it gets wet, and it is meant for home use to install reflectix in your attic or walls as insulation. I assume it was engineered with typical home wall and attic moisture levels in mind, but here I use it without issue in the cooler. Yes it did get wet several times and it held up and it still holds up now. I did notice I had to "touch it up" now and then, that is repress it against the walls to reattach it (in a few spots that were the same spots each time), but that was more likely from my not attaching it well in the first place and not wiping and cleaning the walls of the cooler first with rubbing alcohol. (something I would strongly recommend and something I did NOT do, mistakenly, in this build.)
@@miikkakangas6750 Thank you so much for the prompt reply! I will find the tape at my local HW stores and/or Amazon. My cooler is a lot cheaper than yours but hate to discard it. Will keep you posted once I upgrade and test it out in the next few days. I am also planning to add gasket and door latches as some other utubers suggested.
drill holes in the sides and top and put spray foam insulation in the airspaces...then put that on the inside and you might have close to a yeti...but i doubt it
Another tip is to prefreeze your cooler. Depending on time of year you can leave it outside or in the garage the night before depending on time of year. I've also filled it with frozen water bottles and ice packs overnight and left them at home as I pack more frozen water bottles and icepacks in for the trip. Alot of people just grab it out of a hot attic and throw ice in it and wonder why all their ice melted before they left town.
Common sense isn’t so common anymore, I guess LOL
I did the same to my coleman 50qt extream. But i take it one step forward. I put Styrofoam board inside the buttom of the insert you created and above it i put the aluminum cover. On top of the cooler in the inside i put another Styrofoam cover with the foil. So now the sealing is perfect.
That’s a good upgrade. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’m getting some fungus smell in there even though nominally it should be dry. (Water kept in closed containers). I’m guessing it’s condensation that’s dripping then forming pools between the reflectix and the plastic at the bottom.
Radiant barrier this is what I have been talking about I know it will work better than just a cooler plain out. Also a key is to leave air between things if you pack it solid it will not cool as well unless what your packing is rock solid ice ice cold
Yeah also I went out of my way to keep it reversible back to the original. If you want it even better it could be possible to drill holes in the lid and insert some spray foam in it but I didn’t want irreversible modifications.
I plan on doing the spray foam lid, reflectix inside, also considering XPS blue/pink 2” insulation cut piece under it where it is sitting, maybe another very loose reflectix cover over the whole cooler like a cover on a gas grill to just toss off.
Good job, this brand of cool box is no good, they are cheats. However, I cut up car screens to size, then pulled apart the cool box and put the screen pieces in the hollow parts, then snapped the parts together again. At least 50% improvement! If you forget your cool box, wrapping cold/frozen food/drink in a car screen keeps it cool quite efficiently.
Thanks for sharing this hack! I can't wait to upgrade my cheapo cooler with your method. May I ask what kind of tape u used to adhere the reflective? Are those cold and wet resistant tape?
it's reflectix brand metal tape. It seems to hold up well even if it gets wet, and it is meant for home use to install reflectix in your attic or walls as insulation. I assume it was engineered with typical home wall and attic moisture levels in mind, but here I use it without issue in the cooler. Yes it did get wet several times and it held up and it still holds up now. I did notice I had to "touch it up" now and then, that is repress it against the walls to reattach it (in a few spots that were the same spots each time), but that was more likely from my not attaching it well in the first place and not wiping and cleaning the walls of the cooler first with rubbing alcohol. (something I would strongly recommend and something I did NOT do, mistakenly, in this build.)
@@miikkakangas6750 Thank you so much for the prompt reply! I will find the tape at my local HW stores and/or Amazon. My cooler is a lot cheaper than yours but hate to discard it. Will keep you posted once I upgrade and test it out in the next few days. I am also planning to add gasket and door latches as some other utubers suggested.
Nice idea I’ll have to try it asap
Is that tape waterproof?
What kind of tape is that and did you see a difference?
It’s metal tape meant for radiant barrier insulation
drill holes in the sides and top and put spray foam insulation in the airspaces...then put that on the inside and you might have close to a yeti...but i doubt it