Dry Ice in Cooler In Van

[jmvar]

Hi, we usually camp where we are never father than 10 min. from a place where we can buy ice.

For this trip we are going to Cape Lookout NC and would like to have the ice last longer and I am considering dry ice along with we ice for the trip.

My concern is that we keep the coolers in the van and have a 7 hour drive to the ferry, the ferry ride, then driving around to find the camp spot.

I would rather not drive the entire time with a window down to deal with the off gassing of the dry ice. Would keeping the windows up and pulling outside air via the AC be enough? Vehicle is a chevrolet express passenger van.

 

[BLand Cruiser]

I have no experience with this so I’m open to other opinions. I would do it.

That being said, I’ve been told that this will freeze everything solid. How long will you be away from a source for ice and what kind of cooler?

 

[jmvar]

I have no experience with this so I’m open to other opinions. I would do it.

That being said, I’ve been told that this will freeze everything solid. How long will you be away from a source for ice and what kind of cooler?

Yes without the proper precautions it will freeze everything. With a little planning and forethought it won't. I am running a test now in the back yard. I wrapped the blocks of dry ice in paper bags, and put wet ice on top of the dry ice. I put a towel down on top of the wet ice and then water bottles on top of the towel. Nothing frozen so far, but in the hot sun I can tell the food that will be at the very top will not be cooled enough. This is with a costco Igloo cooler, nothing fancy.

I thought about borrowing a hitch rack and putting the cooler on that but this experiment has shown me that with the cooler in the sun, I run the risk of the food on top not getting cooled enough.

 

[Todd n Natalie]

When I think of dry ice, I think of it as a halloween prop for fog.
Then when I picture it in a van I get this image in my head:

 

[Mike McMullen]

I use dry ice regularly, I dry camp and can put ice in you cocktail for 12 days. It put blocks and proteins in a separate super chest with the dry ice on top wrapped in a unsealed trash bag. All the other food goes in a different chest. I only open the dry ice once a day to pull blocks and proteins. It takes a full day to defrost. I use wet towels over the chest to help keep them cool.

 

[WVI]

You need that ventilation.

 

[Alloy]

How about a 12V cooler?

 

[Jupiter58]

I just went through the same thought process for my wrangler and just being stubborn about not getting a 12v fridge/freezer.
Like what was said, separate coolers for protein and other.
I do not own a’supercooler’ so for the price of entry I just broke down and bought a 37l bougerv fridge-freezer. I will be constantly on the move so run on vehicle by day and off power pack at night.
In your case a small solar panel and a pass through power station and no more worries ever.

But if this is a one time deal just crack a window slightly or switch the ac to dream outside air.
Or buy a canary.