Approximately what outdoor ambient temperature should I remove drinks from the cooler? Next few weeks in Chicago are going from mid twenties at night to 40 degrees. Is it time to remove my bottled water and juices? It seems pretty insulated in the car. I love keeping the water in the car, it saves me the trouble of taking it in and out multiple times per day.
Frozen drinks in cooler? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Reckless
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I would think that above zero F, you will be fine unless you are leaving the truck outside, without heat, for a prolonged duration. Between the vehicle insulation, plus the cooler's insulation, the water probably will not freeze. Even if it does, it is water... it might crack the bottle, but you probably will not have a mess. Carbonated beverages, on the other hand, will explode when they freeze. It happened in our garage, in WI.
Do NOT leave a case of beer in the truck, cooler or no-cooler, below 10F. I was very lucky to open the rear hatch early in the morning to see 6-8 cans with blown pop-tops...the Husky liner probably saved me from a new rear carpet. 
We had this happened, but with a bottle of champagne that we had previously opened and then re-corked. Driving down the road (honeymoon) and then a very LOUD BANG!!! Champagne ALL OVER the interior of the car! We made sure to drive the speed limit from that point forward to keep from getting pulled over...
Trying to keep this from happening...
"Good day officer." CHP peering into the car..., "So, have we been drinking today?"..., "Uh, no officer. Funny thing happened..."
"GET OUT OF THE CAR!!", all downhill from there...
Trying to keep this from happening...
"Good day officer." CHP peering into the car..., "So, have we been drinking today?"..., "Uh, no officer. Funny thing happened..."
"GET OUT OF THE CAR!!", all downhill from there...
Water freeze at 32F so... anything <32 degrees?
My kids somewhat regularly forget to bring their water bottles into the house. They are metal or hard plastic. If the vehicle sits overnight and the temps are in the 20s, they freeze.
If the overnight low is 30F the water probably has a high enough thermal mass that it won't fully freeze, but a small 16-20oz plastic bottle will definitely freeze if the temps are in the mid 20s ffor 8+ hours. That said I've had several of those plastic bottles freeze and they normally expand. A can of soda (or beer) might suffer a different fate. I assume the cooler box has some insulation in it (typically styrofoam) so it should cool at a slower rate than the rest of the vehicle interior, but it's not going to buy you much time. On the plus side, it's sealed so it's easy cleanup at least.
BTW, water under pressure freezes below ambient freezing temp. I have seen this by leaving a Nalgene bottle outside while camping. The water was unfrozen when we got up and then froze immediately when I opened the lid.
Cool watching it, but was very unhelpful when I was thirsty. With that said, the freeze point varies based upon both temperature and pressure.
Cool watching it, but was very unhelpful when I was thirsty. With that said, the freeze point varies based upon both temperature and pressure.
- Thread starter
- #7
Yeah that is what I was figuring. It would have been nice to leave drinks in the car and not have to worry about it.
Markuson
SILVER Star
I wonder to what degree a fridge (ARB or Engel, etc) could regulate temps DOWNWARD. If it's a daily driver with dual batteries, if should be no problem leaving a fridge on 24/7... Curious.
Markuson
SILVER Star
Oops! Typo. I meant temps upward...as in, helping to prevent freezing.
Nope, they only cool. No heater option.
EDIT:
Just to be clear, the fridges on the market have the ability to control DOWN to a setpoint and maintain cooling to that setpoint, but once they reach or exceed the setpoint, the compressor turns off, saving power and not pushing the temps below the setpoint.
With that said, if the internal temp is below the setpoint, the unit will not cycle, but is "happy" because the controller is not calling for the compressor to turn on. The fridge's controller will then be happy all of the way down to 0 deg. K. Yep, absolute 0. Then everything falls apart, so no longer happy.
This is a technical instance, where the Earth has moved out of orbit with the Sun, so nobody is happy.
EDIT:
Just to be clear, the fridges on the market have the ability to control DOWN to a setpoint and maintain cooling to that setpoint, but once they reach or exceed the setpoint, the compressor turns off, saving power and not pushing the temps below the setpoint.
With that said, if the internal temp is below the setpoint, the unit will not cycle, but is "happy" because the controller is not calling for the compressor to turn on. The fridge's controller will then be happy all of the way down to 0 deg. K. Yep, absolute 0. Then everything falls apart, so no longer happy.
This is a technical instance, where the Earth has moved out of orbit with the Sun, so nobody is happy.
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