Adding salt to an ice chest??

[rivermobster]

So someone told me they added salt to their ice chest to make the ice last longer.

WTF?

Salt melts ice! So how could that possibly work??

It can if you add it to the right place in your ice chest! Took me awhile to find this article, but it's a good explanation of what to do.

You definitely don't add it to the ice!

How To Keep Ice From Melting Using Salt: It's Not How You'd Think

Many people know that salt can be used to lower the temperature of ice, making your coolers colder, but how do you keep ice from melting by using salt? Hint: It’s NOT by adding salt directly onto your ice. If you directly add salt onto your ice it will make the majority of your ice […]

huntingwaterfalls.com

 

[Shlbyntro]

it doesnt make the ice last longer but it does accelerate the heat transfer to the stuff in the cooler (ie makes your drinks colder with the same amount of ice) the side effect being that the ice melts faster

did you ever make homemade icecream as a kid?

 

[ltbaney1]

makes sense, a lot of fishing boats are using RSW (recirculating salt water) systems for keeping fish multiple days. snippet below from one of my favorite fishing boats.

The Vagabond incorporates a Refrigerated Salt Water (RSW) System. There are two fish holds on the boat, one in the bow and another in the stern. These holds spray 30 degree chilled water on and around your fish.

 

[RogerThat99]

I put Rock Salt in a cooler once to quickly cool off room temp bottles of beer. The damned beers got a frozen plug in the neck in about 15-20 minutes. Still couldn't drink them. LOL.

 

[pronstar]

TIL…

Here's How Salt Melts Ice

Salt melts ice essentially because adding salt lowers the freezing point of the water. How does this melt ice? Here's what happens.

www.thoughtco.com

 

[4Waters]

I put Rock Salt in a cooler once to quickly cool off room temp bottles of beer. The damned beers got a frozen plug in the neck in about 15-20 minutes. Still couldn't drink them. LOL.

it doesnt make the ice last longer but it does accelerate the heat transfer to the stuff in the cooler (ie makes your drinks colder with the same amount of ice) the side effect being that the ice melts faster

did you ever make homemade icecream as a kid?

Mythbusters did an episode on the fastest way to cool beers in an ice chest. Salt and ice was the second fastest, a CO2 fire extinguisher was the fastest

 

[retaocleg]

it doesnt make the ice last longer, it melts the ice and gives more ice water to surround the beverages, more surface areas.............

 

[DLC]

16 oz screw tops solves the frozen bottle neck!

Unless you go all crazy and forget about em in the freezer….

 

[Nordie]

Salt and melting ice = does a plane take off on a treadmill

 

[coolchange]

You never used salt to freeze a water glass to the table at Bob’s Big Boy?

 

[dread Pirate]

We race with a fisherman who always has saltwater ice in his large fish coolers. Keeps stuff cold!! Seems to last too?

He got me good one night partying after hours. Ran out of ice for my rum & coke. He said grab some out of the cooler in my truck. Proceeded to make my cocktail, but that first sip,,,,, My god they laughed their ass off.

 

[Mr. C]

it doesnt make the ice last longer but it does accelerate the heat transfer to the stuff in the cooler (ie makes your drinks colder with the same amount of ice) the side effect being that the ice melts faster

did you ever make homemade icecream as a kid?

The good old days home made ice cream

Now the salt is added to ice/water in the champagne bucket Nothing worse than semi cold champagne

 

[pronstar]

it doesnt make the ice last longer, it melts the ice and gives more ice water to surround the beverages, more surface areas.............

…and also lowers the freeze point, so the water around your bottles can theoretically be much colder than 32 degrees

At least that’s what the article I posted says…I’m not a water expert LOL

 

[Desert Whaler]

I freeze a bunch of small saltwater bottles & throw them in the bottom of my cooler . . Then throw regular ice on top of that.
Ice lasts way longer.

 

[Shlbyntro]

…and also lowers the freeze point, so the water around your bottles can theoretically be much colder than 32 degrees

At least that’s what the article I posted says…I’m not a water expert LOL

fun fact,

0° Fahrenheit is the lowest freezing point that the scientist (who the system is named for) could get water to remain liquid at by testing different combinations and densities of salt water. 100° F was the hottest natural resting body temperature he found in a study of several mammals.

 

[Sharky]

Thanks for the link/article river mobster!!

Gonna have to try the frozen salt water bottles next trip

 

[Racey]

Mythbusters did an episode on the fastest way to cool beers in an ice chest. Salt and ice was the second fastest, a CO2 fire extinguisher was the fastest

Bill Dunsmore Senior (Race Aero and Gentry) was stationed in the Pacific Theater after piloting a landing boat on Normandy. After they beat the japs they spent a lot of R and R time in Pacific islands but very little ice, he said they would float 55 gallon drums of AV gas onto the beach, open the tops all the way, dump hundreds of beer cans into the gasoline, then run a hose from an air compressor down into the fuel, and the evaporation of the fuel would get the beers so cold they would freeze.

 

[lbhsbz]

I put Rock Salt in a cooler once to quickly cool off room temp bottles of beer. The damned beers got a frozen plug in the neck in about 15-20 minutes. Still couldn't drink them. LOL.

here's how it's done....

 

[rivermobster]

Bill Dunsmore Senior (Race Aero and Gentry) was stationed in the Pacific Theater after piloting a landing boat on Normandy. After they beat the japs they spent a lot of R and R time in Pacific islands but very little ice, he said they would float 55 gallon drums of AV gas onto the beach, open the tops all the way, dump hundreds of beer cans into the gasoline, then run a hose from an air compressor down into the fuel, and the evaporation of the fuel would get the beers so cold they would freeze.

Sounds...

Tasty!