Cool box for temperature sensitive confectionary

[reciloy]

Recently my stored chocolates began to plateau, or collect at one end, as the heat reached its peak this summer. To avoid a repeat of this (as the summer is not yet over) I was hoping that an insulated picnic cool box (passive operation) would be sufficient to maintain an environment that avoided the extremes of temperature changes:

https://www.argos.co.uk/search/cool-box ... m:cool+box

Can anybody vouch for this approach please.

[Yorkshire Andy]

It won't harm be better on the silly hot days to drop an ice pack in...

From experience don't faff about with the usual UK style cool boxes most struggle to keep a picnic cool on a average UK day.....

Look to the USA based stuff they live the outdoors life in often hotter climate than us.

Igloo maxicold would be my recommendation if you don't want ti pay a premium look at their marine range (they come in white white or white)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Igloo-Marine ... SwoT1a8Z8e

You might wince at the price BUT imo and experience I have one they are the mutts nuts

the other summer we had gone camping the Lidl thermo electronic cooler would not chill enough to keep the chilled food safe (butter went runny in it)

I sacrificed my beer space ...we did a fresh shop I got 18 tins of beer ... 2x2l bottles of pop for the kids... Meat for dinner etc and 2x bags of ice cubes from Aldi 48 hours later bare in mind the beer or pop wasn't chilled initially there was still some ice floating in the bottom ... I resorted to a bag of ice every 24 hours after that to keep the food / beer cool

[ForgeCorvus]

We had the same problem last year, chocolate is now stored in a spare cool bag to 'iron out' the temperature spikes as well as being in the coolest place in the stores.

Check out any local selling sites (theres a local FB group here to) and charity shops to see if you can get a bargain.

[reciloy]

Thank your for the suggestions. I was looking for passive cooling through insulation, so nothing to plug in or ice-pack to add. My needs are long term, so if the box were exposed to 30C during the main part of the day, with high humidity, then the internal would just catch up then I take it, else we would not need to plug in fridges and freezers?!

The cool boxes I referred to are not in my price range right now, I don't want to spend on the kind of outlay it costs for something more robust, even though it would make sense.

I suppose then I'll have to look for somewhere to store my goods, as no insulation would keep them from warming up ?

[GillyBee]

It depends if you mean "fit and forget" or "no energy required" if the latter any coolbox or Tupperware can be enhanced by a wet teatowel over the top to enhance evaporative cooling on hot days. A breeze improves the effect.
This is an old camping trick of ours and was used frequently indoors too in the days before fridges were common

[Yorkshire Andy]

Have you got a garden?

Drill down most fencing contractors will have a hole borer or use a drainage spade and backfill

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/283799748388?u ... f9fface3df


Now put your DIY head on

You could make something similar for much less drainage section at a DIY shop

If your house is on soil you could install it In your pantry. Concrete raft would need more work....

It's on my DIY radar but I need time to do it

[reciloy]

I simply forgot that there had to be an existing imbalance to maintain, think that the insulation would be enough.

It's seems silly now.

[ForgeCorvus]

Still a good thing to think about.... This is why pantries and dairies used to be built on the north side of houses
Try a search for "Zeer Pot", "Spring House" "Root Cellar" and "Ice House" for other ways to keep stuff cool.

[grenfell]

Insulation will slow down the process but on it's own won't prevent ambient temperatures becoming the same inside and out. I re-enact which by it's very nature means spending several days in a field where we can't use powered devices easily. We use the wet tea towel method . Pots glazed only on the inside serve the same purpose as they are immersed in water which then evaporates and cools. I have also made a chest in wood which is lined with another box made out of 25mm kingspan insulation and we use that to store meat and suchlike. What we tend to do is to freeze a bottle of fruit juice ( blackcurrant as it superficially looks like wine) and put that in there with it . The chest can be left outside in view of the public and suffices aa weekend. We also have a couple of basta boxes which are essentially the same thing without the wooden chest https://www.zodiacspco.co.uk/basta-box-x-large.html

[Tankford]

I actually posted this link on another thread -
https://theprovidentprepper.org/chillin ... ot-cellar/

But it relates to your issue as well. Find an old chest freezer for free (people are always scrapping them on facebook groups) and dig down. Just make sure it is shaded and problem solved if you have space in the garden.

T