How much dryice in a freezer

[Accipiter]

I know someone on the site should be able to answer this question. We were thinking of taking a freezer on a trailer and have it run on a generator at camp. I was wondering how much dryice it would take to keep the meat frozen while in transit for a day or two if it is about half to two thirds full with meat and food? We wouldn't have a good place to run the generator while driving and have the generator keep things cold.

[fm]

Eric, don't know how far you are traveling, but we travel about 21 hours with everything in the freezer froze before we head home. We don't put any dry ice in the freezer. I cover every thing with a plastic bag and put heavy blankets on top of that. When we get home everything is still froze.

fm

[CrazyElkHunter]

Eric, we have been taking freezers for years. Run a generator a few hours a day in camp keeps our food frozen and batteries charged on the trailers. We stay the entire archery season. I use a inverter to run the freezer while traveling. Freezers do not pull a lot of power, so you could use a 400 watt or higher inverter to be on the safe side. If you hard wire it to the battery, it's even better. If you use a plug in type connection for inverter power, I would not use less than a 400 watt. You can pick one up just about anywhere. I have a 1200 watt hard wired to the trailer battery and mounted inside the trailer close to batteries for easy wiring through the floor. Mount in a easy access place for turning off and on. Freezer is secured with tie downs and I run a extention cord from inverter to freezer. I use a 400 watt Peak inverter to run TV while in camp. We also use a indoor/outdoor temperature gauge that let's us know inside temperature of freezer without opening all the time. Just mount the digital gauge with Velcro on the outside and run the wire and sensor inside freezer. you can find those usually in garden areas of WalMart, Lowe's or hardware stores. They are designed to monitor outside temperature from inside your home.

[Moose-head]

My experience is that a regular freezer will not stay cold enough to keep the dry ice frozen if you are thinking about stocking up before you go.

[FemoralArchery]

Your meat doesn't have to stay frozen solid, it just has to stay cold.

If its frozen when you leave, I think you would be just fine. Freeze some water jugs or something as well, the more frozen stuff you have in there, the longer it will take to thaw out.

A couple bags of ice will go a long way to keep things cold, especially if its already cold.

If you can, don't put the freezer where it will have direct air flow on the trailer.

A couple years studying heat transfer and fluid flow says that increased flow increases heat transfer. So if your freezer is on the front of the trailer with ambient air flowing over it at 65(+/-) mph, you will lose heat faster than if its covered or protected by something else. If its inside a trailer, not much else you can do.

[elkmtngear]

We have transported 2 elk for 2 days with 5 blocks of dry ice on top, and the whole thing wrapped up like a burrito in a double sleeping bag.

We've done this many times. After two days, the dry ice blocks are very small, and the meat on the bottom is almost frozen.

[Accipiter]

We have been saving milk bottles all summer maybe the way to go is a combination of the ice and blanket/sleeping bags. My wife is a dietitian and if it gets thawed out it will be trashed. Thanks for the ideas, being the first time we want to be safe and come home with everything.

[Bowhunter]

I freeze about 30 gallon jugs of water before I leave in a 13cu/ft freezer. I also pour about 100lbs of ice over them after they are frozen. I unplug and head west. I usually can come back after 2 weeks and most of the jugs are 1/2 to 3/4 still frozen. I open the drain on the freezer to allow the water to drain below the top of the jugs when I get an animal back to camp and place it on top of the jugs so it is dry and cool. I will hang my quarters to cool durring the night if it is an evening kill. The temps at night will cool it a lot and save on melting my ice and warming the freezer. I will then throw it in in the morning. I have a 1200 watt inverter that I can use by running the truck for a little while a couple times a day. My freezer was at 35 degrees after 13 days unplugged when i first put my meat in it last year. I kept the meet cool for 4 days and ran the inverter on the way home some. The meat was VERY cold to touch and frozen slightly on the outside when I removed it to process. It works for me. I also have plenty of cold clean drinking water from the jugs at camp