Pelican Elite Coolers are capable of delivering amazing
feats of ice retention, but in order to get the best performance from your
cooler you will need to plan ahead and do some prep work.
1. Pre-Chill Your Cooler
Before you use your cooler, bring it indoors 12–24 hours in
advance and fill it with a 10 lb. bag of ice (you may need more ice if you have
a larger cooler). It sounds strange, but think about it: coolers don’t make
things cold; they keep things cold. Pre-chilling the cooler before you use it
conditions the polyurethane insulation to retain the cold. If you skip this
step, then your cooler is going to retain the temperature of the garage where
you were storing it and is going to melt all the ice you added to it right
before you hit the road.
2. Ice 101
You wouldn’t expect it, but the kind of ice you fill your
cooler with will have a big impact on its performance. Block ice will melt at a
slower rate and perform best for long-term temperature maintenance. But ice
cubes will pre-chill your cooler faster and fill in the gaps between items
better. So why not use both? Place a layer of block ice at the bottom of your
cooler—or maybe even use Pelican Ice packs—and then use cubed ice as you fill
the cooler with your goods. Now that you’ve ironed out what kind of ice to use,
it’s time to think about the amount of ice to use. To get the best ice
retention from your Pelican Elite Cooler you should use twice the amount of ice
to the goods you’re keeping in the cooler. Last, but not least, don’t forget to
fill your cooler up as much as possible. The less air you have inside the
cooler, the longer your cooler will retain the cold.
3. Pack It Cold
You’ve already taken steps to prepare your cooler to hold
ice as long as it can, so don’t throw a wrench in the works by tossing in warm
sodas and snacks. Pack your cooler with beverages from the fridge. Better yet,
freeze those water bottles before you put them in the cooler. Now you have
block ice that you can drink when it thaws. You can also freeze hamburgers, hot
dogs or other meat products that you aren’t intending to eat right away. Don’t
forget that how you pack your cooler can have a huge impact on your ice
retention.
4. Keep It Closed
The cooler is prepped and packed, and now you’re ready to
hit the road. There’s just one trick to complete your Pelican ice retention
strategy: keep your cooler closed. Remember that air is the enemy and will
carry off all your cold if you leave the lid open. Make sure to close and latch
the lid when you aren’t using the cooler to maximize your ice retention.
Following these steps will ensure that you get the best ice retention
possible from your cooler. The chart below shows the top level of performance
that you can expect from your cooler.
