PVC tubes for ice chests

[CrookedArrow]

Hey folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TXBRASS]

I read where a guy made these by filling clean/new diapers with water and then removing the wet gel from the diapers and filling the PVC tubes with that. Said due to the gel, it would stay colder/frozen longer than plain water or salt water.

Can anyone verify or debunk this?

[CrookedArrow]

I read where a guy made these by filling clean/new diapers with water and then removing the wet gel from the diapers and filling the PVC tubes with that. Said due to the gel, it would stay colder/frozen longer than plain water or salt water.

Can anyone verify or debunk this?

In all honesty...................I aint messing with no diaper clean and more so dirty.

[TXBRASS]

In all honesty...................I aint messing with no diaper clean and more so dirty.

If it would work, I have no issue with buying a pack of diapers and putting these together in my garage. Once done and the caps glued on, no one will ever know you "messed" with a diaper.....

[curtintex]

Dear God, please help me explain this so that these folks STOP THE MADNESS....

Salt water does freeze at a lower temp than pure water. HOWEVER....it also thaws at a lower temp, NOT A HIGHER TEMP.

If you put both bottles in a freezer set at 0-deg, a few things will happen:
1. At 32deg the pure water will freeze.
2. At a lower temp, lets say 20deg (depending on amount of salt) the salt water will freeze.
3. Both bottles will continue to drop in temp until they reach the freezer setting....ZERO.

THEN....When the thaw starts happening:
1. The transfer of heat (the difference between the water and the air around it) will begin immediately and will happen at a rate dependent on how great that difference in temp is.
2. The salt water will melt at 25deg
3. The pure water will melt at 32deg

I don't care if its in pipe, water bottles, milk jugs or water balloons, THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME BECAUSE SCIENCE.

Another example:
The sea can freeze and does in some areas. The temp at which the ocean becomes ice is about 28degF. Guess what temperature the ocean thaws at? Give you three guesses. Take your time. It's 28degF.

[TXBRASS]

Dear God, please help me explain this so that these folks STOP THE MADNESS....

Salt water does freeze at a lower temp than pure water. HOWEVER....it also thaws at a lower temp, NOT A HIGHER TEMP.

If you put both bottles in a freezer set at 0-deg, a few things will happen:
1. At 32deg the pure water will freeze.
2. At a lower temp, lets say 20deg (depending on amount of salt) the salt water will freeze.
3. Both bottles will continue to drop in temp until they reach the freezer setting....ZERO.

THEN....When the thaw starts happening:
1. The transfer of heat (the difference between the water and the air around it) will begin immediately and will happen at a rate dependent on how great that difference in temp is.
2. The salt water will melt at 25deg
3. The pure water will melt at 32deg

I don't care if its in pipe, water bottles, milk jugs or water balloons, THIS IS WHAT WILL HAPPEN EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME BECAUSE SCIENCE.

Another example:
The sea can freeze and does in some areas. The temp at which the ocean becomes ice is about 28degF. Guess what temperature the ocean thaws at? Give you three guesses. Take your time. It's 28degF.

Would their be ANY benefit to using the diaper gel with water over pure water in the tubes as far as keeping it colder longer?

[jerp]

Would their be ANY benefit to using the diaper gel with water over pure water in the tubes as far as keeping it colder longer?

I don’t know about diaper gel but I made some PVC tubes using the gel that is in those one-use freezer packs used to send perishables in the mail. I tried them this weekend - they stayed cold longer than the frozen water bottles.

[curtintex]

I don’t know about diaper gel but I made some PVC tubes using the gel that is in those one-use freezer packs used to send perishables in the mail. I tried them this weekend - they stayed cold longer than the frozen water bottles.

Would their be ANY benefit to using the diaper gel with water over pure water in the tubes as far as keeping it colder longer?

I don’t know. I was only speaking of water v. saltwater.

[HeyMikey]

I just made 7 of these, using foot long pieces of 1" PVC. I put salt water in a couple of them, and put the gel stuff from a couple of leaking "blue ice" type freezer packs in the others. The salt water tubes worked like a champ in my soft sided beer cooler. I haven't tried the gel filled ones yet, but I'm sure they'll work just as well. SCIENCE

[tigerscowboy]

Very amusing thread.

.02 provided and my .02 is always free

Pay attention to the plastic containers you are freezing IF you plan to consume later.

Freezing (and boiling) water in some plastics will release dangerous chemicals into the contained water. NO BS.

[double bogey]

Another science tidbit. Water with glycol antifreeze. Lowers the freezing point, once the temp gets to the lowered freezing point, it becomes a slurry. Some of the water forms ice, causing the glycol concentration in the remaining water to be higher, thus lowering the freezing point of the remaining mixture.
Also stated earlier, when water begins to freeze, it remains 32°, as does the ice, until all of the water is frozen, then the ice temperature will begin to lower, if heat is still being removed. Of course it takes 1 btu per lb. to raise or lower 1 lb of water.

[double bogey]

Accidentally posted so I will continue. Basic refrigeration 101

The latent heat of fusion is the amount of heat that is removed when ice is created. It takes lots more btu's than changing the temp of water. I don't remember the numbers as its been too many years since refrigeration school but I could look it up but its not needed if you understand its lots more, and that's the way it works. So that's what makes ice so much better in your cooler than cold water.

Similar on the other end with steam. Water and steam stay the same temp 212° until it is all steam, taking huge amounts of heat to evaporate the water. Once again, cant remember the exact amount in btu's. To get the steam hotter, the boiler is sealed, as as the water is turned to steam the pressure rises, making the steam hotter. 100 lb steam is 300°. The massive amount of energy is what makes steam so useful for as a power and heat source. Also, this process is how your a/c works, only adding heat to evaporate a refrigerant instead of water.

[alwaysinshorts]

holy Toledo Batman....

i watched a guy on youtube make two of these things, one with water and the other with salt water. he then placed two steaks on the tubes. The saltwater tube froze the meat and the other one didn't. i think that is proven by the comments above of the freezing temp of saltwater.

He didn't see which one lost temp faster but his point is that it will aid in preserving your ice. if ice stays frozen then it will work longer.

[Pedernal]

I made several 2 inch pvc "ice packs"... What is most practical for me is that I don't have to drain the cooler after getting home... I simply place the pipes back in the freezer and no need to buy ice or use up too much of the ice from ice maker... Additionally, no worries about cold water getting into the containers you are trying to keep cool... Works great for my lunch box...