Keeping Things Cold on the Road

And you should know that the grocery bussiness is 24 hours a day. Even when a store is closed, there are employees working. Trucks make deliveries at all hours. It never stops.

My last post off topic...

As you should know,things are different out west in Idaho compared to Dallas/New York or Miami.Everything is on a much smaller scale.Small town grocers cannot afford the luxuries you talk about and there not 24hr operations.

When the two grocery stores in the town I live in are closed there are not any employee's inside except one night which is freight and that's just to Midnight.Same goes for other small towns..

Not sure how they do it anymore in Boise but at the time I worked there for Albertsons/Buttreys and Smith Food King,there were no alarms for refrigerated units.Buttreys was not 24/7....

But the nice thing about Idaho,even Boise where I grew up,a few miles out of town and you can hunt Elk/Deer etc and even now it's not as bad as Spokane Washington which is small compared to towns in your area.

So it's not an equal comparison to compare the small towns of Idaho to the Metropolitan areas of Texas.There are know Grocery chains North of Boise until you get to Lewiston Idaho(about 300 miles away),just local Independant type locally owned markets like Harvest foods/IGA etc etc where things are done differently than the Super Chains.

We have to travel close to 200 miles round trip to hit a Wal-Mart/Costco etc but it has the benefit of NO BS living and traffic with 1 stop light in the whole town and you can kill an Elk in less time than it takes to drive across Boise,and I know the short cuts.:B

Anyway as I have stated before,one shoe doesn't fit all whether it's grocery stores or the option to pull your RV with or without the refer going.I choose not to,others choose to do it....

And as the opp asked,yes you can travel 8 hours without having your refer going if you follow the protocal for it like pre-cooled items in the already pre-cooled frig with maybe an Ice Pack or frozen bottles to help..Yes I have done it without issue.Warmer climates need extra preparedness but wrecks happen way to often and it's not your fault sometimes like the one below that a fella just pulled out in front of him pulling his new trailer home from a Spokane dealer to Orofino Idaho...He is glad the propane was off...

This is just one of 5 such wrecks in the last three months within 50 miles of my house and one reason I choose to run with the propane shut off because I can't control the other guy driving while I'm towing.

jaycocreek wrote:

2012Coleman wrote:
I think a couple of posters on this thread should get togther for dinner - main course being previously cold/frozen food that has been sitting on the loading dock due to lack of space in the refer. Talk about hearsay...

Wow..Can't happen huh?Unfortunately it's not heresay..Ever wonder how often the frozen food coolers go out or for that matter,any of the coolers in a grocery store..They do,really..What happens when that cooler goes out after the store is closed an has no employee's or even,what happens when it goes out during business hours..Well,they have to empty the coolers into baskets and push them into a walk in cooler..That's great when caught early..

I have no hearsay on grocery stores or the business itself.In my off months logging I worked for several chains from box boy/checker/frozen dairy mngr/meat department/produce manager and a sent in the deli and at one time,asst groc mngr.

Unfortunately,sometimes the consumer has know idea..Sad,but it happens.

Ask me a question and there will be no hearsay.:B

A poorly run operation, and lack of knowledge.
We have an alarm system for every cooler in the store. There is no way a failure goes unnoticed. We just had a store lose power for over 12 hours.we closed it, brought in refer trucks and pallets of dry ice.we used over 300 hours of overtime.
We still lost a few thousand dollars of product, and about 150k in sales. But saved several hundred thousand in product.

And you should know that the grocery bussiness is 24 hours a day. Even when a store is closed, there are employees working. Trucks make deliveries at all hours. It never stops.

mhardin wrote:

Golden_HVAC wrote:
Hi,

It is a small risk, and the propane leak detector will shut off the propane if something happens.

Fred.

Huh? The propane leak detector will shut down the propane? Mine doesn't have any connection to the propane supply. Maybe you mean the safety valves that sense a high flow and shut down?

BTW, I always travel with the propane on and the fridge running.

Good stuff guys. I run with mine on but am not at ease. You could have a small leak while driving and the propane will not shut off. As it wont shut off if you let your stove run while not lit. The main thins is a broken line if the trailer was in a major wreck. I do believe the safety features at the tank would certainly kick in.

:B Nothing like a good Pi_ _ing match. Is there !!!!!

Oh, by the way, jaycocreek is right. I'm also from Idaho :p

My apologies to the OP. Wouldn't it be nice if "The Question" as asked, was answered without all the BULL.

Let's start a Generator post, just for FUN.:R

2012Coleman wrote:
I think a couple of posters on this thread should get togther for dinner - main course being previously cold/frozen food that has been sitting on the loading dock due to lack of space in the refer. Talk about hearsay...

Wow..Can't happen huh?Unfortunately it's not heresay..Ever wonder how often the frozen food coolers go out or for that matter,any of the coolers in a grocery store..They do,really..What happens when that cooler goes out after the store is closed an has no employee's or even,what happens when it goes out during business hours..Well,they have to empty the coolers into baskets and push them into a walk in cooler..That's great when caught early..

I have no hearsay on grocery stores or the business itself.In my off months logging I worked for several chains from box boy/checker/frozen dairy mngr/meat department/produce manager and a sent in the deli and at one time,asst groc mngr.

Unfortunately,sometimes the consumer has know idea..Sad,but it happens.

Ask me a question and there will be no hearsay.:B

I think a couple of posters on this thread should get togther for dinner - main course being previously cold/frozen food that has been sitting on the loading dock due to lack of space in the refer. Talk about hearsay...

It just proves that your ego wont let you admit otherwise.

It has nothing to do with ego..I do it all the time and it works.I'm not guessing,I'm sharing what I do and how it works...For your information,I we used to have 16 horses we used to pack into hunting areas and I don't have to guess how or what to do to make perishables last.

You don't want to try it fine,you have know experience with traveling 8 hours with the rv frig off..So why are you even posting on this thread when you have know idea for sure on what the opp asked..Read it again,not one word about running the fridge while traveling in the original post,just asked your experiences traveling with frig off and how it effected the food,so to speak.

You don't know because you've never done it.That's cool but not helpful to the opp that chooses evidently not to run with the frig off like scores of other long term rvers like myself.

As Woodalls said,it is just safer to travel with the propane turned off and I agree..

You have a good day sir.

Before we had the current 110v/propane fridges the RV industry gave us the plain old "ice box". We would drop by the local ice house for a block of ice or freeze water in plastic containers and placed then in the top of the box. Food didn't last but a day or so out here where it gets hot (100-115 degrees) and can spoil fast.

I also have had several just ice box trailers.Never had any problem with either two blocks of ice or our homemade ice container that filled the ice compartment.Never had an issue with food lasting 3-5 days using large blocks only.

It get just as hot at 8,000 ft here in Idaho as it does at 4k in the summer.I too was surprised but altitude is not always an escape from heat.Packers/tent campers and rafters have direct sunlight on the cooler itself to battle which isn't an issue in an RV.Tenting we use wet burlap over the cooler and in the creek if possible.

Lot's of people like sheepherders/loggers and people that stay out past the life expectancy of ice in a cooler use something like a small culvert with a shelf and top pounded down into the creek in the shade as a cooler.

We can argue 'til the sun goes down about rv frigs on or off but the bottom line is that was not the question the opp asked!!!!!!

You choose to run it on..Great..Not a problem for me whatever you do but I like others choose not to do so,,Should not be a problem to you either...Right?

So in ending this..Shouldn't we just answer what a poster ask and not always go off track with guess's/theories and percentages or the forum popular ideas that do not pertain to the post at all,in other words,people that have traveled 8 hours withou the frig running should chime in with there experiences actually doing what the opp asked not guess's or other things that don't answer the question.

jaycocreek wrote:

Trying to keep a fridge cool with a few ice packs will not work very well.

It works just dandy.Is this another guess or have you done it and it didn't work out for you?

I can keep my refer below 40 degree's with ice packs for an easy 8 hours if the frig is cooled down prior to and all the items put into it are already cooled down.

Keeping a refrigerator at a proper temp without electricity or gas isn't rocket science.Outfitters at hunting camps and rafters do it all the time and at the end of the day miles away from civilization they pull out the steak and eggs on a remote beach or hillside and eat away.

What do the poor tent campers do without a RV frig to run 24/7?


Die of food poisoning if you listen to a few here.:S

Taking a single sentence out of context, doesnt make you right. It just proves that your ego wont let you admit otherwise.
Coolers, as I said before work very well when used as designed. Outfitters use LOTs of ice, and often dry ice.
I have used dry ice as well in my tenting days. It works great, but like propane it is hazardous material and must be handled properly.
My company sells it, and it is kept locked up.
Anyone not comfortable using propane, likely wont be comfortable using it. And anyone with kids along probably should not use it.

And, no I have never tried ice paks in my fridge. I used them a lot in my tenting days in coolers that are far better insulated than my fridge, and know their limitations. I also need the room for food. Trying this in Phoenix would be foolish. I dont need to try it to know that.

jaycocreek wrote:

Trying to keep a fridge cool with a few ice packs will not work very well.

It works just dandy.Is this another guess or have you done it and it didn't work out for you?

I can keep my refer below 40 degree's with ice packs for an easy 8 hours if the frig is cooled down prior to and all the items put into it are already cooled down.

Keeping a refrigerator at a proper temp without electricity or gas isn't rocket science.Outfitters at hunting camps and rafters do it all the time and at the end of the day miles away from civilization they pull out the steak and eggs on a remote beach or hillside and eat away.
What do the poor tent campers do without a RV frig to run 24/7?

Die of food poisoning if you listen to a few here.:S

Before we had the current 110v/propane fridges the RV industry gave us the plain old "ice box". We would drop by the local ice house for a block of ice or freeze water in plastic containers and placed then in the top of the box. Food didn't last but a day or so out here where it gets hot (100-115 degrees) and can spoil fast.

Most folks don't die of food poisoning but get very sick which I have from tainted milk product from one of those old "ice boxes".

Outfitters/hunters camps and rafters up there in cool country aren't running at 65 mph in 100 degree temps all day long which heat soaks the trailer and fridge so sure they may get by with just a ice chest with ice in it for a couple of days.

Our first RV had ice boxes in them which creates food storage issues. Our first propane fridge in a late '70s TC made travelling without spoiled foods a blessing.

We've always traveled with the propane on as thats what they were advertised to do.