FWIW- Where my wife works the temps are warmer than down there where you are and it takes months to taste funny. And then, even the funny taste is just plastic. I`m sure if we used the 'safe' nalgene bottles you wouldn't get that taste and could go all summer w/the same water.

Her biggest problem is not keeping the water fresh it's keeping the water in the car to go bad It gets used up then forgotten about!

Thank you, that's good to know!

No, like Russ said, the cooler box temperature will fluctuate at somewhere around midway between max/min trunk temperature. Actually, the temperature inside the cooler will fluctuate pretty close to the average temperature of the trunk. The better the cooler, the less min/max fluctuations.


Heat flow is not a one way process. When the trunk is cooled at night, the heat flow is from the ice box to its environment.

humm,, I wonder if there would be a way to set the icebox so that it would exchange air with the cooler night air. Perhaps an air exchange at like 2am that will passivly cool the cooler to enforce a cool air temp during the day.

The issue with this is that the mass of the watter or any solid objects would not be cooled by the air exchange during the night. so no matter how cool the air is, the watter in the cooler won't get cool.

As I was reading this artical I was thinking about the colman cooler that is an acitve cooling system. This might work if you are able to afford the battery hit of something like that running off your car battery. This idea has potential to work, and potential to be brought to a whole new level of extreem.

In theory, you could cool the icebox or its contents with a system of ventilation ducts, possibly with fans, that open at a specific time or temperature. In practice, it will be hard to make something reliable - particular if you want to make a hole in the ice box. Hard to do that and still make it an efficient insulator in the day time...


The piezoelectric coolers is a nifty idea, but their capacity is too feeble. They can keep the box at up to 20C/40F colder than its surroundings, but will use like 50 watts to do so. If you run it for a limited time (such as for a designated interval, or you could just run it when the engine is running) that time interval is probably too short to make that much of a difference.


The most efficient would probably be to to run that cooler box system for a short while in the middle of the night, replacing that air within the box with cool outside air that is further piezo-cooled just a little. I think you could make a measurable difference with a relatively small investment of the power of your car battery. If that difference is worth the effort remains to be verified.

You could always solve your trunk food issue with this http://www.arbusa.com/Products/Fridges/20.aspx

it may be more expensive, but the look on peoples faces as you open a coold bottle of watter in the middle of the summer, would ber worth it.

Tyber That little fridge is $855.00

Way to expensive for me


Mike

LOL

Mike I am sorry,, I just found it didn't realy see the price,, knew it was spendy.. but figured I would offer it as a solution

No offence ment.. and sorry for anny damage done to your finical well being's mental status or heart failure.

Eric