Summer car prep

Posted by: teacher

Summer car prep - 07/16/19 08:35 PM

What do you add to your car for hot weather driving?
How do you keep things from melting, spoiling and failing in the heat?
Posted by: chaosmagnet

Re: Summer car prep - 07/16/19 10:15 PM

Water and lots of it. I’ve never had water in plastic bottles go bad from that. I’ve had food go bad in the car but not often, currently I’ve got some military rations and beef jerky that won’t last as long in the heat but should be good for at least the summer.
Posted by: Russ

Re: Summer car prep - 07/16/19 11:25 PM

Get a small cooler to store heat sensitive items. Lower highs & higher lows.
Posted by: Bingley

Re: Summer car prep - 07/18/19 08:13 AM

This is something I've been thinking about since it's been so hot here. With temperature in the 90s day after day, the car gets easily over 100 degrees.

How does the cooler idea work? Won't the cooler just eventually reach ambient temperature? Then when the air cools down in the evening, the cooler turns into a heater for your car as it gradually gives off the heat of the day. Or am I incorrect in thinking this?

I'd put anything that could melt in plastic bags, duct tape for example.

I know stuff tends to expire faster in a hot environment: the meds in the first aid kit, probably batteries, maybe even the ration and any adhesive. But when do we replace them? That I don't know. How do we make a rule for this?

I'm also concerned with chemicals leaching into the water from the bottle. But it's a huge pain in the neck to take a box of water to your car every time you get in, and take it out every time you get out...

https://www.today.com/health/bottled-water-hot-plastic-may-leach-chemicals-some-experts-say-t132687
Posted by: CJK

Re: Summer car prep - 07/18/19 01:33 PM

Bingley...you are right to be concerned.... especially the chemical leeching into the water. Answer.... constantly load/unload the water. South FL.... we put water in every day we go out and remove it upon return. The cooler.... depends on the size, amout and type of ice...etc. We have a very small (snacks) cooler that usually gets one ice pack. Don't always bring it in when we get home (parked in garage). It can stay cold for short time. Stays cool for about 4-5 hours (nowhere near cool enough for safe food storage but prevents melting of ie chocolate drizzle on Kind bars). After that..... not really. Out and about ..... doesn't stay anywhere near cool enough if the car is parked (not running). If we are running errands and A/C is on, obviously we get more time out of the cooler.

It has become part of our routine. Like gear on the belt or in our pockets. We load and unload each time. Annoying? Yes. But WE prefer the annoyance to the leeching or melted items. When we KNOW we are going out.... 2 large coolers with sufficient ice packs to protect frozen food if we happen to pick some up. That's in addition to the small cooler with water and the snack cooler.

We've been told we're nuts to do all that.....maybe so, but it works for us.
Posted by: hikermor

Re: Summer car prep - 07/18/19 03:15 PM

While leaching o chemicals and microplastics should be of concern, in a quasi-emergency where immediate hydration is advisable, such items in the water is a minor issue (to me, at least).

https://phys.org/news/2018-03-bottled-brands-contaminated-plastic-particles.html

One source in this article states that tap water, in general, is safer than bottled water.

I have a variety of water containers, all filled with tap water, and I imbibe from any of them, without concern, when and if necessary. The water in these containers is only a small fraction of what I generally consume on any given day.

Most of my water is stored in the trunk, which is separated from the passenger compartment. The trunk is considerably cooler than the passenger compartment.

One might consider storing fruits, like apples (something like 85-90% water) if concerned about chemicals and plastics.
Posted by: Bingley

Re: Summer car prep - 07/19/19 06:14 AM

Hikermor is right -- store water in the trunk for emergency use only. That takes care of the leaching problem. For non-emergency use, don't expose your water to high heat, or use a non-plastic bottle.

Some electronics may fail when the car interior gets too hot. If you need to rely on a GPS, you may want to make sure it stays cool enough to work.
Posted by: brandtb

Re: Summer car prep - 07/20/19 03:13 PM

Is it the BPA / BPH (I think those are the correct initials) in the plastic that are of concern? Would a BPA- / BPH-free bottle solve the problem?
Posted by: haertig

Re: Summer car prep - 07/21/19 04:12 PM

I generally carry a large water bottle (made of stainless steel, and insulated). I fill it with ice and water before I go out in the car, take it with me, then bring it back inside the house after the drive. I also have a few gallons in a plastic bottle in the bed of the truck. Mostly meant for emergency radiator fills (never had to use it for that), but could be used for drinking. It's just tap water. Probably stale, might have some of that plastic stuff leached into it, but not enough to be any kind of issue if I had to drink it in an emergency. Chances are, I could eat the entire plastic bottle itself and not ingest enough BPA/BPH/whatever to be of harm. I think concerns about these chemicals are way overblown for occasional/emergency drinking. Half the world's population would be dead already if the leached chemical problem were as bad as some make it out to be. One breath of air from inside your car on a hot day probably has more chemicals leached from the plastic/fabric in the car than a sip of water from a plastic bottle. Ever notice how the inside of your car windows need to be cleaned of that residue over time? You're breathing that stuff as well. Take reasonable care, but don't scare yourself to death worrying about it. Just my opinion.
Posted by: hikermor

Re: Summer car prep - 07/21/19 05:15 PM

Total agreement!!
Posted by: Ren

Re: Summer car prep - 07/21/19 09:37 PM

Nat Geo this month

Exposed to extreme heat, plastic bottles may ultimately become unsafe

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/env...timately-become
Posted by: haertig

Re: Summer car prep - 07/21/19 11:03 PM

100% pure water will kill you too, if you drink enough of it.

I had a friend who was training to run a marathon. He drank lots of water during training. So much so, that the docs had sidelined him and were planning on putting in a heart pacemaker. His electrolytes were all out of whack. Why the docs jumped right to the pacemaker plan without seriously addressing the electrolyte imbalance is a mystery. My friend is a PA in healthcare, and huddling with all his other PA and NP buddies, the group decision was for him to stop drinking so much water. Problem fixed. Electrolytes returned to normal. Heart arrhythmias ceased. No pacemaker. Ran a later marathon.

It wasn't the BPA. It was the pure H2O.
Posted by: UncleGoo

Re: Summer car prep - 07/23/19 12:02 AM

Originally Posted By: haertig
...Why the docs jumped right to the pacemaker plan without seriously addressing the electrolyte imbalance is a mystery...


This may have been a case of "when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail": I was in an explosion, had 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my face, scalp, and ears. After the ER, I went to a plastic surgeon, who gave me a jar of silvidine (sp?) and told me to scrub my head twice a day for two weeks, then come back. His mindset was that there would inevitably be scar tissue and he would clean that up afterwards.
AuntGoo is an Occupational Therapist and part of her schooling was burn therapy. She did the burn debridement for me (there was NO way that I could have done that for myself) and minimized the scarring--the plastic surgeon didn't get any business from me.
Posted by: hikermor

Re: Summer car prep - 07/23/19 12:04 AM

Because there is more money in implanting pacemakers???
Posted by: Burncycle

Re: Summer car prep - 07/27/19 10:35 PM

Will a cooler sufficiently buffer out the highs and low extremes in a car during the summer and winter such that medicines and other things won't go bad? Say you use the car nearly every day, but it sits for a couple days on weekends.

What about a yeti / ozark trail vacuum thermos with the medicine in there, inside the cooler?
Posted by: Ratch

Re: Summer car prep - 07/28/19 07:03 PM

FWIW, I stored a a bottle of yellow Heet, alcohol, for a small stove carried in car trunk. Bottle not opened, seal intact, but about a third to a half evaporated through the plastic bottle over several years. Surprised me.