BajaNomad

What to do for ice?

Cliffy - 12-31-2013 at 07:31 AM

It is so low class not to have ice for ones tea, what do we do to find it in Baja?
I'm just so used to having ice easily available where I drag my travel trailer that I thought I'd ask about this before I resort to drinking just "cool" tea from the refridge without (God forbid) ice in the glass.
My refridge doesn't have a big enough freezer to handle the amount of ice I use each day for my tea fix.
What to do? What to do?
As far south as Conception Bay for 3 weeks soon.

bajajudy - 12-31-2013 at 07:59 AM

You can buy block ice whenever you see it. Just make sure that it is made with potable water.

mtnpop - 12-31-2013 at 07:59 AM

think "YETI" cooler/ice chest.. pricey but longer term ice storage.. Or block ice available 2 places in Mulege might last you longer than cube ice..
Or maybe I am just rambling...
good luck and enjoy...

wilderone - 12-31-2013 at 09:16 AM

You'll pass many stores with ice in the larger towns. Keep a separate cooler for just ice; line the bottom with quart bottles filled with water frozen in your freezer, then pack full of ice - a couple bags. Or try this - put a case of 16 oz water bottles in your freezer frozen solid, and use the partially frozen cold water for your tea.

Feathers - 12-31-2013 at 09:25 AM

Drink beer. Problem solved. :yes:

pauldavidmena - 12-31-2013 at 09:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Cliffy
It is so low class not to have ice for ones tea, what do we do to find it in Baja?
I'm just so used to having ice easily available where I drag my travel trailer that I thought I'd ask about this before I resort to drinking just "cool" tea from the refridge without (God forbid) ice in the glass.
My refridge doesn't have a big enough freezer to handle the amount of ice I use each day for my tea fix.
What to do? What to do?
As far south as Conception Bay for 3 weeks soon.


Here you go...


David K - 12-31-2013 at 09:49 AM

One ice chest for drinks (beer) and one for food; or one chest for everything and one for just ice, sealed until you need to add to the other box.

Blocks last the longest, and crushed fills in the voids. A piece of dry ice added to the sealed ice only box can make ice last a week+

Keep the ice chests out of direct sunlight and only open for the shortest time possible to get what you need... and DRAIN the melted ice water!

We have had ice last for a week in the summer.

Use an ice pick to harvest pieces of ice for drinks.

Towns in Baja sell bags of potable crushed or cube ice to supplement, but they melt very fast. Works if you want ice in your tea or Vodka Collins.

MitchMan - 12-31-2013 at 10:05 AM

Where can you get dry ice in La Paz?

Reuse plastic bottles from store bought drinks with screw caps. Fill them 2/3 full with water and put in the freezer. When going out the door to do errands, grab a bottle or two, top up with water and put it in a small canvas cooler to take with you for drinking water. Stays cold for at least 5 hours. Also, that arrangement comes in handy for cool storage when out and about buying small perishable stuff like cheese, deli meats, butter, yogurt, milk, fish and meat, even ice cream. A life saver.

If you have a place in Baja, a freezer chest is indispensable. $350 USD for a 7 cubic foot chest. Uses only 45 watts/hour or less than $3 USD/month...about half or less the cost of the regular refrigerator electric usage. Great for storing many days of good fishing results, not to mention lots of ice. For $1 usd each, you can buy small two-gallon plastic trash cans, fill with potable water and freeze...they stack efficiently in the freezer chest. The more you fill your freezer, the less electricity is uses.

[Edited on 12-31-2013 by MitchMan]

Or buy one of these FREEZERS at Home Depot

durrelllrobert - 12-31-2013 at 10:43 AM

...and make your own ice as you need it, even while beach camping:



Description:

This Whynter 65 quart Portable Fridge / Freezer offers premium quality and innovative design to your frozen/refrigerated needs. This freezer is great for RVs, boats, campsites, fishing trips and is truly portable so you can take your fridge / freezer anywhere! All you need is either a standard household 110 Volt outlet or a 12 Volt power source, like an automotive battery. Whether on a day trip or major expedition, you can easily keep your food and beverages chilled, or frozen with this benchtop freezer. The Whynter portable freezers should not to be confused with less effective 12 volt novelty and beverage type "coolers". The Whynter portable freezer / fridge is a true freezer / refrigerator which cools between -8�F to 50�F. A cost effective and mobile solution for your recreational and critical freezing requirements.

$476.10 / each

Was $529.00

Save $52.90 (10%)


Price Valid : 12/26/2013 - 02/05/2014

Free Shipping

Buy Online,

Dry Ice

bajaguy - 12-31-2013 at 10:53 AM

Just ask the guys with the small push carts selling ice cream.

Cliffy - 12-31-2013 at 11:11 AM

GREAT! Ice available in Muleje and in bigger cities on the way down.
I have another winner for listening on this forum
THANKS!

Purified ice is readily available in Baja

Mulegena - 12-31-2013 at 12:14 PM

Specifically for Mulege:
There are three purified water stores in town where you can fill 5-gallon containers. You can buy water and ice from various grocery stores, too.

Block Ice:
There's an ice house out on Mex-1 south of Mulege on the east side of the highway across from the Pemex gas station.

Bring a cooler big enough to hold a block of ice and a clean flat, long and wide tupperware container of loose ice cubes on top of it. Use the cold melting block ice direct from the clean drain spigot, too.

Cliffy - 12-31-2013 at 01:07 PM

Cool info! Just what I needed.
I find it interesting that I haven't been driving in Baja for 20+ years and I have the same "concerns" that I had when I went to Africa the first time and not the comfort I felt years ago after driving in Baja for several years.
Feels like going off the edge of the world but once there, the realization is that there are real people who live there and enjoy it.
After doing Africa for a decade and a half now we know where to go and enjoy every trip.
Now on to Baja again!
If anyone is interested in Africa (specifically Namibia and South Africa) let me know and we can help you out.

David K - 12-31-2013 at 06:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
...and make your own ice as you need it, even while beach camping:



Description:

This Whynter 65 quart Portable Fridge / Freezer offers premium quality and innovative design to your frozen/refrigerated needs. This freezer is great for RVs, boats, campsites, fishing trips and is truly portable so you can take your fridge / freezer anywhere! All you need is either a standard household 110 Volt outlet or a 12 Volt power source, like an automotive battery. Whether on a day trip or major expedition, you can easily keep your food and beverages chilled, or frozen with this benchtop freezer. The Whynter portable freezers should not to be confused with less effective 12 volt novelty and beverage type "coolers". The Whynter portable freezer / fridge is a true freezer / refrigerator which cools between -8�F to 50�F. A cost effective and mobile solution for your recreational and critical freezing requirements.

$476.10 / each

Was $529.00

Save $52.90 (10%)


Price Valid : 12/26/2013 - 02/05/2014

Free Shipping

Buy Online,


How long before it will drain your battery? This would be great if one drove each day of the vacation... But if you go to the beach and camp there, I wonder how many hours the engine would need to idle per day to prevent the fridge from draining the battery?

I had a Koolatron fridge back in the late 70's... Thought it would be awesome to not need ice for food anymore. One day on Shell Island and my battery got drained... Sold it and returned to 0 energy draining ice. :light:

durrelllrobert - 12-31-2013 at 07:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
...and make your own ice as you need it, even while beach camping:



Description:

This Whynter 65 quart Portable Fridge / Freezer offers premium quality and innovative design to your frozen/refrigerated needs. This freezer is great for RVs, boats, campsites, fishing trips and is truly portable so you can take your fridge / freezer anywhere! All you need is either a standard household 110 Volt outlet or a 12 Volt power source, like an automotive battery. Whether on a day trip or major expedition, you can easily keep your food and beverages chilled, or frozen with this benchtop freezer. The Whynter portable freezers should not to be confused with less effective 12 volt novelty and beverage type "coolers". The Whynter portable freezer / fridge is a true freezer / refrigerator which cools between -8�F to 50�F. A cost effective and mobile solution for your recreational and critical freezing requirements.

$476.10 / each

Was $529.00

Save $52.90 (10%)


Price Valid : 12/26/2013 - 02/05/2014

Free Shipping

Buy Online,


How long before it will drain your battery? This would be great if one drove each day of the vacation... But if you go to the beach and camp there, I wonder how many hours the engine would need to idle per day to prevent the fridge from draining the battery?

I had a Koolatron fridge back in the late 70's... Thought it would be awesome to not need ice for food anymore. One day on Shell Island and my battery got drained... Sold it and returned to 0 energy draining ice. :light:


Good point, but the one I bought and took to my daughter in-law in Canada is used regularly to take Cold Stone ice cream to various outside events and with a 120V charge it has always lasted more then 8 hours. The advertise it as energy efficient.

msteve1014 - 12-31-2013 at 07:30 PM

It takes over 150 watts of panels, and a good battery, or two, to run that thing in the summer. Don't even think about running it off your alternator while camping. Ask me how I know.:o

MitchMan - 1-1-2014 at 10:56 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert



Whynter 65 quart Portable Fridge All you need is either a standard household 110 Volt outlet or a 12 Volt power source. The Whynter portable freezers should not to be confused with less effective 12 volt novelty and beverage type "coolers". The Whynter portable freezer / fridge is a true freezer / refrigerator which cools between -8�F to 50�F. A cost effective and mobile solution for your recreational and critical freezing requirements.


Just out of curiosity, how many watts per hour does this fridge/freezer use?

IDLE !!

captkw - 1-1-2014 at 11:14 AM

ok,,kids..THE TWO TYPES OF ALTERNATORS ARE.."delta" AND :"wye" AND NETHER PUT OUT CRAP AT idle>>>MUST HAVE rpms ABOVE 2k..fact !!!!

durrelllrobert - 1-1-2014 at 11:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by MitchMan
Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert



Whynter 65 quart Portable Fridge All you need is either a standard household 110 Volt outlet or a 12 Volt power source. The Whynter portable freezers should not to be confused with less effective 12 volt novelty and beverage type "coolers". The Whynter portable freezer / fridge is a true freezer / refrigerator which cools between -8�F to 50�F. A cost effective and mobile solution for your recreational and critical freezing requirements.


Just out of curiosity, how many watts per hour does this fridge/freezer use?


Model: FM-65G
Capacity: 65 Quarts or 107 Cans (12FL oz) Capacity
Operates as a refrigerator or freezer
Compressor Cooling System
Voltage power AC (110V/60Hz - 75W / 0.8A)
or DC (12V/24V - 4.5A/2.5A Car Lighter Socket)
Wattage: 75 Watts

power consumption running off 110V = .075 kWh while compressor is running. However at coldest setting it shuts off when temp gets to -8 and doesn't come back on until temp gets up to zero which takes about 3 hours in the shade.
Hence it is only consuming power 1/4th of the time maximum and will take 53.3 hours to consume 1 kW

[Edited on 1-1-2014 by durrelllrobert]

durrelllrobert - 1-1-2014 at 12:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by captkw
ok,,kids..THE TWO TYPES OF ALTERNATORS ARE.."delta" AND :"wye" AND NETHER PUT OUT CRAP AT idle>>>MUST HAVE rpms ABOVE 2k..fact !!!!


:?::?::?: Don't know about putting out crap but my volt meter says 14v at idle same as at 2k rpm

willardguy - 1-1-2014 at 12:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
Quote:
Originally posted by MitchMan
Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert



Whynter 65 quart Portable Fridge All you need is either a standard household 110 Volt outlet or a 12 Volt power source. The Whynter portable freezers should not to be confused with less effective 12 volt novelty and beverage type "coolers". The Whynter portable freezer / fridge is a true freezer / refrigerator which cools between -8�F to 50�F. A cost effective and mobile solution for your recreational and critical freezing requirements.


Just out of curiosity, how many watts per hour does this fridge/freezer use?


Model: FM-65G
Capacity: 65 Quarts or 107 Cans (12FL oz) Capacity
Operates as a refrigerator or freezer
Compressor Cooling System
Voltage power AC (110V/60Hz - 75W / 0.8A)
or DC (12V/24V - 4.5A/2.5A Car Lighter Socket)
Wattage: 75 Watts

power consumption running off 110V = .075 kWh while compressor is running. However at coldest setting it shuts off when temp gets to -8 and doesn't come back on until temp gets up to zero which takes about 3 hours in the shade.
Hence it is only consuming power 1/4th of the time maximum and will take 53.3 hours to consume 1 kW

[Edited on 1-1-2014 by durrelllrobert]
unfortunately these numbers are meaningless, they dont factor in ambient temperature and more importantly, the number of times the chest is opened and closed. I'd just buy ice. ;D

bigzaggin - 1-1-2014 at 02:37 PM

As David suggested earlier - we take two coolers - one for food/beer, the other exclusively for ice. A few days before we leave, we take gallon jugs of water and freeze 'em then use THAT as our block ice...and when it melts, we drink it. A twofer.

Yeti coolers are among the best & toughest available but if you haven't seen 'em yet, you should ogle the new Pelican line. Something to covet.

http://www.pelican.com/case_category_coolers.php?CaseType=El...

[Edited on 1-1-2014 by bigzaggin]

Cappy - 1-2-2014 at 05:42 AM

I've got a portable electric ice maker it's like 1'x2'x2' 120 volt. Makes a tray of ice every 8 minutes. Just add water and the thing cranks out ice. It runs off the inverter in my van. Smart + products on Amazon. No more messing with those stupid trays and saves room in freezer

Hook - 1-2-2014 at 07:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by bajajudy
You can buy block ice whenever you see it. Just make sure that it is made with potable water.


In Mexico, at least for my tastes, potable water and purified water are two different things. Tap water is supposed to be potable but only the poorest Mexican drink it over here. Everyone pays for purified.

I'm not sure I've ever seen block ice made with purified water in Mexico; water that you could trust in drinks. Usually block ice is sold at the ice houses and I've never seen good, clear block ice at the ones I've been to. It's always the cloudy stuff for cooling down fish.

I'm in a truck camper these days and use the built in absorption fridge for foods and making ice. It makes 2-4 standard sized trays in 24 hours. We leave with a gallon ziplock of cubes and keep that replenished for adding to drinks.

But we also carry our Norcold 45 qt. for all cold beverages. Swing compressor drawing 2.1 amps/12v when running. It's fed by a gp31 AGM and 140 watts of solar. I havent had to buy ice in two summers of 2.5 months of travel. It's nice not having to deal with buying bags of ice. So, those days are done for me, except when fishing. And even then, I bring out frozen bottles when fishing out of my home port.

But the savvy, long-term campers I saw in Baja used to have one large chest with a block of dry ice and they would keep blocks and cubes in this and draw on it. They also vacuum sealed all frozen meats and kept them in there, AWAY from the dry ice. Everything else was in a drink cooler and a perishable, non-frozen, food cooler.

monoloco - 1-2-2014 at 07:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by durrelllrobert
Quote:
Originally posted by captkw
ok,,kids..THE TWO TYPES OF ALTERNATORS ARE.."delta" AND :"wye" AND NETHER PUT OUT CRAP AT idle>>>MUST HAVE rpms ABOVE 2k..fact !!!!


:?::?::?: Don't know about putting out crap but my volt meter says 14v at idle same as at 2k rpm
Just because it is putting out 14v, doesn't mean it's producing any amperage.