How to stay cool at le mans..........?
Discussion
Most electric cool boxes only cool to around 15 degrees below ambient temperature so if LM is a nice and sunny 28 degrees, your beer and food will be at an attractive 13 degrees! Sooooo even if you can solve how to run them they are not going to work well if the weather is nice.
We also have a 3 way fridge which we run on gas at LM, google Waeco for similar models. They do take up quite a lot of space though and don't have huge capacity.
You need to watch the models of the Waeco fridges, some of the older ones only cool to 20 degrees below ambient, some of the new models are 25 below and the one that we have is 30 degrees below. We used one of the older 20 degree below models and it just about worked at LM.
For cooling beer, I'd use a big Coleman or similar coolbox and stick ice in it every day, you should keep beer nicely chilled for three or four days without too much difficulty. Don't tip the excess water out and try to keep the box out of direct sunlight where possible.
We also have a 3 way fridge which we run on gas at LM, google Waeco for similar models. They do take up quite a lot of space though and don't have huge capacity.
You need to watch the models of the Waeco fridges, some of the older ones only cool to 20 degrees below ambient, some of the new models are 25 below and the one that we have is 30 degrees below. We used one of the older 20 degree below models and it just about worked at LM.
For cooling beer, I'd use a big Coleman or similar coolbox and stick ice in it every day, you should keep beer nicely chilled for three or four days without too much difficulty. Don't tip the excess water out and try to keep the box out of direct sunlight where possible.
[quote=Piglet]Most electric cool boxes only cool to around 15 degrees below ambient temperature so if LM is a nice and sunny 28 degrees, your beer and food will be at an attractive 13 degrees! Sooooo even if you can solve how to run them they are not going to work well if the weather is nice.
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Good point if the weather will be as good as '05 and '06 the boxes will struggle but we still wont be able to run them without power. Im sure I saw someone last year with a really small generator, much smaller less than half the size of the one in this picture.
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Good point if the weather will be as good as '05 and '06 the boxes will struggle but we still wont be able to run them without power. Im sure I saw someone last year with a really small generator, much smaller less than half the size of the one in this picture.
Edited by 5upra on Wednesday 15th April 09:54
If you have money to burn, get a 4 stroke Honda genny. They are almost silent and extremely compact - e.g.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HONDA-GENERATOR-GENERATO...
Friend of mine borrowed his dad's one for last year and it was brilliant.
Alternatively I'd say just try to fit a decent sized eski in one of the cars and make an ice run every other day.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HONDA-GENERATOR-GENERATO...
Friend of mine borrowed his dad's one for last year and it was brilliant.
Alternatively I'd say just try to fit a decent sized eski in one of the cars and make an ice run every other day.
a littloe coolbox just to keep ice in is not bad, or one just for food that will only be opened once or twice a day, then when the food is used, switch the ice to the beer cooler.
if there are only a few of you a well layered coolbox layout works well, put cool, or even froxen, beer at the bottom, then food, then ice and then more beer. works well and everything is cold as you need it.
if there are only a few of you a well layered coolbox layout works well, put cool, or even froxen, beer at the bottom, then food, then ice and then more beer. works well and everything is cold as you need it.
get some Waeco Compressor Fridges..and a 110 Leisure battery for each......4 days running no probs....not cheap.....but I'm not a fan of warm continental beer...
I have one of these...http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/Waeco_CF_18_Coolfreeze_compressor_fridge_freezer__1921....
Freezes beer !...need to keep it turned down, uses 12 amps max per day and works around 10% of the time unlike the cool box jobs which run at 48watts (4 amps) all day.....like 96 amps per day....
I have one of these...http://www.worldofcamping.co.uk/shop/Waeco_CF_18_Coolfreeze_compressor_fridge_freezer__1921....
Freezes beer !...need to keep it turned down, uses 12 amps max per day and works around 10% of the time unlike the cool box jobs which run at 48watts (4 amps) all day.....like 96 amps per day....
-Lummox- said:
If you have money to burn, get a 4 stroke Honda genny. They are almost silent and extremely compact - e.g.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HONDA-GENERATOR-GENERATO...
Yes! this is what I saw last year - shame its £600 !!! better start saving......http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HONDA-GENERATOR-GENERATO...
5upra said:
-Lummox- said:
If you have money to burn, get a 4 stroke Honda genny. They are almost silent and extremely compact - e.g.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HONDA-GENERATOR-GENERATO...
Yes! this is what I saw last year - shame its £600 !!! better start saving......http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-HONDA-GENERATOR-GENERATO...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
Seriously, you can power your electric cool box anyway you like and it still won't keep your food and beer cold unless it's a really nasty LM. Even for the last couple of years most days would have been warm enough that the box couldn't out perform it.
Believe me, I've tried it!
You really do need some kind of fridge solution with a gas/genny/battery/solar panel set up. Yyou need someone better than me to work out the draw rate etc. for solar, my friends managed to power a motorhome last year off a solar panel and battery though so it's doable BUT if it's sunny enough for your solar set up to work well then your cool box will be heating your food nicely.
You'd be better off with a decent Coleman type insulated box and buying ice each day than using an electric box.
Believe me, I've tried it!
You really do need some kind of fridge solution with a gas/genny/battery/solar panel set up. Yyou need someone better than me to work out the draw rate etc. for solar, my friends managed to power a motorhome last year off a solar panel and battery though so it's doable BUT if it's sunny enough for your solar set up to work well then your cool box will be heating your food nicely.
You'd be better off with a decent Coleman type insulated box and buying ice each day than using an electric box.
A generator is the only way, recently bought one of the solar panels shown in Maplins and it does not provide sufficient ampage to power an electric cooler box for more than an hour.
Last year we had two coolers and staggered using the contents, I.E. a Thursday to Saturday box with all contents frozen, and one for Sunday, Sundays box was not opened until needed and some contents still frozen.
You can ask at the fish counter of a super market for ice and they will bag it up free, we used this to cool our beers
Last year we had two coolers and staggered using the contents, I.E. a Thursday to Saturday box with all contents frozen, and one for Sunday, Sundays box was not opened until needed and some contents still frozen.
You can ask at the fish counter of a super market for ice and they will bag it up free, we used this to cool our beers
one way we had of doing it which we will perfect this year is (only if you have a freezer): Fill a load of bottles of water at the start of the day and put them at teh bottom of the freezer, then use it like normal all day, ie, opening as little as possible and using a coolbox where possible. then at night, when you turn the freezer off, put the frozen water bottles in the coolbox with some beer to have cold beers for the start of the next day until the freezer cools down again.
this should work well if you have a chest freezer, does not work great with a normal one.
this should work well if you have a chest freezer, does not work great with a normal one.
You could always substitute beer for red wine and substantially reduce your cooling needs!
I've got exactly the same problem - on previous Le Mans trips I've been in groups that have either had motorhomes, or have brought minibuses with generators and chest freezers (the best solution IMO).
This year four of us are going down in an Audi TT and Z4, so space is limited, particularly when we're fitting 4 folding bikes in!
I intend to pick up a big cool box at the local hypermarket once I'm down there and do an ice run when needed. There will be no room to bring it back so if anyone wants a cool box on Sunday afternoon there will be one going free in Beausejour!
Might also leave some of the folding bikes as we're going on a hoon - Biarritz Sunday night, Barcelona Monday night, Paris Tuesday night. Any bids on a couple of slightly rusty, once used Wayfarer shoppers (one stripped down sporting bmx ramp tyres!)?
I've got exactly the same problem - on previous Le Mans trips I've been in groups that have either had motorhomes, or have brought minibuses with generators and chest freezers (the best solution IMO).
This year four of us are going down in an Audi TT and Z4, so space is limited, particularly when we're fitting 4 folding bikes in!
I intend to pick up a big cool box at the local hypermarket once I'm down there and do an ice run when needed. There will be no room to bring it back so if anyone wants a cool box on Sunday afternoon there will be one going free in Beausejour!
Might also leave some of the folding bikes as we're going on a hoon - Biarritz Sunday night, Barcelona Monday night, Paris Tuesday night. Any bids on a couple of slightly rusty, once used Wayfarer shoppers (one stripped down sporting bmx ramp tyres!)?
Edited by JimexPL on Friday 17th April 10:20
5upra said:
An ex-army mate of mine suggests digging a 3ft hole, lining it with some kind of.....lining thing, then covering it with a piece of wood. 3ft apparently, is the crucial depth. Im actually considering it.............
Awaits reports in a couple of months time about how someone fell in a hole that some buffoon had dug in the middle of a campsite.... But how, once down there, he found a handy supply of cool beers 
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