Why is a plastic foam cooler better for keeping ice frozen?

Answer 1

WHY EPS FOAM COOLERS ARE BETTER AT KEEPING ICE FROZEN

Great question! As a foam cooler manufacturer, we have a lot of experience and hundreds of stories by regular Joes who swear up and down that their reasonably-priced, thick wall Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam coolers are better at keeping ice and drinks and food cold over a given number of days than hard shell coolers. As an example, I personally took a LoBoy thermal ice chest foam cooler on a camping trip in the Florida heat this past weekend. Left the driveway on Thursday with everything already iced down and come Sunday when I pulled the RV up to the dump station in preparation to head home, I dumped the remaining contents of the cooler and you know what most of it was? That's right - cold, chilly ICE.

Imagine it. A quality thick wall foam cooler or thermal ice chest can literally keep ice cold for DAYS, not just hours. I'm not talking about cheap, flimsy so-called styrofoam coolers that you get for a dollar off the shelf, but a real EPS foam cooler with at least 1" wall thickness. To get the same level of thermal protection from a hard shell cooler requires more thickness. Here's why...

EPS Foam Coolers vs. Hard shell Coolers

The typical "Hard Shell" wall is a sandwich of polyurethane foam between an exterior of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) an interior of Polypropylene (PP).

HDPE has a thermal conductivity 14 to 17 times higher than EPS. PP has a thermal conductivity 3 to 7 times higher than EPS. Thermal conductivity is the rate which a material transfers heat. HDPE and PP also retain the absorbed heat longer.

EPS and polyurethane foam have similar thermal conductivities. Wall thickness then becomes the determining factor.

How well the lid seals also affects thermal performance of the cooler.

So, when you want to have superior thermal protection for keeping ice cold for days and not just hours - and when you want to spend far less money but still get yourself a cooler that will last you YEARS, then you'll want to get a thick wall foam cooler (again, not a flimsy 'entry level' cooler that people just throw away) like the kind LoBoy makes.

But here's another thing that's important to consider. People have had the impression for years that foam coolers are a disposable product. That's not the way it's supposed to be, but because some manufacturers have been making inferior, flimsy foam coolers that leak and fall apart after one or two uses, hundreds of thousand of otherwise recyclable material ends up in the trash or as litter in the environment, and that's just not right.

EPS Foam Coolers are totally recyclable. LoBoy runs a 100% EPS Foam Recycling program because we care about the environment, and what's more, we make superior foam coolers and shipping coolers so that they last for many, many years. That way, people save money, there's less energy consumption, and customers aren't frustrated by broken, leaky foam coolers.

So, if you want to have better thermal protection for your ice - to make it last for days - and if you want to buy a foam cooler that lasts for years and from a green company that actually cares about the environment, think LoBoy EPS Foam Coolers.

Answer 2

It is used because plastics are good insulators and they can resist the low temperature easily , as well as balance the temperature of the surrounding with the temperature of the refrigerator..

Answer 3

It is an inexpensive and easy to use insulator.