Hi all, I have been contemplating the best way to cool my 100 gallon Rubbermaid plastic water trough down to 50ish degrees F on a fairly regular basis. I keep it in my garage and use it as a cold tub for health and performance reasons.

I need it to be affordable and as convenient as possible.

-I was thinking of maybe an industrial ice maker but theses are $800 and up used on craigslist.

-Maybe tarp off the tub and have a portable AC unit blow directly into the tub area.. AC units are still $250 or more and and it seems a cluttered setup.

-Buy a chest freezer off craigslist and find a material with high specific heat & conductivity?

-I read elsewhere that no common metal or material is going to compare with the heat capacity of using water, especially including the extra BTU absorbed when going through phase change..???

-Fill lots of small plastic bottles with water, add salt and cool them in a chest freezer?

-This iCool sport thing is cool (pun intended) but it costs $2000. advertising link removed

Other better ideas or ways to improve any of the above?

Edited April 27, 20169 yr by Phi for All
ad link removed per rule 2.7

Welcome to SFN.

 

Seems ice into the tub may be a very uncomfortable way. But if not, a plain 'garage' type freezer filled with ice molds should be simple and affordable, nothing industrial.

 

Coiling aluminium pipe inside a domestic 'garage' freezer and pass tap water trough should work to fill the tub. Just purge after every use with compressed air or would clog/freeze/burst. Lid seals can be adapted with sponge.

 

Passing (spilling) tap water trough an ice cubes filled bucket could work. Those chemical freeze bags used in 'coolers' could work and daily refrozen/recycled.

Thanks for the welcoming

I do not drain it and refill everytime so I guess ice molds is the only of those that seems convenient on a normal basis. Thanks, its gonna take quite a bit of reusable ice cubes, ha

Edited April 27, 20169 yr by JCDC85