Ice Blocks! (Fresh Water vs. Salt Water) - which is colder? - the tests! (for ice-based air coolers) 

A guy who worked at a bar once told me they'd fill a cooler with ice, pour a bunch of salt in there, and then use it to quickly ice 6-packs. I've been doing this in my coolers ever since, and it makes stuff HELLA cold, very quickly... and counterintuitively - THE ICE LASTS LONGER!

I googled how to make a homemade air purifier. Guess who's name came up with a genius bucket design? Thanks for all the hard work you do because of your work I now own a sweet air purifier and am breathing better already. your work is bettering peoples lives.

Nice, I knew this myth was true. I think salt water can last longer than regular water during hot room temps since salt water is starting a colder temp.

Did you time the Difference in melt time between the 2?

Thanks for sharing your research :-)

the salt ice should last longer as well and remain cold longer after its melted. the saltier the "brine" the longer it will take to freeze until you reach a saturation point that it wont freeze at all.. try using the same mixture and another doubling or tripling the salt content, that should push the limit of a home freezer

Salted water does in fact keep a cooler colder, longer. I don't have a refrigerator, I have a good quality cooler (not a Yeti, but just as good for 1/3 the cost of one of those great but f-ing way overpriced POS. POS because of the price, I want a happy ending included for the price they charge for those things!). Anyway, yes salt ice or brine works substantially better that fresh water and puts those gel ice packs from the store to shame. I actually have ice formation on the inside of my 55qt Lifetime cooler for a few days after putting in new blocks of brine ice and the ice itself lasts for 5-7 days. Even when the ice blocks turn back to water the temp in my 55qt Lifetime cooler will remain below 40° for another week! This is in outside temperatures of 95-103°!!!!! Meats stored on the bottom of the cooler will remain frozen and even freeze from a thawed state!!!! So, anyone needing the tried and true facts that I searched and searched for here you go: -Lifetime cooler, Walmart 55qt $119 (DONT SPEND 400 ON A YETI) -2 one gallon plastic water bottles w/ lids -Rock salt/ice cream salt 1.5 Tbl per pint of water (about 10 Tbl per gallon because you need to leave a little room for expansion) -2 gallons of H2O -Shelves, I happened across two wire shelves at WinCo that fit perfectly into my 55qt Lifetime cooler. One all the way left, one all the way right these keep the jugs of ice elevated making a perfect "freezer" out of the very bottom and they leave the perfect size gap in the middle to keep half gallon milk, juice, or 40oz extra cold. Items such as vegetables and cheese, the more delicate food items that can be damaged by extreme cold are safe above the shelves. I think that is it. My cooler also has a light that comes on when the lid is opened and shuts off when lid is closed and I lined the inside with some R21 "foil" insulation from Home Depot for extra peace of mind but even without it the cooler does what I said in the above script. Good luck and keep it frosty on a budget.....🍻

Would the reason for this be that fresh water ice has more air pockets and thus is more insulative to the cold while the salt water ice has less air pockets (more mass through salt) and thus conduction of cold makes it colder and less insulative.

Tell you an interesting experiment. Get a small 9 quart cooler, fill it half way with salt water. Come back 2 days later and pull it out and dump it in the sink and get all the unfrozen saltwater out. The ice will be freshwater.

Colligative property: Freezing point depression, boiling point elevation (why chefs use salt to boil pasta)

How much energy can you remove from 1kg of fresh water vs 1kg of salt water is the question that needs to be answered. This requires knowing the specific heat capacity and latent heat of each one

Salt + Water thaws much quicker. The issue how long does each take to thaw and not how long each take to freeze.

I did a similar experiment. I took 1/4 liter of distilled water and dissolved as much salt as it could hold which was about 90g. I put it in the freezer before going to bed and put a thermometer in it. I checked it this morning when I got up and the salt water was still in liquid state and the thermometer was below 0 Fahrenheit. I don’t have a way to find out exactly what temperature the water is, but it is well below 0.

What is your freezer temp? I don't see why they would be different temperatures. Wouldn't they just eventually become the same temperature as the freezer regardless of which one has salt?

What one melts faster at room temperature once frozen?

Ran out of rock salt all the snow is melting but it's going down to 20f tonight. so my driveway is gonna be all ice if the half cup of table salt I put down doesn't work?

Which one thaws first?

So you are already aware of this, I don't know why more people don't try salt water ice in the coolers, it's worth the extra 5°-10°. You can get a 50lb bag of rock salt for less than $10 at a home store.

which thaws first? Keep in mind your freezer is the same temperature and the water is of equal mass.

Gonna try it when going fishing but I usually use a 2lit Pepsi bottle filled with water I'll add salt then freeze and see what happens.

Man ,I'm 51 years old, when We were young ,we would pour salt over the ice in our coolers to get colder Beer. 👍💯

Would the salt water keep longer in a cooler out fishing, because it doesn't have to be as cold? Or would the more cold fresh water keep longer because it is at a lower temperature?

WHY should any two substances in the same environment be different temperatures - after enough time?😮

put ice in your cooler .. add some rock salt .. add your beer .. then add ice .. then rock salt .. then your beer .. do this for several layers or until your cooler is full .. your beer will freeze and you want be able to drink it .. rock salt makes ice a lot colder ..

Welcome to the basics of freezing point Osmometry

You can use isopropyl alcohol too. Just add 15-20% per volume iso and it will lower the freezing point to like around -6/-7c.

Which one melted faster

Very cool I appreciate you for doing the video thumbs up 👍🏻😂🤳

Confirmed. Thanks.

Yes, salt water freezes at a lower temperature. Which also means it melts at a lower temperature. Which means that while saltwater ice is colder than regular ice, it won't last as long because it begins melting sooner.

would salt water damage my cooling system

Did you find that it took longer for the salt water to freeze this time or another time? I am trying to freeze a bag of ice with some salt in it and it seems to be taking forever to get cold.

Thank you sir!

Melting faster or not that melted salt water will be colder than freezing still. It's proven to lengthen the ice/water cooling time. Seems counter intuitive but it's been proven to work, hell there's hunders of videos on youtube proving it. One guy built a cooler with 48lbs of Ice insulated off from the air pocket and added a gallon of water and salt and had a little usb powered fish bowl pump flowing the water through a car oil cooler. The air was routed through the radiator with a 18V Royobi lithium battery fan that lasts 8 hours. The ice outlasted the battery and kept cooling for 11hours. It was able to cool a full size van 15 degrees below ambient at night with the cab partisioned off and fully insulated no windows on the cab or doors. Air temp measured 6ft from the 4" vent was 68 degrees when it was still 95 out at 10pm at night. Purfect for sleeping in a van in Las Vegas in the summer. Buy your Ice for $2 for 16lbs X 3 ($6 a night) at costco. Charge the batteries while driving and when cooling the cab down with the engine AC for an hour. Idling with the a/c on for an hour costs me $2 in gas. $240 a month to sleep comfortably.

If you mix 1 lb of salt 3 pounds of ice... You will get -2 degree water

Water ice salt ayy

Is salt water harmful for air cooler water pump?

Hi are you using iodised salt

temperature versus heat

how does salt make the water colder then what the freezer is set at?