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I stumbled across this link the other day which seems rather ingenious and was wondering if anyone has tried such a contraption whilst hiking? If not, do you think it would be effective? I'm tempted to try to make one and then see how it performs in various temperatures.

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Neat invention. Very cool. – jmusser Apr 24 '12 at 2:08
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I never tried this fridge, but there are a lot of canteens, for example old German military ones, that have a felt cover that works on the same evaporation principle. You keep the felt wet, and evaporation will cool of water in the canteen. In hot weather, it works surprisingly well. – Jan Hlavacek Apr 24 '12 at 2:56
Cool idea. I can't fathom wanting to carry it around, but it might help keep things cool (and not gross) on river trips. – Greg.Ley Apr 24 '12 at 20:02
For the cost of a couple of garden pots, you can "build" one yourself to try: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-pot_refrigerator – sdg Jan 3 at 2:51

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up vote 4 down vote accepted

The one problem I see is that it actually doesn't keep things cold enough. The listed rate is 6C (42F). For refridgeration you want no more than 4.4C (40F) and ideally want closer to 1C (34F).

6C makes it little more than a growth chamber for many bacterium: http://www.gov.ns.ca/agri/foodsafety/pdfs/dangzone.pdf

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This is a good point - though I guess it's better than nothing? – berry120 Apr 27 '12 at 14:14
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@berry120 -- I'm not so sure. There's kind of a sweet spot for bacteria growth. In very hot climates, this may actually aid bacterial growth by keeping them in that sweet spot instead of getting too hot to continue growth. – Russell Steen♦ Apr 29 '12 at 0:04
Thanks, interesting point to note. – berry120 Apr 29 '12 at 22:15
@RussellSteen : Out of curiosity, what makes that spot so sweet to the bacteria? – Shawn Mar 14 at 3:12
@Shawn -- It's a temperature range that kills almost nothing, and actually encourages growth of many dangerous bacterium. – Russell Steen♦ Mar 14 at 3:17
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up vote 2 down vote

Good point..I have taken a safety and sanitation class as well, however the bacteria will produce at higher rates at higher temperature levels in this zone, so it does help. Tons of people in Africa use this cooler every day.

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