B-Kool PIREP

[ragedracer1977]

Wow.  I'm sold!  My wife and I flew from KDVT-KINW-KGUP-KSOW-KDVT this morning.  She wanted to 'practice' for a flight we're taking to San Antonio next week.  Just to get a feel for a longer flight - the longest she's ever been in a plane is not much more than 2 hours.  We departed around 8am, OAT was already over 100.  I put a 10lb block of ice and emptied a 20oz bottle of water into the cooler.  We taxied to get fuel and I left the cooler running (I have a battery) with the doors all closed up.  When we got in, the cabin was actually cool.  Not cold, mind you, but I would guess around 80 degrees, vs. the usual 100+ we're used to.  I closed all the outside air vents and ran the cooler until we were around 7500' MSL, when OAT was about 70 F.  Shut the cooler off and we enjoyed a nice 3 hour flight.  On descent back into DVT, I fired up the cooler again.  It wasn't blowing "cold" air anymore, but it was definitely cooler than the vent air, which was over 100 degrees.

Overall, I am very very satisfied.  It worked fantastic!  Next time, I'll put 2 10lb blocks of ice, and then fill in the empty space with a bag of cubed ice.  I bet I can get 30lbs of ice in there.  

Thanks Bob!

[rbridges]

I like my cooler. Same as you described--not freezing but much better than 100 outside temps.  I just wish they had a little more endurance before the ice melts. 

[ragedracer1977]

15 minutes ago, rbridges said:

I like my cooler. Same as you described--not freezing but much better than 100 outside temps.  I just wish they had a little more endurance before the ice melts. 

There's a LOT of heat exchange happening in that little heater core.  I don't know how long the ice actually lasted, but the water was still quite cool when I drained it after tying down.  

[rbridges]

I used freeze packs which I don't think work as well as ice, just more convenient.  I could get a fair amount of time, but you always wish for more. Lol. 

[KLRDMD]

Me: I know you’re always looking to see what works best in your B-Kool so what do you recommend nowadays ?

Bob: Block ice all the way..if you want more, fill the voids with crushed ice..we routinely see more than 2 hours of ice cold air. If your unit is an older blue one, we need to upgrade it..more than doubles air velocity. Upgrade is $125 and includes replacing any non functioning, components, takes about 1.5 hours.

I'm flying up to Sedona to have Bob upgrade my B-Kool unit later this week.