Icey Breeze Cooler Yay or Nay

[FlyboyKC]

Well summer is in full swing already and its 102 in the mid-west, so its a little warm in my M20G....

Has anyone used these Iceybreeze https://www.icybreeze.com/ type of coolers in their planes?

Just curious how effective they are and is the price worth admission?

 

Thanks for any reviews.

 

[EricJ]

I've no experience with that one, but I've had a B-Kool for years and love it.   That's for summer flying in Phoenix, so it's not light duty.

https://www.b-kool.net/

 

[Eight8Victor]

I bought one 5 or six years ago at SunNFun. I used it extensively the first year while doing my instrument training. It worked as advertised. After an hour of flying approaches and going missed, it was pretty much finished on a 90+ degree day. When it sat over the winter in my hangar, a cockroach made his home in it and pooped all over the inside. (The lid doesn't seal tight by design). I cleaned it up with bleach and used it a time or two after but that was 3 or so years ago. I should give it a shot again in this heat. I bought the remote on/ off switch so it could be turned off to save the ice at altitude. The biggest reason I don't use it is emptying the water out is inconvenient. 

[hubcap]

I got one of the B-Kool's from the previous owner, but I've never used it. We usually fly in the mid-to-upper teens with the heater on. When we flew to MooneyMax last week, the outside air temperature was 27F at 16,000'

[tim417]

I have the IcyBreeze Platinum and for me it works pretty well. 35 lbs of ice cools the cabin decently and lasts longer in the low setting (maybe 2-3 hours). I only put it on high for taxi and holding short. I just got some IcyBlocks that you can freeze (1gal each) and they reportedly last quite a bit longer than cube ice and it’s free. 

On a hot day, I find it to be quite a game changer in terms of comfort. 

[FlyboyKC]

All,

Thanks for the feedback. I took the plunge and should have the cooler in a couple of weeks.

 

[M20F]

How do these 2 wet ice models stack up to 

http://www.arcticaircooler.com

just curious 

[Hank]

Would been nice for my BFR / IPC after work yesterday, but mynwife can't give up the space when we're traveling!

[tim417]

@m20f Since they operate off the same concept, I would imagine cooling ability is similar. The IcyBreeze has the ability to run off a battery, 12v source, or AC adapter. If that flexibility is important to you, that may give it the advantage. The cooler itself can keep ice frozen for multiple days if you arent running the AC, so the insulation works well. 

[A64Pilot]

They don’t last long, but for the hot taxi, run up and climb to altitude they are great. Flying in Central Tx we had a saying,” Climb and maintain 70” meaning of cruise altitude was determined by OAT.

You don’t need one that will last for hours, actually you don’t want one that will last for more than 20 min or so, X number of lbs of ice can only absorb so much heat, if it lasted for hours it wouldn’t cool worth a darn, but one that melts the whole cooler in 20 min is blowing lots of cold air for those 20 min.

[TLWM-21]

Horrible.     IcyBreeze couldn't cool down my Mooney at all. Terrible product. I'm shocked Prime Time Deion Sanders put his name on this thing. 

[Fly Boomer]

1 hour ago, TLWM-21 said:

I'm shocked Prime Time Deion Sanders put his name on this thing. 

He probably did it for money.  

[bcg]

They don’t last long, but for the hot taxi, run up and climb to altitude they are great. Flying in Central Tx we had a saying,” Climb and maintain 70” meaning of cruise altitude was determined by OAT.
You don’t need one that will last for hours, actually you don’t want one that will last for more than 20 min or so, X number of lbs of ice can only absorb so much heat, if it lasted for hours it wouldn’t cool worth a darn, but one that melts the whole cooler in 20 min is blowing lots of cold air for those 20 min.

I like to climb and maintain 50 or less. Air flow in the C isn't near as good as the later models though.

I used a B-Kool for a couple of years and it worked well if your expectations are realistic. I tinted the windows on my plane and that helped it significantly. In the cooler, I use frozen water bottles of freezer packs, preferably from a deep freezer that'll reach -10F. The solid ice like that lasts a lot longer than cubed ice, the air isn't as cold coming out but, I don't need it 30° to be comfortable, 50° is just fine when you blow it right on you. That gives me 2-3 hours of cooling from it, which is enough for ground ops, takeoff/climb and descent/landing, even if ATC brings me down earlier than I'd like.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[EricJ]

I still use a B-Kool in my airplane.    Works great.

 

[TheAv8r]

I've found it doesn't make the cockpit "cool" but it does make it more bearable on the ground. The difference between still being warm, but not drenched in sweat. Which aligns with IcyBreeze's docs that say it only cools the ambient temperature down by about 20-25 degrees, when it's 103 outside, it's still 80+ in the cockpit with the sun beaming on you. 

The most difficult thing I've found is it's a tight fit in the baggage compartment of my E. It scrapes up and down the sides of the rear seats coming up and out and I place an absorptive pad underneath it because I always get some water sloshing out as I get it out of the plane. I think I'm going to try to get a tarp up along the sides so it doesn't scrape up my new leather seats to solve that issue, but wish it had a bit more room back there. 

It does make a difference though.

[A64Pilot]

Try a blanket instead of a tarp, softer and water absorbent, plus not a bad thing to carry in the airplane in winter.

It’s not hard to siphon the water out, lots easier than siphoning gasoline, get a mouthful, it’s just water

At my age I don’t think I could pull the thing full of water over the seats, I think about 5 ft of 3/4” clear vinyl hose stuck out of the baggage door ought to empty it quick, or get real slick and put a baby bilge pump in it.

If you can empty it in the airplane maybe you could leave it in the airplane until next time? 

[Fritz1]

Like my B-cool, runs about 1h full of cubed ice, a little longer with large deep frozen blocks, enough for taxi and climb, if you need longer cooling time pack two of them, about 30lb full, use it a couple of times per year, wired Anderson plug from left No. 1 battery, precool airplane in hangar, start engine on no 2 battery