Yeti coolers can keep ice for an extremely long period of time. They tend to keep ice for around five days and even up to ten days. But how do Yeti coolers keep ice so long?
Yeti's keep ice for so long because they have much thicker insulation than standard coolers. They have 2-3 inches of insulation vs 1-1.5 inches of insulation in a standard cooler. The lid is insulated where a standard cooler isn't and it also has a rubber gasket to keep hot air out and rubber feet to raise it off the ground. All this combined helps Yeti coolers achieve superior ice retention when compared to a standard cooler.
I've owned my Yeti for over three years now. I did a 10-day Yeti ice test and it kept ice for just over ten days in near perfect conditions and completely full of ice. General use you're expecting more around the 4-6 days of ice retention.
So how does it keep ice so long when other coolers might be lucky to keep ice one or maybe two days?
The Main Reason: Thick Insulation
The main reason Yeti coolers keep ice so long comes down to the insulation and the way the cooler is made.
If we open it up what you can see is that this cooler is extremely thick compared to a regular cooler. In fact the walls of this cooler are around two inches thick (around 1-2.5 inches depending on what part of the side you are looking at) and the lid itself is around 2-3 inches thick as well.
The Yeti is made with roto-molded plastic so the plastic is extremely thick and plastic as you may know is a good insulator so it's hard for the heat to get through the exterior plastic.
Plus inside this cooler is pressure injected insulation foam. Each Yeti is filled with polyurethane foam which is a great insulator.
The insulation is really the main guts of what allows Yeti coolers to keep ice for so long.
See Yeti coolers on Amazon (affiliate link)
It's Important To Prepare Your Cooler Before Use For Maximum Ice Retention
It's very important that when you're using your cooler you prepare it ahead of time.
If you were to leave your Yeti in a really hot place, for example let's say middle of summer I leave it in my van, then the Yeti cooler will actually absorb some of the heat and become quite warm. If you then go ahead and use it straight away the heat that the cooler has absorbed will then go into your ice and melt it quite quickly.
So it's important that you prepare it ahead of time.
To do that take it out of the heat, put it a cool place inside, put a sacrificial bag of ice inside overnight to just bring the temperature of the cooler down so you can get that maximum ice retention.
Other Features That Help Yeti Coolers Keep Ice Longer
There are some other features as well that allow Yeti coolers to keep ice for so long.
Commercial Grade Rubber Gasket
One of those features is the commercial grade rubber gasket.
You know how on your fridge when you shut your fridge it's got the rubber around the side that just helps keep it airtight and keeps the cold air in and keeps the warm air out? It's the same sort of principle with the Yeti.
You've got a rubber gasket that goes all the way around the lid. It's not completely airtight (it does have a tiny little gap where it doesn't quite meet at the bottom) but it does a very good job keeping almost all air out of the cooler.
When you close it, the gasket lines up with the body of the cooler to form a tight seal which keeps the warm air out of the cooler keeps the cold air in the cooler.
Rubber Latches Keep The Lid Shut Tight
Then to improve on that seal even more you've got the rubber latches on the front. These have a little bit of flex in them and you pull these down and lock them into place.
What that does is it pulls the lid onto the body making it tight and also it means that you can't open the cooler. So as it bumps around it's not opening and it's not letting air in so it just keeps it all really nice and tight.
This helps keep the cold air in helps keep the warm air out.
Raised Rubber Feet
The last feature that helps the Yeti to keep ice even longer is on the bottom it has non-slip rubber feet which raises the cooler up just a little bit from the ground.
This means that the bottom of the cooler, the entire surface, isn't touching the ground.
If you were to put this on somewhere that is hot and it's fully touching then the heat from the ground is going to go all the way through into the cooler melting your ice faster.
But given that it's raised up a little bit that helps with that insulation a little bit more.
So How Do Yeti Coolers Keep Ice So Long?
Ultimately the main reason Yeti coolers keep ice so long is just the thick insulation that they have and the way that they're made.
But then you've got the rubber gasket, you've got the latches and you've got the feet that help with the ice retention as well.
If you're wondering how do Yeti coolers keep ice so long hopefully this answers your question.
If you are interested in getting a Yeti cooler then I will link up to them on Amazon down below:
Video Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction
0:22 – How long do Yeti coolers keep ice?
0:49 – The main reason Yeti keeps ice so long
2:05 – How to prepare your Yeti cooler for maximum ice retention
2:51 – The commercial grade rubber gasket
3:43 – The rubber latches
4:14 – The raised non-slip rubber feet
