Bryan Watts

Have you looked into replacing your cooler with one that has hookups for both the cool shirt and a helmet cooler?

http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?fo...action=product

ngoldrich

Jack,

I know what you mean.

FWIW - Their new SP model i half that much...

Norm

ApexPerformance

From our experience, the cool shirt systems offer about 3.5 hours of cooling time IF you put mostly ice in the chest and just enough water to run thru the tubing. The ice melts during the 3-4 hour period buy stays cooler longer. Still a pain to track down ice every morning but not as expensive as a refrigration system built into the car. Cool Shirt also recommends using a large block of ice with some ice cubes around it and a little water - the block ice takes much longer to melt that crushed ice. They also offer a 24 quart system which offers about 6 hours of cooling time but the cooler is larger so space may be an issue.

A.Wayne

Heck , that was going to be my response , ahhh well

A930Rocket

I'm with Apex. I fill my cooler with ice to the max and then add water. I may or may not have to add a little more ice for the last run dependng on the heat that day.

Keeping the torso cool is great, but the head is like a radiator because it's so vascular. Keeping it cool might help as well (but I don't think I could find a helmet big enough for all the tubing and my head...).

A.Wayne

At those prices , i would need your wallet to keep that cool norm .

ApexPerformance

Cool shirt makes an air & water system that runs about $1000 bucks and you use in conjunction with a forced air helmet to cool the head. More pricey but probably still less than a refrigerant system.

mitch236

I am currently using the cool shirt system with the helmet blower. When the ice is good, it is great but keeping ice in the cooler is a bit of a hassle. I was hoping for a simple solution but I guess I'll stick to what I have.

ngoldrich

A Wayne thats funny.

I would only do the less expensive one LOL....

we will see...

Norm

Bryan Watts

Tried creating ice blocks? I've known people to have great luck with creating large blocks of ice at home using tuperware that just barely fits in the cooler. Bagged ice melts quickly. I believe Coolshirt may even sell a "mold" sized to create block ice for their coolers.

AndyT

Cool shirt verses the FAST system. any prefs ?

Veloce Raptor

FAST has carbon-X shirts, which I like. CoolShirt has Nomex available.

The down side is they they use different hose connectors, so if you have a Brand shirt but get into a car with Brand B gear, you need to buy adapters (ask me how I know).

Bryan Watts

Coolshirt has CarbonX as well.

http://www.hrpworld.com/index.cfm?fo...cat_id=849,587

ApexPerformance

You have to request what type of nomex shirt you want from Cool Shirt - CarbonX, Gforce, Stand 21, Firewear, etc. I've seen all of these and they are great. You can also send your own nomex shirt to them and they will have the tubing sewn on for you - I think it runs about $100 for the service but if you already invested in the shirt and plan on using a cool shirt system a lot, it may be worth it versus buying another brand new shirt with the tubing which can run about $200.

ApexPerformance

Almost forgot - cool shirt does sell the form for the block ice that fits in the cooler. You can also use empty cardboard milk jugs filled with water and freeze them. Then peel off the cardboard and stick the block ice in your cooler. We have the block ice form on our website but the shipping is probably more than the product itself. http://www.apexperformance.net/cartg...t.asp?scat=308