Site with reviews of products to keep insulin cool (while travelling)

[SimonP]

Am planning a multi-day bicycle ride and was wondering about methods of keeping insulin cool.

I used to fly a lot for work and pleasure (though much less so now) and always used a small coolbag + ice packs/ice in a plastic bag. Before moving to a coolbag + ice (around 25 years ago I guess) I'd bought and tried a Frio bag, but thought it performed quite poorly (and a pain as it/things got damp - I know this is the method of operation). That's why I moved to ice packs and was quite happy.

On a bike, space is rather constrained, so I need to get something new, whether a smaller cool bag/box/case or something else (e.g. try a Frio again perhaps - I've lost the original or perhaps threw it away as I really didn't think much of it).

I've noted that people here do seem to rate Frio bags though, so I thought I'd do some Googling to see whether there were any scientific reviews of how well they work, and I came across this YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@SirKoolzalot

I thought it might be of interest, there are multiple devices/methods tested on there, I've only watched the one about the Frio (and decided that yes, that seemed to tally with my experience so I'll scratch that one from the list.)

It may turn out that a coolbag with ice packs performs even more poorly, who knows! 🙂

Enjoy!

P.S. No links to the chap (presumably) who does the testing/site, just thought it might be interesting to see some actual data.

 

[helli]

What about using a small vacuum flask?
I think I have seen some designed for insulin ... or other medication that needs to be kept cool.

 

[Sally71]

I thought the issue with carrying insulin in a cool bag with ice packs is that if the insulin ends up resting on/pushed up next to the ice pack it could cause the insulin to freeze, which then renders it unusable. I suppose there must be ways of protecting against this happening though, put something else in between etc.

 

[SimonP]

I thought the issue with carrying insulin in a cool bag with ice packs is that if the insulin ends up resting on/pushed up next to the ice pack it could cause the insulin to freeze, which then renders it unusable. I suppose there must be ways of protecting against this happening though, put something else in between etc.

Exactly, though it will depend on the volume of the ice pack I would guess with my engineer's first approximation hat on (assuming the volume of the insulin is fixed). I always used either a piece of corrugated carboard or ideally a single thickness folder over. Seemed to work. But my cool bag was also a fabric affairs with a thermal liner - the sort of thing can can buy to keep your lunch cold, not a proper vacuum vessel (thanks for the suggestion @helli).

What about using a small vacuum flask?
I think I have seen some designed for insulin ... or other medication that needs to be kept cool.

I did have a quick look but they tend to be quite large if they have a large opening and the small ones were generally too short - I think they would also require an ice pack and then one runs into the problem of separating the insulin/ice which increases the volume further, or needing to pre-cool the device and just use a cold pack (but this is more faff) - I guess something could be strapped into a 3rd bottle cage on the outside of the bike, but then solar radiation and it's all becoming rather more involved/bulky that I think is really necessary, plus I'd want to test it properly if it might end up sitting in mid-summer sun for multiple hours!

Interestingly in another of the reviews from the site above there's a vacuum vessel with an electric Peltier effect cooler and an ice pack. The Peltier cooler seems to work reasonably well (though I guess it would be far less effective in a space with no volume to reject heat into as they are very inefficient (but on the plus side cheap, small and robust) but with the ice pack onboard as well as the Peltier cooler it did indeed drop below 0C (which is perhaps not a surprise - and something which some electronics could perhaps have avoided.)

I need to have a further look to see if there's one which is simply an ice pack in an insulated vessel.

And in the absence of anything above, I'll do some testing myself! 🙂

My thread wasn't really here to ask for advice (I've read many many posts over the years and added my own tuppence worth on occasion), but thank you nevertheless, it was more to point people at the site above with the reviews which I think is quite interesting and potentially useful.

Perhaps I should change the title of the thread.... Now done!