Ice Packs and Foam Insulated Shipping Boxes for shipping perishable products.</FONT>

Cold-Stuff Ice Packs

Flexible Ice Packs that can cost less than HALF as much as Gel Packs!!

Instructions for Using Cold-Stuff Ice Packs

Cold-Stuff Ice Packs are easily cut along the seams, using a knife or scissors to make pads or sheets to fit any size box or container. Cold-Stuff Ice Packs can be cut while dry, fully hydrated, or frozen.

SOME COMMON SIZE CUT PADS...

Immerse Cold-Stuff Ice Packs in lukewarm tap water long enough for the cells to swell tight. This usually takes no longer than 10 to 15 minutes then take them out, shake them off and let them stand for a few (15 - 20) minutes before placing them in the freezer. The gel will continue to absorb the surface water on the fabric, bond with it and dry the pads off.

NOTE: If you soak them too long and they get as full as they can possibly get, obviously they are still wet and there will be un-gelled or partially-gelled surface water still on them. If you freeze them while over-saturated and still damp, when you take them out of the freezer the water that was left on the surface will have formed a layer of ice and it will melt leaving the impression that the pad leaked. If some surface ice is not a problem then don't worry about it, soak them as long as you like and throw them straight in the freezer.

When placing the pads in the freezer (if you have to stack them) MAKE SURE THAT PADS ARE ALL STACKED PLASTIC SIDE DOWN TO PREVENT THEM FROM STICKING TO THE FREEZER SHELF AND TO EACH OTHER!

The hydrated Cold-Stuff Ice Packs, or for that matter, gel packs or even plain water, must be left in the freezer until completely frozen solid before being used as a shipping refrigerant!

NOTE: One ice tray (or one gel pack) will freeze much faster than 10 ice trays (or 10 gel packs) stacked in the freezer. The same basic rules apply to Cold-Stuff Ice Packs. However, there will be air channels between the stacked Cold-Stuff Ice Packs because of the way they are made. This will help the ice packs freeze faster than gel packs that lay together with no gaps between them.

Place frozen Cold-Stuff Ice Packs (or packs depending on the weather and shipping time) in the bottom of your foam lined insulated box (and possibly a radiant barrier insulated bag).

Note: 5 pounds of Cold-Stuff Ice Packs are exactly equal to 5 pounds of gel packs in the amount of "cold" they will hold. If you have been using 5 pounds of gel packs then 5 pounds of Cold-Stuff Ice Packs will give equal performance (or better performance in many cases because of the ability of the Cold-Stuff Ice Packs to spread the "cold" over a larger area.)

Click here for examples:

Load your chilled or frozen product and place frozen Cold-Stuff Ice Pack(s) (depending on the time of year) on top of and around your product. Close the bag and the insulated box, seal them with tape, and your product is ready for shipping.

NOTE: Pack your box immediately before shipping. Do not pack the box in the morning and take it to UPS or FedEx in the evening and expect to not add the time it sat around your office in the "TOTAL SHIPPING TIME". The TOTAL SHIPPING TIME of any product starts the moment you pack the box and it ends the moment your customer receives the box.

Example: If you pack a box at 9:am on Monday and UPS picks it up at 4:pm and they deliver the package at 9:am on Wednesday, the TOTAL SHIPPING TIME is 55 hours = 2 days and 7 hours. If you know your regular UPS pickup is at 4:pm then pack your boxes at 3:pm and you will cut 6 hours off the TOTAL SHIPPING TIME for those boxes, therefore the TOTAL SHIPPING TIME would be only 49 hours. Use common sense when shipping perishables.

NOTE: If you can pack the boxes at 9:am in the morning and keep them in a freezer until UPS arrives, then those 7 hours DO NOT count toward the TOTAL SHIPPING TIME. The TOTAL SHIPPING TIME for those boxes will start the moment you remove them from the freezer.

Cold-Stuff Ice Packs can be also be cut and frozen in long strips to be draped over pallets. Pallets of flowers, fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat, or any heat sensitive product that must wait on docks or airport tarmac's, can be protected with Cold-Stuff Ice Pack strips and blankets. There is absolutely NO product better for protecting palletized perishables.

Cold-Stuff Ice Pack strips should be installed in a criss-cross pattern to protect all 4 sides of the pallet. The double layer on the top protects the pallet from direct sunlight and the cold travels downward to protect the entire pallet. It is IMPOSSIBLE to use ice, gel packs or dry ice as effectively as Cold-Stuff Ice Packs when protecting pallets of temperature sensitive products.

After installing the Cold-Stuff Ice Pack strips, install the Cold-Stuff radiant barrier insulated pallet cover over the pallet to reflect the sun's heat rays away from your perishables.

NOTICE:

Cold-Stuff Ice Packs / Ice Pads are designed to be used as an inexpensive replacement for wet ice, dry ice, gel ice, gel ice blanket, gel packs or any other ice pack in normal every day shipping of perishable products.

Cold-Stuff Ice Packs / Ice Pads are made of non-toxic and disposable materials that will not harm the environment.

Any application other than as a shipping refrigerant as described in this website, must be evaluated by the user for acceptability and compliance with all regulations that apply to the intended alternate application. We accept NO responsibility for damages whether real or imagined arising from any misuse of Cold-Stuff Ice Packs.

Use common sense when hydrating Cold-Stuff Ice Packs...always use a container that is KNOWN TO BE CLEAN! Use clean, fresh tap water to soak the pads. If you do not follow commonly established standards for cleanliness when handling ALL components used in packaging your perishable products, YOU are the only one to blame if YOU contaminate your package or product!

EXAMPLE: You would not pack your food (or any perishable product) in boxes you found in a dumpster so don't hydrate your Cold-Stuff Ice Packs in a used garbage can, bathtub or pond, etc.!