Freezer Dry Ice Calculator

How much dry ice keeps your freezer cold during an outage?

Power outage? Calculate exactly how many pounds of dry ice you need to keep your refrigerator or freezer cold for the duration of the outage. Sized using FDA emergency-food-safety dry-ice guidance.

⏱ ~20 sec•FDA emergency food guidance•Calculator

25 lb

Per 15 cu ft

Freezer / 24 hr

10 lb

Per 15 cu ft

Fridge / 24 hr

48 hr

Full freezer holds

USDA, door shut

-109°F

Dry ice temp

Always glove

STEP 01

Volume.
Hours. Appliance.

Sized to FDA emergency dry-ice guidance — roughly 25 lb / 15 cu ft / 24 hr for freezers.

Appliance type

Interior volume

cu ft

Expected outage duration

hours

Plan for the full outage, not just half of it.

Updates live as you type

Dry ice required

25lbs

Approximately 3 ten-pound blocks.

Blocks needed

Est. cost

$25–$75

Under the hood

FDA dry ice math, simplified.

Sourced from FDA emergency food safety guidance for power outages and USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service refrigerator/freezer holding times.

01
Per-volume baseline
Freezers: 25 lb dry ice per 15 cu ft per 24 hours. Refrigerators: 10 lb per 15 cu ft per 24 hours (FDA).
02
Scale by outage duration
Total dry ice = (cu ft × per-cu-ft rate × outage hours) ÷ 24. Round up to the next pound.
03
Block math
Dry ice typically sells in 10 lb blocks. We round up so you never run short mid-outage.

Questions

Frequently asked

FDA emergency-food guidance is roughly 25 lbs of dry ice per 15 cu ft of freezer space per 24 hours. A typical 15 cu ft full upright freezer needs about 25 lbs to stay frozen for one day.