Still sorta rookie to trucking and definitely new to reefer but I have been trying to soak in what I can on here. I work for a craft brewer with its own truck. Currently I run it on a few trips per month to haul beer to our distributors in the south east, mostly Florida, and back haul our empty kegs. They are talking about getting our own authority so we can hopefully pick up some other back hauls and maybe even keep the truck running on more of a full time basis. Our 53ft trailer has a thermo king sb400. It doesn't have a chute on the ceiling which doesn't seem to be an issue for keeping our beer cold as our pallet height rarely exceeds 5ft or so. Would the lack of a chute be an issue for alot reefer loads out there? Should I encourage them to invest in installing one?
No chute in trailer and new authority.
Discussion in 'Refrigerated Trucking Forum' started by WalterSobchak, Feb 9, 2015.
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Yes you need one to haul produce .
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yes if you are going to haul produce
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Pallet height and the need for a chute don't have anything to do with one another. Not having a chute makes the entire cooling process in that trailer VERY in-efficient. There is probably 10-15 degrees difference between the back of the trailer and the front. It's fine for beer that may already be pre-chilled, and maybe keeping product from freezing, but for good temperature control throughout, you don't have that ability. You'd never be able to pull down the temperature of any load that was "hot".
jbatmick and WalterSobchak Thank this. -
Thanks for the replies. We store our beer cold until it's shipped which as mentioned is likely why it seems to work fine for our purposes. I talked to the boss today and at the moment he isn't interested in purchasing a chute. The truck serves it's purpose as is. Getting our own authority isn't even a definite yet. I may still price out a chute in case he changes his mind.
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With no chute you'll dry out if not freeze what ever is in the nose. Especially any kind of leafy veg.
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We had a few owner ops who got dinged when pulling a load that was one temperature throughout in our multi temp trailers because they didn't fire up both reefers .. The front reefer without a chute wasn't enough to keep the back skids from freezing .. If your hauling anything temp sensitive I'd install a chute or you may get claims if there's a temp recorder in load
25(2)+2 Thanks this. -
Who said what you pick up for a back haul had to be refridgerated?
JB3, NYSuperTrucker and lmcclure1220 Thank this. -
lmcclure1220 Thanks this.
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Its funny how most trailers have a chute...but when I hauled produce.we would get 48 foot loads and load in a 42 ft trailer..no chute..and loaded almost all the way to the roof..maybe about 6 inches to a foot top clearance...now you would think that the back of the trailer wouldn't even get cool let alone cold...but it did..never lost a load. And the back was just as cold as the front..some loads were iced..some weren't..
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