Looking for reefer help

Precooling down to chilled temps (30-45f) is no big deal, depending on the efficiency of your setup, maybe an hour. Down to 0 or -10, maybe 2-3 hours but depends. Expect them to go into defrost mode a few times if there's moist outside air in the trailer. These defrost cycles will slow the cool down process.

If looking for in-cab status monitor, I'd suggest going to the appropriate dealer (Carrier or Thermoking) and seeing what they have to offer.

I'm not aware of any requirements to keep track of past shipments. A few shippers will ask what was last hauled. If you had an acid or paint spill and there are offensive odors inside, many places won't load. A few places don't even want to smell "deodorizer".

I can't address the detention aspect. Reefer hauling is risky business with little knowledge and not knowing what and who to avoid. Expect some unpleasant surprises in the beginning. It's knowledge that can only be learned in the school of hard knocks.

 

Generally I just turn mine on after wash out and let it do what it's supposed to do. Best to find out any issues prior to loading.

TK has in cab controllers. Not worth it imo. A stop and check accomplishes the same thing. They also make an LED bar which I have which gives a temp readout in the mirror.
The new TSR and TSR-3 controllers

You already keep track of your loads via rate cons. And washouts via receipts. A download will give you trip info at the dealer.

Detention...don't hold your breath. Nature of the beast. When you do get it you'll LOL at the offers. Chose your lanes and freight wisely. You can ask for whatever you want. Doesn't mean you'll get it. Learn the lanes. It's out there.

 

That trailer will be clean and perfect with no odor, not even the coffee grounds you threw down and swept out prior to showing up at Kraft. IF they smell anything you will be refused loading.

Usually the reefer has a indicator on the corner visible in your mirrior what's it up to cooling, heating, in range etc. But it is up to you to stop and check it often.

Reefer isnt always about food, you can run paint during winter to keep it warm with it or keeping brass for ammunitioin at a steady temperature as you cross from the cold north into a hot and humid Arkansas. Or run medicines at 60 degrees and a good seal among other things.

You wont be able to put as much into a reefer unless you have a lighter tractor as you might put into a van. Fuel will be your number one thought all day all night every day empty or loaded.

Reefers maintain once loaded, the product has to be at temp. If you put in hot icecream and set it for -20 you will see 34 and rising instead. Once a product starts gaining temperature in form of energy and the reefer is unable to maintain cooling temp you potentially have a situation in which the load is going to be refused and you get to take it home on your own dime or spend a thousand plus dollars and dump it t the landfill. Or take it to a wholesaler within a certain time frame.

Finally but not least, all reefers are subject to a tier two if for example DC gets nuked with 800,000 dead on day one your reefer will be called in to haul dead bodies for disposal to prevent the spread of lethal infecting of healthy people or killing the not so healthy people via a number of classic outbreaks as the bodies decompose in the local ground water, open spaces and so on. There is not enough reefers to get everyone deceased without also stopping the ordinary and usual food shipments east from the west. Stop the food trucks and within a short time society begins to break down. Witness the ongoing strikes in day 11 in Brazil as things worsen in that nation being brought to a complete and total halt pending famine and starvation.

Most reefers have 4 corner drain holes to get rid of water in whatever form. They sometimes ice over and have to be chopped clear. You can usually sniff and tell how the load is doing through the corners as well. If it for some reason is allowed to run out of fuel in a drop lot and the product begins to spoil you will know it before you get closer than 10 feet from the trailer corner.

Precooling does not take long. But we had one incident in Americold at Salinas where we as a team babysat a roaring -20 reefer for three days before they were ready to load the product at a moment's notice. We had to go and purchase a ginormous amount of fuel right away after loading. It was a complete and total waste to see 400 gallons put in both tractor and reefer tanks before leaving town. That ate into the profits for the week. We will never do business or go to Americold ever again anywhere because of that.

Had we run out and they were going into day 4 and waiting, we would have pulled out a credit card and called up a local fuel dealer to show up in a 2000 gallon fuel tanker and fueled both the tractor and trailer and got the costs reimbursed by FFE. We were that close to calling them up on our own to deliver fuel directly to our truck.

 

Its dated 2010. I found it online several yrs ago when I was considering reefer job. Hope it helps.

 

I have a question we have a reefer with a message service required within 24 hours what does that mean w no codes ?

 

I'm not sure.....Is there a page # you can provide? I've pulled a tanker so I'm not real familiar with reefers ops.

 

You're talking about FSMA, Food Safety Modernization Act. I wouldn't go with Sensitech...their devices suck

 

I agree about the unit off if docked, especially with frozen, but there's more than a few shippers who refuse to understand that internal temps will actually rise to unsafe temps if the unit is running with doors open, especially in warmer outside temps and will demand that you run unit while being loaded/unloaded. Frozen [especially] will stay colder, longer, with unit off if docked with doors open, even on cold docks. Any time of year.