Fozen loads in hot weather

I've owned a reefer for about a year and a half, but I rarely do frozen loads. This week I've had 2, both requiring -20 on the temp. So is it normal in hot weather for the reefers to struggle to get to and maintain that temp? It was 104 outside when I picked up my first load, and my reefer ran on high until the middle of the first night when it finally reached -20 and kicked into low idle in continuous mode. Ate up a full tank of fuel in 48 hours. Besides the additional wear and tear on my reefer, the fuel cost will be a consideration when booking these loads in the future when it's hot. Just wondering if this is normal in hot weather. Trailer was new when I got it and everything seals up good.

 

Good to know. I'm guessing it was probably in the 0 to -10 range.

Other than a couple oil changes it's never been cleaned. Dropping it off for a tune up and PM on Monday. It was new in Oct 2018 and hasn't seen a lot of use on cold loads.

 

My first load this week was ice cream, and my second load that delivered this morning was frozen blueberries. Judging by how hard my reefer was working, I'm guessing that neither load was close to -20. It never really occurred to me that a temp difference between 0 and -20 would keep my reefer running non-stop like that. It makes one heck of a difference in the fuel cost for the load. Duly noted for future frozen loads. I normally only haul chilled items that are never below 32 with most of it in the 40-50 range.