Have you ever had a reefer shut off while you were sleeping?

#### reefers break down all the time. I saved a load for the company I work for about six weeks ago. It amazes me there’s not more lost loads out there. A disgruntled trucker or a person have to do is walk up and push one button and your reefer is off. If you don’t have an emergency monitoring system you won’t know about it until you wake up.

what is the average reefer load worth probably? I know it depends, but most anything back there wholesale price is going to run at least a dollar a pound. Yogurt, cheese, eggs, meat products, you’re likely hauling $40,000 plus worth of food.

 

The claim is only for the actual cost not retail. I had a claim on 8 boxes of beef and it was $132 for 320lbs

 

Yes I have. It's never pleasant. The wildest episode was in Oakland CA. (I'm not fond of the Bay area, on the job at least) I was parked outside the receiver to deliver early in the morning. I came awake around three AM and noticed the reefer was off. Scrambled out of the cab to find a crime scene. The cap was hanging off the reefer tank. A small puddle of fuel on the deck. I didn't need a detective to tell me someone had stolen the fuel. A rag he had used to either wipe his hands or open the cap was laying there.
A quick scan of my internet and I located the nearest diesel station. Almost forty miles. No choice. I had no stuff with me to drain some from the truck to transfer to the reefer. As fast as I could to the station with the log off. Filled the tank then had to struggle with the reefer motor to re start it. Always a pain when it's been run dry.
I usually don't sleep that heavy. The punk caught me sleeping for sure.

 

I bought a brand new reefer a couple years ago and my very first load was beer kegs that shipped at 37 degrees. Half way to receiver the reefer shut down. Got to the nearest dealer and found out that the trailer dealer hadn't bothered to finish the installation of the reefer unit or even test started it. The ground buss was just hanging on from a hand tightened nut, and it worked loose and the engine lost it's ground and shut off. Dealer worked fast, all under warranty, and no harm to product.

 

Most newer reefers have a satellite connection that your company can use to monitor the reefers, and they will call you if there is a failure. You should watch the status light when you are driving. When you are asleep, if their monitoring systems fail and they don't warn you, you really can't be blamed for sleeping.

Just check the status lights before you go to bed, and when you wake up. Know how full the trailer is too, whenever you park.

 

Yeah I've had them shut off on me while sleeping twice... But I ALWAYS run mine on continuous, and if it shuts off it wakes me up.

Once was a frozen fuel filter... The other time a fuel line had cracked and sucked air.

 

So if they call you in the middle of the night while on your 8 hr sleeper berth or 10 hour break, and they ask you to get up and check the reefer, do you break your break on go on-duty on your log?

 

U reefer boys are on high alert all the time i could imagine

 

I wasn't sleeping when the reefer shut off, but I was about 10 miles out from my delivery point in Henderson, NV. I was driving at the time and was shocked to not see the green indicator in mirror. I was carrying ice cream and the reefer was set for -20F, continuous mode. I promptly pulled over and saw the code about low engine oil! Anyway, I was able to get it started again, but I didn't have any engine oil to put in it, rookie reefer driver mistake!

Anyway, this was a drop and hook at the consignee, so after getting checked in, and being relieved of all responsibility from the load, I disconnected, parked my tractor and walked down to a gas station to buy a quart of oil. I went back to the consignee and put that quart in the reefer. The outside temp was about 100F that day.

So the lesson is to always keep some oil for the reefer on board. One other time, I had a reefer throw a code about a fuel level sensor while carrying a load of beer kegs. I delivered the kegs, as the reefer kept running at 36F, but after the delivery I was sent to a local ThermoKing to get that fixed.

Reefers don't pay anymore, but there is a whole new level of added stress involved. Kind of not worth the hassle.

 

I had my reefer give out. But using the lighter the blunt fired back up. lol