what happens if your reefer breaks down while you're loaded?

You get it fixed, the only question is whip pays for it. Company drivers you call dispatch, oo who own trailers get it fixed,
Lo call dispatch.

 

I had a load of frozen turkey headed to Texas when my reefer fuel pump seized south of KC. My company refused to have it serviced at a dealer there. "Press on, you're almost there." they said. I got to the whs seven hours later. Temp now at 48F. I waited 2 more hrs to get a dock. Sun blazing. Temp now at 63F. OMG! Shift foreman lazed the turkey. "Ok. No problem. Take it to dock 7." I'm not kiddin. The turkeys were sweating. I asked if they were gonna be used for dog or cat food. "No, no, no!" he said. "We'll grind 'em up and make turkey dogs out of them. Gonna cost your company, though."

Needless to say, i've shied away from turkey dogs since then.

 

I too had a load of ice packed chickens going to Phoenix in warm weather, the next morning my unit stopped & I could not get it going so I called in. Boss man said don't worry about it, go on, them when you get unloaded go get the unit fixed them call us. I did. Those chickens look quite slimy to me, but the man of the dock said they looked real good! During that time I refused to eat any chickens!

 

This is an old thread but hey I am new

Driving for Butler transport I had a load of ice cream and reefer unit went down on me like within 60 miles of reciever.. I was I think 3 hrs early as I normally tried to be and called dispatch to let them know... They tried to get me in early but was not able to. They called out a repair shop but after 1 1/2hr and me being inpatient I opened the unit up to see if I could figure out what went wrong,.. I found a broken wire which in turn blew a 100amp fuse (maybe it was 60 I cannot remember for sure been 12+yrs ago).. Fixed the wire and walked down to a local auto parts store and was very lucky they had 1 fuse (this is why I think it was a 100amp as there are no fuses on automobiles that big atlleast in standard fuses).. Threw the fuse in and fired it up and ran perfect.. Broke the company seal I kept on inspection door to look at thermometer and was within range of bills (did this due to the recorder they put in the trailer is always at the rear of the trailer)....

Had they not had the fuse I would have just made a fuse holder and used the closest maxi fuse they had and made it work.. I am pretty handy with a wrench and can come up with some whacky things to get me to the nearest repair station to get fixed correctly. At first they were not very hip on me performing the repair, but after a couple mechanical issues that would leave a lot of drivers sitting on the side of the road they didnt give me to much grief

 

This one happened to me almost 15 Years ago now. I was hauling Strawberries in from CA to St Louis and At OKC my Compressor started to leak Refrigerant all over the place. Front Seal was Blown and both Head Seals where Fried. I was less than 10 Hours out. Called the Shop was told get it Recharged and HAUL ARSE to the consignee. Well 20 Lbs of charge later I am out of OKC TK and on 44 doing all I can do. I get to the Final and the Unit Explodes I do not mean Dies I mean Explodes right in front of the Guard house. The Compressor comes apart and out of the unit in Chunks all over the place taking the Engine with it. They throw me into a Refrig door unload me Live we had D&H there and said take this one to the Yard. I Go to the yard and go Here is the Trailer it will need a NEW UNIT. It was put on that week and I got that trailer 4 weeks later hauling Ice Cream out of TX to CA. Beat up trailer that would cool to -25 man that new unit was Awesome.

 

in the late 80s i had a load of fresh turkey in tote bins going in to the swift plant at wells mn , it was late afternoon on the 4th of july and very hot when i arrived at the plant to unload the next morning and discovered my unit compresser was throwin oil big time and complete failure was imminent .
the plant was closed but the gate gaurd called someone and they came in and unloaded it quik ...then they invited me to the town street dance that nite and we drank lotsa beer .

 

Sounds like a pro tip for reefer work. Pull a fuse when you get to receiver and tell them to unload it quick!!

 

In my experience they do not always get you in right away even if your having trouble

 

Oh! There is nothing FAST, when it comes to cold storage DC's.

Hurry up and wait driver.

 

Most of the time you will be able to get it fixed without the load going bad. The worst loads to have reefer issues are fruit, produce, and ice cream. These loads have temp recorders and if it shows a spike in temp when the receiver reads it they will most likely reject the load.
And if repairs cant be done within a few hours your company will try and find a local storage facility who can hold onto the product.