which reefer unit?

New or used? If used, look at turned in trailers from a company that takes care of them. Ex-prime GD should have good service records and low hours since they swap their equipment earlier than many carriers

 

Cooling capacity. If you haul frozen, you want a lot, especially if you cross the desert in summer.

 

Keep in mind they loose 5% of their insulation efficiency every year if buying used. The GD's seem to hold up better over time and seem to be better built. If going used I may steer that route. As for new the utility 3000r's they are incredible every time I hook to one instead of a WB artic lite its a free 1 to 1/2 mpg depending on the year. If going new that's the way I would go. Does it make sense to buy new GD because hold up better over time if the insulation will loose efficiency anyway? Only problem is new what are they about 65-70k? Not sure of the difference between the two reefer models you listed but both TK and carrier build a good unit.

 

What he means is the Utility pulls easier, so you get better economy. Sounds weird but it's true. I don't know about losing efficiency, but I suppose it could happen. Buy the newest trailer with the biggest unit you can afford and you should be fine. I prefer TK over Carrier.

 

Also, most trailers just aren't made to last 20 years. The OEMs figure about a 7 year floor life, which of course varies by how it's been treated.

 

Yes I remember reading somewhere that the insulation looses 5% of its thermal efficiency every year. Which is evident when I hook a new trailer vs an old one (fleet still has some 07's) that the reefer runs nonstop on an older trailer vs a newer trailer that starts and stops on a -10 load. I had an 07 (our 07's are artic lites) trailer and the company booked me on an ice cream load which requires that you precool to -20 and it was 80 outside and I barely got the trailer cool enough to get loaded. Shipper said that's as high of a temp as we'll accept. So I'm wondering if in another couple years that 07 would be capable of -10 in all outside temperatures. But I posted because I would like to learn as well so anyone wants to chime in on the reefer insulation loosing its efficiency with time. I know that GD and utility use a different insulation process, GD being some type of layering an utility has a foam injection process. Not sure which holds up better over time and why. And yes the newer 3000r's do pull that much better than the older WB in the fleet, big difference night and day, very noticeable. Like I said 1-1/2 mpg.