-10 Carrier Unit

Any unit has to work it's butt off to hit -10. The fact is does it a plus. I've seen many older units that would fight for -5. It's a lot harder to cool an empty trailer versus one that is full of -10 degree product because of the cubic space to chill. See if it will hit -20 then you will know it's a keeper. Them older Carriers are much noisier than a ThermoKing. TK has a bigger network of repair facilities. Deciding which one wouldn't take long for me.

Our oldest units had about 14,000 hours on them so try to find one with the lowest hours possible. There is on time and run time. So if you found one that was ran on cycle more than let's say an ice cream hauler you will find a better unit.

 

Depends on the unit if it was a 2500 or ultima not so good if was a 2100 or ultra its okay. and as far as the difference between carrier and thremo king both newer units are fairly quiet. But there are more 2500 and ultima units out there which are the big carrier units. Then there is Thremo king sb 300 series units which is the big thremo king unit. You most likely will see the 200 series thremo king units which are on par for the 2100 carrier units. As far as dealships both have about the same amount but the in midwest carrier has more shops then thremo king kinda funny when you think that thremo kings headquarters is based outa Minneapolis MN. And yes I have pulled and owned reefers for 25 years.

 

I've always been a big fan of Thermo King. I don't know much about Carrier. I agree with CondoCruiser that TK has a great network of repair facilities across the country. My unit usually cooled down to -5 to -10 within an hour, but I ordered a new Utility trailer with extra insulation at the same time I purchased my TK unit. Obviously takes longer to cool if I was down south loading in 90 or 100 degree weather. Especially if I was loading produce that just came in from the field, then it will take quite awhile to cool down. As far as preventive maintenance I would always change my belts and hoses every 2 years. Some might consider that going overboard, but I did it whether it needed it or not. Nothing more frustrating than having a belt or hose break on you when you have a frozen load on during a hot day. I also had a 50 gallon tank for my reefer fuel. It gave me greater range to pick and choose where I wanted to buy the cheaper fuel to keep my fuel cost down. Hope this helps.

 

I would not be afraid of a unit that would pull an MT trailer down that low in 2 hours. There might be other issues with the unit, but that ain't too bad.

 

Gotta agree--course the trailer itself has a lot to do with cooling time potential---so 2hrs also gives u a pretty good idea about the integrity of the wagon itself

 

I am new to carriers (not reefers) but the one i bought a couple months ago xt series seems like it will go from hot to 0 degrees pretty fast then seems like it backs off. It also seems to defrost alot. I am speaking in terms of it being MT. Any thoughts.

 

50 gallon as opposed to what? 50 is the smallest I've seen in a long time, think I used to see 35. I have trailers with 100 gallon tanks now.

 

Only reason I never went with 100 gallon tanks was to keep my weight down. The loads I was hauling were always pushing me close to 80,000. The extra insulation I added to my trailer when I purchased it already added some extra weight to the trailer. Which is why I went with the 50 gallon tank. The company I used to drive for back in the 90's had 25 gallon tanks. Huge pain in the ###. Always stopping to fill it up with fuel, especially in the summer time. But I agree, 100 gallon tanks are great. It comes in handy if you have to drop your trailer for a long period of time. For me weight was an issue since I had a bigger truck with 300 gallon tanks.