How long will Reefer fuel last

If I were starting out I would go with dry van. Pulling a reefer is not worth the hassle in extra pay. I am pulling a dry load now and have the windows of my truck down and it is completely silent outside. Instead of my loud reefer jerking and rattling my truck while blaring loudly. Not to mention all of the other problems with the reefer.

 

53 Trl with Thermo king running continuos at 34 ,about 13gallons of fuel per 24 hours

 

Depends on outside temp and the temp of the load. Most reefers have a 50 gallon tank. At -20 for ice cream it should last you 2-3 days, At 32 on cycle mode the reefer fuel can last you about a 5-7 days, at 65 degrees the reefer fuel can last you well over a week. How long your reefer fuel last you all depends on the outside temp, and reefer temp setting. ThermoKing and Carrier are pretty much the same when it comes to fuel efficiency.
But you really should never run the tank below half, keep it topped off because you never know when something might happen and you get stuck somewhere for a few days.

 

Best answer. Lots of variables. I used to fuel daily running reefer. Just made it a part of my evening post trip, and always had a shower point. I'd splash some in the tractor then top off the reefer. Always top off a reefer for a drop and set on start stop mode. Gotta watch those shippers and receivers. They love continuous for some reason.

 

Sometimes you breakdown, make it to a TA. Not my fuel stop. Ta takes 15 hours to repair me. I figure why not take a 34. Only have half a tank of reefer fuel. It’s on continuous. Just because you might not have ever been in that specific situation didn’t mean it doesn’t happen to someone.

 

I realize this come off as jerky and that’s not my intention. I commented because I’ve thought the same thing before. “Why would anyone ask this insane question?” Usually because they need a legitimate answer.

 

I fill it every day. I don't always worry about that 100 gallon tank. Excepting some very very bad situations.

For example they ran us to (Team) precooled to -20 Americold Salinas CA and it was supposed to be a emergency loading.

We ended up blocking their two docks for almost three days and two nights ready to go at a moment's notice. Just about all of our tractor and most of the reefer fuel was pretty much burnt waiting in continuous.

We were there only once in our life time. We have made sure never to do that again. It was a complete and utter waste of about 400 gallons of fuel, three days of potential regional team income in a very high density freight area and so on. To rub it in, San Fran Ternimal was not active that week about two hours away more or less. But in the end we loaded. Straight to fueling to a pump big enough fast enough to feed our rig.

I am not the kind of person to accurately answer your questions. I go back to the early days of 30 gallon reefer tanks that would splash back at your clothing and body if you filled them too fast and mechanical reefer units (Plural, one big one up front and a second one inside the back of the trailer for compartmentation at different temperatures if necessary. That 30 gallons was inadequate. But it was all we had. Many a time prior to the fuel tax laws and dye use I would splash or poach tractor fuel to feed reefer. This was back in the 80's

I also ran continous always. The only time I ever allowed the reefer to cycle or hold temperature of say 60 for medicine in either cooling or heating depending on season, winter or summer was much later in my trucking days. Those reefers were baby sat day and night because you do not want a million dollars to be spoilt. I could get a week out of that 100 gallons if I needed to. But frankly the medicines were never on there more than 12 hours max. Just long enough to get them anywhere east of Memphis-Omaha to the east coast Ct. Reloaded with cardboard reefer off back to memphis.

 

AND there us no real one size fits all answer either. There are so many things that go into a fuel endurance answer. What is the outside temp? What size is the tank? How well insulated is the box? How many forklift holes have been punched through the walls? How much of the fuel in the tank is actually useable? I have seen reefers go through more then 24 gallons of fuel a day and I have seen them go 3 days on the same amount. Honestly, don't try to ball park this. Get that tank full and keep it full. Remember once most reefers do run out of fuel you can't get them running again because a fuel filter gets clogged up from the trash in the tank. You run reefers long enough a driver will see all of this in graphic detail.