if you was driving a reefer how do you know when to get reefer fuel

Some consignees have rules about reefer fuel levels if you are dropping a trailer so you need to have at least a 3/4 full reefer tank before dropping the trailer. When you pick a new to you trailer up, you look at the reefer tank and fill it up according to your fuel stops and expected weather. If you are going to drive from CA to DE and it is 104 degrees outside air temp and you are pulling ice cream at -20 then you'll burn more fuel. Plan accordingly.

Sitting in Houston to drop ice cream once last summer I was delayed for more than 24 hours due to paperwork and really got worried I would run out of reefer fuel. Another driver from my company just happened to be sitting for free also and he "fixed me up" and taught me how to use a rattle siphon to move fuel from my truck tanks to my reefer tank. He saved my ###! Drivers can still be good guys. I bought a rattle siphon at the next truck stop I fueled at.

BRI

 

I have a reefer tank cap that has a valve stem in it. You screw it on your tank, hook up an air hose on your glad hand, put air into your tank, and go. If you don't have one of them, pull our filter off and fill it. I know guys who have put motor oil in the filter because they couldn't get fuel. It fired right up.

 

whats a reefer ?

 

It's a reefer(igerator).

 

Figure on average a reefer tank will last approx. 24 hours, so you would always want to fill up BEFORE you hit the 24 hour mark. When you stop for a break, a meal, etc., play it safe and throw some fuel in...top it off.......

 

last time i checked i had to pay for my own reefer fuel since i own the trailer. i just had it set on 28 degrees for 3 days and it was in the 80s most of the time. it barely used half tank. even if i had it on continious it would last couple days.

 

Aka: doobie, joint, roach uh oh wait a minute here WRONG FORUM!

 

Priming a reefer is not a fun job at all. As you work up the courage to do what is required of you to get that SOB engine primed back to life you are cussing out the SOB that left it low on fuel in the first place. While you are in the process of pumping the fuel to the filter you know that stopping at anytime during this process could mean having to spend just that much more time pumping due to what fuel you ave managed to drag up through 25 feet of hose could very well go back down if you stop. After your done (if it is not raining), you have spent 30 - 45 minutes of your valuable time standing on a catwalk pumping away on what seems like a 2 inch primer pump. Not much of a stem and afterwards your forearm feels like it is about to fall off from the excruciating pain that is associated with it. Although the feeling of completeness is good after you hear the engine take to life and stay running, you still think 'this all could have been avoided if THAT SOB WOULD HAVE FILLED THE TANK BEFORE DROPPING'.