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

I have a carrier unit. At most shops I've ever been to, they have a stand-by reefer on site. Was told by more than one that if your reefer fails and they can't fix it within an hour or two (i.e., it's something big) they can disconnect your reefer from the trailer (six bolts hold it on), disconnect the fuel line, put theirs up in place, bolt it on, and connect the fuel line. All in, they can do it in about an hour. It can stay running while they fix yours. No need to offload, etc.

If it's something simpler, or shorter, they'll just work on it themselves.

As a lease guy, I had a reefer fail due to a refrigerant leak. Just kept stopping on the way to the receiver and getting the refrigerant added when it went out (did this three times over a weekend, Weekend OT call-out service each time, couldn't have been cheap).

As an independent owner-op, I've had the reefer fail on a load twice (both times was my new trailer, my old trailer had the courtesy of failing during start up for the next load). First time was a loose wire on a start-stop load. The wire would wiggle loose, and it would prevent it from starting up again. Called the Carrier helpline and read the code and he told me this was a known issue. Just wiggle the wire until it starts, and then run it on continuous until you can get it to a shop.

Second time was the SV4 valve. Just picked up cabbage in Florida. Reefer failed just as I left the shipper. Called Carrier, they're about 2 hours away. Kept stopping to clear the code and restart it. It would run for about 10-15 minutes and crap out. That valve was easy to change, but got to pay $100+ for 4 minutes of labor.

 

Yea, I had taken pictures of the messages between me and the otrm dept and my available hos so if there ended up being a problem later I could at least show I made the effort but the company failed on their end.

If it came down to it, the dot could have spanked me for not being on duty while trying to get the reefer running that night tho. I working on it while on line 2.

 

My favorite breakdown story, I was getting the last of 5 stops off my trailer early one morning near New Orleans. One of my lucky breaks, if you will. It was about 6 skids of frozen product that had been on a -10ºF cycle setting, and the unit had even been running when I bumped the dock. It was a small place that didn't have a cold dock, not too uncommon. They pull it off, count it, then shuffle it back to their freezer.

While the lift operator was about halfway through it, I'm on the dock yakking with the shipping manager about nothing. When I happen to notice condensation dripping off the chute. Up front. And the unit's not running. Ruh roh scooby. Even with the doors open on a hot dock, there shouldn't be water dripping in there and the unit was off instead of on blast keeping up with the open doors. I kept a poker face while they pulled the last stuff off, then went to my truck to "get a pen." The unit was not running, still switched on, but the display was blank.

Without any fuss, I went back inside and got my signed bills without further small talk and left. I pulled around the corner and stopped to check it out. Blown main fuse, an 80 or 100A maxi fuse that I did not have, nor wanted to buy a few to test it with. The Carrier dealer in St. Rose diagnosed and repaired a shorted glow plug on the engine.

 

Seems like reefers only break down at 501 pm or later and most likely at least 200 miles from the nearest dealer. Possibly also on the weekend. At least that's been my experience. I've paid a few after hours charges on my old TK unit due to a poor design in the plumbing in the back it developed a crack at a joint and I had to get it charged to get the load off. So far I've been lucky, no claims due to reefer breakdown but a few scares.

 

What do you do when your reefer breaks down on the road. You haul butt to the nearest Carrier or TK dealer and get it fixed. I got that call from one of my drivers back in the day. Stressful is all I can say. Thankfully he had frozen bread on, nothing critical. He got to the TK dealer in Florence SC and they fixed him up pretty quick. I was happy to shell out a few hundred bucks and the load was fine, even with a tattle tale. If you can't afford to fix your reefer, don't haul reefer products.

 

this happened to me about a week ago. Setting waiting to pick up a load of tomatoes and had turned the unit on to cool the trailer down to ship temp of 50. After a while I got tired of wasting reefer fuel so I switched the unit to start/stop from continuous. About an hour later I look in the mirror and unit is showing fault. Go back and check and its showing starter as fault. quick call to the nearest carrier shop (which happened to be 5 miles away) $750.00 and an hour later and I am back in the game. Naturally this happened on a Saturday afternoon so the after hours call fee was half of the price. To answer your question you get it fixed as soon as possible. Not sure what a load of those high end ripened on the vine tomatoes cost but I'm certain its more than the $750.00 starter. I think every reefer company has reefer insurance just in case but you definitely wanna make that a last resort.

 

A belated response your your post:

I understand that as an O/O you are responsible to fix the reefer and keep it at proper temp. Your getting paid the big bucks to babysit that load.

As a company driver I was just that, a driver. Not a reefer mechanic.

I expected that when I called the company they would send in the calvary. A guy in a service truck that would fix it.

That didn't happen. If the company doesn't care enough about the load to get it fixed then I would just shrug my shoulders. Not my department.

 

Well my reefer has broke down several times. Answer? You get out your tools and get on the phone with a mechanic and try to fix it yourself. If need be the mechanic comes and fixes for you for a hefty price that is. Of course Ins. Covers it thats why it so dang exspensive. Never had a breakdown yet that couldnt get fixed.

 

I had the compressor on a thermo king unit take a dump on me on 40 east of Albuquerque. It was bananas. The situation was also bananas. Ended up having to donate 15k of bananas to a local food bank. I hate bananas every time I pull em something goes wrong.