Reefer Madness

"Light up, everybody! Join us in this celebration..." - Styx


Yeah, so, let me share with you my thoughts about reefers (refrigerated units). They're obviously a big part of the Food Service business. Naturally, customers would like to receive their refrigerated and frozen product at the proper temperature. Trouble is, it doesn't always happen like that. For you drivers who don't have to deal with them on a regular basis, let me just say "Congrats!" Also to guys/gals who just linehaul stuff from one warehouse to another, ya know, that's not terribly difficult. You just set your reefer to a particular temperature, put it on "start/stop" and go. However, for us poor bastards who have to really deal with them on a regular, continual basis, it can be kinda stressful. See, if you have nice new equipment, again, no biggie. But my company run these old ass trailers that are constantly breaking down - THAT'S
where the stress comes in. As a driver, I used to actually "care" about the customers getting their product in decent shape. Not any more. There is too much else for me to worry about out there these days; so, if the product comes in "f - ed up," oh well, at least ya got it, right? I've had sooo many problems with these things in the past, I can't even count them all - so I'll just relate a couple of them to you here.
This is what's supposed to happen: warehouse loads the frozen product into the nose of the trailer, hopefully leaving the side freezer door exposed. Often times they'll throw extra dry pieces in there they don't know what else to do with (flour, pizza boxes, etc.). That makes my
job more difficult because I have to either work around that stuff, or, more often than not, unload it first. Anyway, they (warehouse) then are supposed to put up a bulkhead (a plastic
"wall" that can be moved around inside the trailer, and which has a "door"), strap that puppy in place, then load the cooler product in the middle, another bulkhead, then the dry on the ass end.
The cooler, or "second" compartment, has a second cooling unit on the ceiling of the trailer, which can be separately turned on/off at the control panel outside. The freezer "main" unit is the important one, because if that ain't working, yer screwed. You can get by without the cooler compartment operating (just that in winter time the "fresh" veggies freeze - happens more than I care to admit), in fact sometimes you have to shut the second unit down, because it's preventing the thing from cycling properly. But I digress. The warehouse guy is then supposed to come outside, set both compartment temps, and wait there, making sure the unit is operating properly. Needless to say, this doesn't happen very often. Sometimes they just turn the thing on and walk away, or they'll set the wrong temp, or...I can't tell you how many times I've pulled up and seen either a reefer "raging" (running non-stop), or else not running at all. It blows my mind how some of these guys keep their jobs (I could go on and on about warehouse and their
screwed-up policies, behaviors, etc. - maybe in a future posting). You can set the reefer to either
run "continuously" or "start/stop" where the thing is supposed to "cycle." Cycling just means that when the "set point" is reached, the unit shuts off automatically, until the temperature climbs up to a pre-set level, where the unit then kicks in again. It's like your thermostat at home, just with two separate compartments. And it's supposed to run like that until you shut it off. The older units have a difficult time maintaining setpoints, especially in the warmer weather. They set the freezer at -4 degrees, and the cooler around 36 or so. The minus four I have a hard time with, unless you're hauling frozen yogurt and ice cream, which I can then understand (they sometimes have these thermal "boxes" to put the ice cream in, and put dry ice in a compartment inside the box - the boxes stand 6' tall, about 4' wide, and about 4' deep).
But for frozen meats and stuff, I've found that raising the temperature to 0 degrees often makes the unit run better - not as much stress, you know? Heck, I've even gone as high as 5-10 degrees, without any worries at all. My main concern is that the unit is running; only then do I
concern myself about whether it's cycling properly. Hey, as long as there's fuel in the reefer tank, it cool (no pun intended). But that's another area of concern: if you arrive for work, and you're doing a two or three-day route, and there's 1/2 tank of reefer fuel or less, then you know you're gonna have to make an extra stop for reefer fuel (that pisses me off).
I remember once being out in Iowa, and I had finished up for the day - I was shut down by Waterloo. So it's about 1:30 in the afternoon, and I go into the truckstop to have lunch. When I returned, the reefer was completely dead. I mean I tried EVERYTHING! No luck. So, I got on the phone and called her in. First, the leasing company sent out a local guy, who looked at it, then admitted to me he had no experience with this particular kind of unit. So I called again.
Basically, the only service centers were in Dubuque or Des Moines, and I'm halfway in between. They sent a guy from Des Moines. Now, understand this is like June, it's 75 degrees outside, and all my shit is melting. You could just see the water dripping out. Plus, I'm supposed to be resting, not babysitting this fucking thing. Anyway, the guy gets there about 7pm, diagnoses the problem (it was a switch or something) is there for an hour and leaves. But I'm a mess - you know, worrying about the cheese and the meat thawing out and everything. But I said absolutely nothing to my customers the next day. What they don't know (wont?) hurt them.
The other one that stands out in my mind was also up in Iowa - I had mad a delivery up in Charles City, and had stopped at the motel for the night. This was earlier in my career, so I was pretty "green" when it comes to these things. I remember I had stopped at the leasing co. maintenance shop, and the guy had looked at the reefer for some minor problem. Little did I know, he had switched the unit to run "continuously" without telling me. Now, a more seasoned driver would have caught this, but...So, I get to the motel, there's 5/8 tank of fuel, no problem, right? I go out the next morning, DEAD! The thing is out of fuel! So, I quick run down to Waterloo, and go to the nearest service center. They fucked around with that thing for hours; they had to prime the unit, ya know, and everything. I'm sitting there watching, and calling in to my guys, so they can tell the customers why I'm half a day late. I think they actually charged me with an accident (which they said they can do - "it's your job to make sure there's enough fuel, etc." BULLSHIT!)
Those are just two out of MANY incidents (most aren't that serious) in my experiences with reefers. If you're lucky, there's a service center in the general vicinity you can go to, if it's a serious problem. Sometimes, just shutting it off, and re-starting it will do the trick. You kind of learn how these things actually operate, without really knowing the mechanics, by experience, and by talking to the guys who work on them. I mean, the main unit is basically a diesel
motor with freon and a thermostat. It operates just like a regular diesel engine (battery, alternator, ignition, etc.). Not that I'm any expert on diesel engines, lol.

More soon,


Steve