I have done six shifts transporting chilled and frozen goods, the first shift I did was on Class 2 and because I stated that I had no experience with fridges I was given ‘training’ at the start of the shift, the ‘training’ was hardly what you call intensive it consisted of me being shown the in cab controls and being told the temperature settings for chilled and frozen goods and that was about it, on the subsequent shifts that followed I was given no further training or instruction because having done that one shift I was then considered to be experienced and even when I moved onto Class 1 work it was just a case of being given the paperwork and getting on with it.
Transporting refrigerated and frozen goods does seem pretty straight forward TBH, on Class 1 there are no in cab controls so once I am driving there is nothing additional to monitor from the cab and as far as I can tell, all that I need to do is follow the given instructions to record the temperatures on the work sheet before departing and on arrival, phone the base should the temperature move out of the allowed range and turn the fridge off when done - There is a possibility that I will be getting more fridge work and with that in mind I was wondering if there is anything else that I really should know?
No its very straight forward. Make sure its on the correct temp and also if it needs to be on continuous or if not then on stop/start. If you’re doing general freight and reloading with other stuff, make sure its clean inside or places may refuse to load you. I’m assuming its not a multi-temp trailer with an internal bulkhead so you have two compartments that can run on different temperatures. Other than that, make sure its got enough diesel and that’s it.
Some units, when you press the + or - buttons to alter the temp, thats all you do, other ones, once you’ve reached the desired temp setting, you have to press the = button or such like to lock it on. Its pretty obvious because if you do need to press the = button, the temp number will flash until you do so, like setting a wrist watch etc. Like I said, obvious but I’ve known people not used to reefers not press = and the reefer has carried on running at the previous temp and knackered the load.
eagerbeaver:
Micky- try and park as far away as you can from other wagons in the services, (especially towards late afternoon).
Other driver’s can get a little disgruntled when your fridge engine suddenly starts up!
+1 man, was in frankly north a few weeks ago and a fridge pulled up behind me and another drive who was overnighting there had a ding dong in the lorry park because the drive, who was also overnighting refused to turn off his fridge. All sorts of F’s and B’s and C’s and a few other select letters being thrown around, quite funny to watch actually, some people really fly off the handle! If I stop for a break in services, I just turn the thing off for 45, won’t do no harm and will keep everyone happy.
MickyB666:
There is a possibility that I will be getting more fridge work and with that in mind I was wondering if there is anything else that I really should know?
Yeah the most important - where to check the oil and water levels on the engine in the fridge trailer which it appears nobody ever does as you can tell given you had 8 replies before mine and not one of them mentioned it. Open the motor cover (usually just one or two catches) and you’ll see a regular diesel engine with a dipstick for the oil and usually one in the header tank for the water or a level mark on an expansion tank. It needs water and oil and you should be checking them every time you get a different trailer because nobody does. Many of the times that a fridge motor won’t start or keeps cutting out is because of low oil/water and the safety cut out stopping them running as a result.
minus 25 is minus 25 whether continuous or not…how frozen does frozen need to be? you use more diesel on continuous,but if your not used to fridge work and have a barker of a fridge,then you wont get scared ■■■■■■■■ when the motors on stop start cycle.continuous is good at night as you wont hear anything else breaking into your brain once you get to sleep.any drivers gobbing off about the noise should be treated with the contempt they deserve .you have to park somewhere,if you cant find anywhere remote,then tough ■■■■■.some trukstops will have set areas for fridges anyway.if you try to park out of the road,the you wont hear the macodougall diesel faireys.the best kip you will ever get is stuck between two running fridges as you wont hear anything else no matter how noisy it is surrounding you.never imy life have I ever seen a driver checking the oil or water in a fridge.lift it,do the trip,apart from making sure its full of red to last the duration,then dump it when your finished…if it starts messing about,you might want to check depending on what co you work for,or youl be heading to thermo king etc as its their prob its bolloxed between services.some water gets topped up from the roof of the trailer…get your h/s ■■■■■■■■■ out to watch you try to get up there .
MickyB666:
There is a possibility that I will be getting more fridge work and with that in mind I was wondering if there is anything else that I really should know?
Yeah the most important - where to check the oil and water levels on the engine in the fridge trailer which it appears nobody ever does as you can tell given you had 8 replies before mine and not one of them mentioned it. Open the motor cover (usually just one or two catches) and you’ll see a regular diesel engine with a dipstick for the oil and usually one in the header tank for the water or a level mark on an expansion tank. It needs water and oil and you should be checking them every time you get a different trailer because nobody does. Many of the times that a fridge motor won’t start or keeps cutting out is because of low oil/water and the safety cut out stopping them running as a result.
I’ve been working with fridges for the last 7 yrs and i have never been shown how to check this or even been told i have to check so therefore i don’t touch anything apart from the diesel of course.
but you haven’t been working in agency conorland parallel universe for the last 7 years.surely you should have known that by now…he don’t bother putting a card into the tacho,he just plugs himself in,same as the terminator ■■■■■ …
GORDON 50:
I’ve often wondered why fridges have stop/start and continuous mode and is there any advantage of one over the other.
Depends whats being carried. Fridges aren’t always used just for frozen of course. I loaded bananas in Philadelphia this week to take back to Canada and they request it stays on continuous at 60’F and they put a temperature recorder in the trailer to check it at destination. On continuous it will always be trying to maintain that exact temp and will rarely go more than 2 or 3 degrees Fahrenheit above or below but with stop/start it will reach temperature and then shut off and not come back on again until its gone 5-8 degrees or perhaps more below so the temp will be up and down a lot more.
I also do a lot of flowers and plants in my job and we’re supposed to run them on continuous, not for the temp but for the air flow which sorts out humidity and condensation etc. In the summer we can turn it off and just leave a door open on the back, but its not good for the plants to be kept in a closed environment with no circulation of air, especially over long periods.
catched before xmas one set Fridge to -25 with a Load Yogurt.
Think its helpfull if a Driver would switch on his Brain before start working,even if he has no technical knowledge.
Immigrant:
catched before xmas one set Fridge to -25 with a Load Yogurt.
Think its helpfull if a Driver would switch on his Brain before start working,even if he has no technical knowledge.
Frozen yogurt is nice I have a tub in the freezer.
robinhood_1984:
… I’m assuming its not a multi-temp trailer with an internal bulkhead so you have two compartments that can run on different temperatures.
I have been using these, how do I work the different compartments?
robinhood_1984:
… I’m assuming its not a multi-temp trailer with an internal bulkhead so you have two compartments that can run on different temperatures.
I have been using these, how do I work the different compartments?
Check the temp of both compartments & don’t forget to deliver pallets behind door as can be costly
To be more specific I am asking how to operate the fridge to set and change the temperature of the different compartments, I have on occasion been trunking refrigerated trailers of mixed frozen and chilled loads between depots, frozen behind the bulkhead in compartment 1 (C1) with chilled at the back in compartment 2 (C2), sometimes the load changes between each depot and I can go from a mixed frozen and chilled load to a chilled only load, when this occurs I get around it by changing the temperature of C1 to match the temperature of C2 so both compartments are set to chill (+2) however I know from looking at other trailers that you can set the trailer to operate as a single compartment (C1 only is displayed on the fridge panel) but I don’t know how to do this. I am also going to need to know how to set the trailer into different compartments to cover the likely scenario of starting out with a chilled only load and going on to pick up a mixed load which contains frozen goods.
I would ask the firm but I think the expectation is that I already know this and I don’t want to sound like a numpty.
on the control panel of a multi compartment fridge there will be switches for the extra compartments.when running a multi as a single compartment switch off the extra switches just leaving compartment 1 running.
when running as multi switch the other switches on as needed then the display will scroll from 1 to 2 or 3,set each compartment to the desired temp as for single.
when i was trained we were shown a fridge with the engine compartment doors open,we were told to have a look inside if we wanted then the trainer shut the doors and said “thats the last time you need to look in there…never open them again”
