Do you run your reefer when in a dock?

[Fredl]

No wait.
You cant expect that someone works hard when its cold.
They would sweat and the Cold on the wet Shirt would get them Sick.
Just let them work slow.Gives you an extra Hour sleep.

 

[SaddleTramp]

The air chute across the ceiling carries the cold air to the rear, then it flows across the freight & gets sucked back into the unit down near the floor in front.

When in a dock, the refrigerated air is blown straight into the warehouse. Most loading areas are kept at temps in the 30's or 40's so if your set point is below that, you are using your reefer fuel to cool their warehouse while drawing in their warmer air across the freight in the trailer.

These places that tell you to keep your reefer on while in the dock are just trying to get free refrigeration for their facility.

And because you are giving them free refrigeration, they have one less reason to hurry up & get you loaded or unloaded.

I never give customers free refrigeration.

In fact, I shut off the unit before I even open the doors because when you have the doors open & the unit running, you're just sucking in outside air. If it is hot outside you are thawing the load. If it's humid outside you're bringing in moisture that will freeze & cover the freight with frost.

Why don't the carriers teach this to their drivers?

If I owned a reefer fleet I'd have pin-switches installed on the right trailer door that shuts off the unit when the doors are open. And my drivers would be instructed that when asked by a customer about it, to say "providing refrigeration for your warehouse is not included in the rate".

Absolutely correct!!! As I type this out I am getting fresh chickens unloaded. The shipper says at 20 degrees the customer wants it at 10 degrees, a gets set at 10, halfway through the unloading I shut the reefer off. The Box temp at the time I shut it off ..29. If I kept it running I'll tell you right now what the temp. would have been.. 34, been there and done it a zillion times. Ask first "do you want the reefer running while you unload" most of the time I get told "no that's okay". If yes, then I wait till about halfway through and I shut it off.
Now, next load is going to be -10

 

[SaddleTramp]

The load i'm currently under, it states on my load confirmation as well as verbal " pre cool, on continuous" There is no need for me to ask about shutting it off obviously. Ask them, "while you are on break can I pull forward and shut the doors, (but first check your temp. & see how much you're losing, in this case today I only lost two degrees with the doors open backed in during their half-hour break)If you are a company driver and tell them you are going to pull forward and shut the doors if you are an O/Op. In my case I tell them and very rarely do they say no. I emphasize, you can never check your temp. too much! Nor oil/belts/battery!

 

[Fredl]

We have to run the Fridge when on the Southside docked. The Warehouse is build East-West and Sun hits the Brideside why they have a Problem to cool the Warehouse. Now they come out to turn the Set-Temp lower.