Refrigerated semi trailer for a cooler room

[flacowman]

Thought about this today...why wouldn't it work to buy a used (we call em refer trailers) to use as a cooler room?  It's insulated, has a great unit on it already, would run off of the farm fuel we already buy by the tanker truck.  Just add in bedding and a tie bar if you want and a few fans inside, and all of the safety bells and whistles as well obviously...thoughts?

 

[Eberth]

Before diesel went sky high and cool calf came about lots of people in the early 90's did just that. You would be suprised to see how many gallons of fuel that refer unit would go through in a week. 

 

[flacowman]

oh I know how much fuel they burn but our electric rates nearly quadrupled this spring.  the barn is on a separate meter and 5 fans plus running blowers to dry calves ran us nearly $250 last month, I'd hate to see what a big refer unit would run.  P.S. I can get up to a 53 foot refer trailer for next to nothing as my uncle trades trucks and trailers and always has one or two that the running gear is messed up on.

 

[BCCC]

Before diesel went sky high and cool calf came about lots of people in the early 90's did just that. You would be suprised to see how many gallons of fuel that refer unit would go through in a week. 

I'd kind of like to know how much fuel they would use. Family around here took the unit off the trailer and put it in the side of the barn with the intentions of replacing the diesel motor with an electric motor but never got around to it.

 

[kanshow]

How well would they run with homemade biodiesel? 

 

[6M Ranch]

One problem, I think most of the refr units are 3-phase.

 

[LittleHeifer]

I can get a price for you later today. My dad is a trucker w/ a refer trailer. so he knows exactly.
Little Heifer (angel)

 

[LittleHeifer]

to fill up the refer it runs around $200 to $250 dollars.

 

[LostFarmer]

And how long will it run?

 

[LittleHeifer]

it honestly depends on how long your running and at what temp. but I know when my dad is out on a load running it pretty much 24/7 with a cold load he fills it up once maybe twice in a week. but running it for a couple hours it should only need filled maybe once every 3 to 4 weeks if that.
little heifer

 

[Hollywood27]

8-10 gallons a day to keep the cooler 48 degrees.

 

[CWshorthorns]

I work for a trucking company in springfield,mo we have 400 reefer trailer and they will burn just a little less than a gallon of fuel an hour when they run in low speed cool. in high speed cool they will burn just over a gallon of fuel in a hour. If you run them on cycle mode which means they will start and stop on there own 7-10 degrees above and below set point they will burn a lot less a 30 gallon tank could last you 3 days or more or less depending on theoutside temps.If you have any question feel free to pm
Thank You Chris and Wendy

 

[tama]

Guys I work for atrucking company we run refers and I can tell you that an old refer trl works great but is totally too expensive in day to day and repairs. Years ago had some guys use them for farrowing units portable and insulated but they replaced refer unit first. its easy to mount a electric unit to front instead of diesel as front of trlr is precut for the diesel unit.second thing to look at is floor.refer floor is grooved metal not suitable for animals to walk on but tender feet etc can be slid Right in thing to remember is this is an insulated box vent front and back with fans to move air  continually we sell old trlrs for 2500-3000 unit non working or in tough shape add 2000-3000 220 unit and its still cheaper than a stick built in some cases most models now are 53 foot by 96in wide that's alot of space for cooler 

 

[LittleHeifer]

We are thinking about doing this for this spring/summer it gets really hot here. my dad is going to talk around with some of the companies and see if anyone has one for cheaper. companies usually do and at least here are willing t make deals with the 4h/ffa members to help them out, because it makes their company look good. If we find one we want we'll get it anyway my parents are good about that and all you have to do is either put alot bedding down or build a floor on top of that.
little heifer (angel)