Reefer FAQs
The reefer has been plugged in but there is no power?
Before requesting a service technician where you may be charged for a simple fix, make sure you have checked all of your site’s circuit breakers and power switches. Also, check the reefers’ power switch. is on. We know it sounds silly to ask, but we get this a lot! So it is worth double-checking.
The container is on but not cooling?
Before making phone calls or sending emails, make sure the unit is not on a defrost cycle. As mentioned in the previous question, a defrost cycle is normal but during this period the unit will show an increase in temperature. Don’t panic, the temperature of the cargo will not be affected during this cycle.
The reefer has been running for a while but is not at temperature?
Reefer containers are designed to maintain the temperature of a product. The common misconception is that they can quickly bring a product to its required temperature within hours. This is all heavily dependant on what temperature the product is before it gets loaded. Always try and pre-cool your product. If the container is running correctly but the temperature is not at the set point yet, we call this a “warm load”. It may take a day or so to reach the required temperature.
There is a lot of ice built up inside the container, what should I do?
This requires a service call to manually defrost all of the ice from the container and the machinery. But this can all be avoided. When loading reefer containers you must always make sure the reefer is turned off when the back doors are open. If the unit is left on, moisture will be sucked into the container and this will turn into an ice build-up.
There is a lot of water leaking from the unit, what is wrong?
This is normal. At the front, machinery side of a reefer there is a drain pipe. There is a lot of frost and moisture build-up inside a container, when a unit goes on to defrost mode, the container will melt this frost from the evaporator coil so that there is no airflow blockages.
The unit was just pre-tripped recently but is not working?
Pretrip’s or PTI’s are an important test to ensure the container is running well before being sent for packing. Unfortunately like all machinery, things can go wrong at any time. Most often these faults can be fixed quite quickly by a qualified reefer technician. We offer 24/7 emergency service so we will always be able to solve the problem.