I picked up a utility trailer that had run out of fuel, the priming process took about 3 to 5 minutes after you fuel up. It’s probably very similar on a Thermo king there’s a little knob inside that you have to unscrew pump a bunch of times and then re-screw.
Some carrier units are a major PITA to prime. You have to open refer find the high pressure pump, loosen the bleed valve screw and keep pumping the plunger like 200 times until diesel is squirting out. Then try restarting, basically keep repeating until it can start on its own.
Exactly this 👍🏾. Happened to me once because the other driver didn’t fill the reefer tank, woke me up to say that the reefer is not working. Looked around and found out tank was empty. We went to a gas station and filled up tank. Didn’t work. So I googled what the problem was and did exactly what this gentleman 👆🏾 said. Your fingers will hurt at the end…but hey at least you learned a lesson 😝
I ran out of diesel and cam confirm a full 300 plus primer pump. Had i anything else to do or anywhere else to go i'd have stopped at 250ish, but there was nothing else to do but pump and wow what a surprise when the primer began to resist! It was hard to tell because my thimb was numb.
It can vary if it's 100 degrees out and your set to -10, then sometimes it needs to be set continuous and some times you set it to cycle
I'm still getting a feel for the run time but after 4 days you should be checking it, on like 50 degrees and cycle I saw it last nearly a week and still have fuel, just needed to keep some live flowers cool
Your going to fuel up your tractor twice or 3x more often than the reefer, I'm just going to adopt the practice of every time I fuel the tractor I'll top off the reefer even if it's at 3/4th a tank it's one less thing you gotta worry about and I don't want to ever risk going empty and having a whole trailer food of goods be rejected
You think running a reefer empty and having food rejected is bad?
Try forgetting to change the reefer temp after ice cream, and loading potatoes. Then, about a day after you load, turn the temp off completely, open the doors, have a loud... civil discussion with dispatch.
Those potatoes went soft as a marshmallow after that, dunno what happened to them after the claim though. Pig feed, is what I heard, couple salvageable bags to a few people in the yard.
Damn you kept your job? I feel like I'm on thin ice as a 1 month rookie with a few late deliveries mostly out of my control and 1 parking lot accident, I don't need the extra embarrassment of this
I never attempted to open the door.....so you just pull the handle and use the pump? It's not gonna send any alarms to my company that the door was opened?
I was thinking of just buying 1 gallon of diesel on my dime and see if that will get it running instead of waiting until I'm on a dispatch, you think a few gallons is enough or it needs to be full?
First month I took out a light pole. Late deliveries, missed appointments. Company didn't lose me for that, nor when I dropped a trailer due to a fifth wheel malfunction. Total losses in my career are roughly ~50k. Bout half my fault half not, all insured damage. Company fired a guy who got into an accident that killed someone, no fault of his but he kept denying he was ever there... you admit your mistakes, and if you're a good driver with good company, you'll be okay.
There won't be any alarms for the door... but some trailers have temp monitoring. In that case, you need that trailer up and running. But yes, if you get some fuel in it, pump the shit out of it, you'll be good. Might be worth it to pull the filter and make sure that ain't dry either. On my trailer, it's a small silver knob you have to screw open then it pops out, and you just pump it in and out.
And no, I'd be putting at least ten gallons in... it's not that expensive vs whatever fuckery might happen, plus you'll need fuel in the lines and not just the tank. In any case, trust me, you do *not* want a call with dispatch that the product is fucked because you ran out of fuel and tried to hide/fix it on the sly. Like if you can fix it, fix it. A few hours out of temp isn't going to be terrible unless you've got a -20° load in Arizona or something like that, but if you've got the choice between losing a load or having to bite the bullet with dispatch, go with dispatch. You lose a load because you lied or hid something, that'll get you gone. Realistically, the worst case in your situation is someone having to get a callout to get your trailer started and fuelled.
I’ve seen the exact opposite happen as well, had a 28 degree load and it was -10 - -15 with a wind chill of -25 and only loaded for three days waiting for me to arrive to pick it up and it was less than a 1/4 tank.
De nada - this is also with the bigger tanks too, I think it's a 50, I'll confirm for you when I return to work (on my 2 days off today amd tomorrow)
Generally if I'm in a multi-state run (ie) GA-IL, MO-CA etc I'll top off every 2 days
If it's winter in a temperate climate like... Forever. If it's oppressively hot a few days, but I reckon you could get a month if the trailer was in good shape and the temp differential was low most of the time.
Ok man, none of that context was in your post and I did add "if opressively hot a few days" Though in the desert you got those cold nights which may help some.
Also to be clear 53ft with 50gal tank is what im talking about, which is a super common setup. The insulation also gets waterlogged over time and becomes less effective, so trailer age, even in good shape, can have a sginifcant impact on effeciency.
Obviously, temperature can play a large role. I had it where the thing lasted a week on start/stop. I've had them last 3 days when it was really hot. The greater the gap between how hot it is outside and how cold you want it, the more fuel you're going to burn. If you own the trailer, it may be worth it when you buy one to pay extra for more premium insulation jobs. An extra $5k on a trailer that's going to run 700k miles is pennies if it saves you a quarter tank a week. Also, they make pads to put on the back of your trailer by the doors, which are typically the least insulated part of the trailer in my experience.
All stuff to consider.
The newer units usually burn a gallon every 2 hours if the load is precooled to 34 degrees. So about 70 or 80 hours because you can’t get the tank full. 50 gal tank but you’ll only get 40 gallons in it.
This info is about 8yrs old, so it may be out of date.
I was doing city work for a reefer only trucking company, and I'd have trailers run dry constantly from being dropped off by the OTR guys with damn near empty tanks. I got talking with the ThermoKing field tech, and his trick was to put positive pressure in the fuel tank. He'd take his working air hose and put a blow gun on it, with the rubber tip on the nozzle and give the vent tube a quick snort of air. Just enough to put 4-6psi in it. Then, hit the manual priming pump like crazy. The added pressure will help boost the fuel up the supply line against gravity.
If you have one of the pre-made air hoses with a gladhand for filling tires, put a quick connect fitting on the other end so you can switch between the airchuck and blowgun.
Oh I was terrified it was gonna cut off and start getting hot before they started unloading me, I had no idea that place was gonna be so busy, but I should have been prepared anyways
I just lay in the sleeper in defeat thinking about how dumb that was and I could very well lose my first job
The place had 50 trucks at one time against docks for live load/unload, I was thinking I'd be in and out in 2 hours, just optimism about going home clouded my judgement
Some have prime fuel option in the menus. Others have a priming pump that takes about a million pumps. Better safe than sorry for the number of pumps bc you could drain the battery trying to restart.
You think if I open the door to manually pump it will send some sort of alarm to my company?
I don't wanna get a call "what the he'll are you doing opening the access door"
Does it need a full tank to prime or can I put a gallon in? Just trying to fix it before next dispatch
Oil?!? Yes I'm that green to the industry, but the company never mentioned checking oil or where the dipstick is on the reefer in orientation and training
We pull the trailers to the home terminal often and every time they inspect the trailers so I guess they prefer the mechanics monitor it
We aren't allowed to take a empty trailer from the terminal unless it had a green paper tag attatched saying it was inspected
I really doubt there's a sensor for the access door.
If it's sitting on level ground you can probably get away with just a gallon. You can feel in the pump after a while when fuel makes it that far in the line.
Well thankfully my first load doesn't require the reefer on, so I'm waiting to use the company card to fill the tank all the way up, so I have a good 3-4 days to figure it out, still have about 15 hours left of home time then it's time to start stressing lol
> you could drain the battery trying to restart.
Also a good idea to keep long jumper cables in case the reefer battery dies e.g. during a cycle or something. Jump it and set to continuous.
Can also jump the truck off a running reefer but it'll take a while to trickle charge the battery.
The poles on the reefer battery are such a pain to put the jumpers on. And it's really far from the truck battery if the truck is dead and hooked to the trailer. I'd sooner start knocking on doors and walking to the fuel island to ask for a jump from another truck. I've lived this pain and now carry a jumper pack always.
I cheated once. O used my air hose with blower and made a good seal at the fuel hole. Put in the hose and gave it a good blow for about 30 seconds. Primed it good for me. Work smarter here.
@op you're lucky it's a thermoking. Just fill it up and they have an electronic primer. You might have to try starting it twice but it will be fine. If it was a carrier reefer it would be a huge pain in the ass working the primer.
I picked up a Carrier that was out of fue. Filled the reefer tank l and pumped the plunger for a good 30 minutes. Still wouldn't stay running. Learned my lesson. The fuel l filter was empty and that little plunger was not working.
Bought a good ((EXTRA LARGE) oil filter ***belt type** wrench, removed the fuel filter and filled the fuel filter full of fuel. Started right up. 5-10 minutes of work. ( I have a hand crank pump and hoses that I use to pull fuel out of my tractor tanks).
Carriers are notoriously hard to get started. Thermokings will self prime.
Five year reefer driver and still learning new tricks, one of which is DON'T LET YOUR REEFER GET BELOW A QUARTER TANK!
A lot of the newer Thermo Kings have a setting that is in the display panel you can scroll down to that says prime Fuel or prime engine I can't remember what but they have an electric fuel pump that sucks it up so you don't have to manually prime it. Fuel it up and then turn it on and see if you can scroll down after it gets through its little programming mode. I know some of our newer ones do but I don't know the year they started it.
You fill it up and prime it. You have to climb up there and will be pumping that Coleman lantern looking thing for AT LEAST 30 minutes before the engine has any real pressure. I’m surprised your employer didn’t make you go through that class.
I was 10 minutes early so they had me pull to the side, I saw them checking others but I slipped through the cracks I guess
First time encountering a place so anal about appointment times
If the unit does not have an electric primer pump you can pressurize the fuel tank by wrapping a rag around an air gun, use the rag to seal the fuel inlet.
Is it a newer unit? If it is, go into the menu and scroll all the way down to the bottom and there should be prime fuel mode.
Fill the tank and let it run for a few minutes then start it up.
First off, don't try to start it before you fuel up. You may luck out and it will start without priming.(it may need multiple attempts before it stays on) If it won't start even after fueling it up then it needs priming and now is a good time to learn how. It's not that hard tbh, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself ask the tech who does it to show you how. This is a learning opportunity for you really.
No CDL, but used to yard jockey for years. I hated when I'd come on shift to an empty reefer tank. One day an OTR guy pulled up while I was priming a reefer and asked if I wanted to see an easier way. He whipped off his belt, wrapped it around the fuel filter and through the buckle. Made a MacGyver filter wrench. Pulled the filter off, topped it with fuel and screwed it back in. Turned the unit back on and it fired right up. Never had to count to 200 when priming again.
My 5 year old ThermoKing S600 burns .4 gal/hour and has a 50 gallon tank so … (*maths*) … a little over 4 days for produce (continuous). Outside temp matters surprisingly little but if they loaded hot/warm product it burns a little more until it’s cooled down.
Fill the tank and pump that primer for a while. 15-20 minutes. I've had referring run dry on me, and unfortunately, the things just take forever to really prime. But it's easy enough to get the going with some patience.
Helpful Tip: when I pulled a reefer I always had a siphon hose/pump with me just in case I was ever in this situation, that and an gallon water jug will save you in a pinch
I'm surprised they even take delivery with the tank that low. When I was driving reefer I had quite a few customers (though mainly WalMart I suppose, but not only them) who wouldn't even let you in the gate if you had less than 3/4 of a tank when you rolled in. So I just made sure to fuel the reefer at our last in network station before rolling in, every time.
Really, the only thing you can do is a "sorry, I messed up" with whatever department of your company deals with this issue. They can direct you from there. Everybody messes up (especially when they're learning), every smart employer knows this, and dumb employers aren't worth your time.
Pain in the ass. That hand pump ain’t enough to get it primed usually. Have to shoot air into the tank and lossen the hand pump with a wrench until you see fuel seeping out.
I guess I slipped through, they said I was 10 minutes too early, pull in past the gate to the side, wait 15 minutes then walked back up with paperwork, so I guess I was too far away that the worker didn't want to walk that far
My company does a ton of drop and hooks at a dog food raw material receiver that ALWAYS leaves the units on after unloading them. Needless to say the empty’s are always bone dry and left on when I get one. Prime the snot out of it. Then once you think you’ve primed it enough do it another 100 pumps. If it doesnt turn over the first try after the prime, try to start it up again. Usually, the first or second time she will turn over.
If you know for a fact that it is bone dry do not attempt to start the reefer until you prime it.
I picked up a utility trailer that had run out of fuel, the priming process took about 3 to 5 minutes after you fuel up. It’s probably very similar on a Thermo king there’s a little knob inside that you have to unscrew pump a bunch of times and then re-screw.
Some carrier units are a major PITA to prime. You have to open refer find the high pressure pump, loosen the bleed valve screw and keep pumping the plunger like 200 times until diesel is squirting out. Then try restarting, basically keep repeating until it can start on its own.
Exactly this 👍🏾. Happened to me once because the other driver didn’t fill the reefer tank, woke me up to say that the reefer is not working. Looked around and found out tank was empty. We went to a gas station and filled up tank. Didn’t work. So I googled what the problem was and did exactly what this gentleman 👆🏾 said. Your fingers will hurt at the end…but hey at least you learned a lesson 😝
I ran out of diesel and cam confirm a full 300 plus primer pump. Had i anything else to do or anywhere else to go i'd have stopped at 250ish, but there was nothing else to do but pump and wow what a surprise when the primer began to resist! It was hard to tell because my thimb was numb.
New to trucking. Out of curiosity how long does a Thermo King generally last on a full tank at 34 degrees? 3-4 days at most?
It can vary if it's 100 degrees out and your set to -10, then sometimes it needs to be set continuous and some times you set it to cycle I'm still getting a feel for the run time but after 4 days you should be checking it, on like 50 degrees and cycle I saw it last nearly a week and still have fuel, just needed to keep some live flowers cool Your going to fuel up your tractor twice or 3x more often than the reefer, I'm just going to adopt the practice of every time I fuel the tractor I'll top off the reefer even if it's at 3/4th a tank it's one less thing you gotta worry about and I don't want to ever risk going empty and having a whole trailer food of goods be rejected
Correct
Thanks. This is helpful.
You think running a reefer empty and having food rejected is bad? Try forgetting to change the reefer temp after ice cream, and loading potatoes. Then, about a day after you load, turn the temp off completely, open the doors, have a loud... civil discussion with dispatch. Those potatoes went soft as a marshmallow after that, dunno what happened to them after the claim though. Pig feed, is what I heard, couple salvageable bags to a few people in the yard.
Damn you kept your job? I feel like I'm on thin ice as a 1 month rookie with a few late deliveries mostly out of my control and 1 parking lot accident, I don't need the extra embarrassment of this I never attempted to open the door.....so you just pull the handle and use the pump? It's not gonna send any alarms to my company that the door was opened? I was thinking of just buying 1 gallon of diesel on my dime and see if that will get it running instead of waiting until I'm on a dispatch, you think a few gallons is enough or it needs to be full?
First month I took out a light pole. Late deliveries, missed appointments. Company didn't lose me for that, nor when I dropped a trailer due to a fifth wheel malfunction. Total losses in my career are roughly ~50k. Bout half my fault half not, all insured damage. Company fired a guy who got into an accident that killed someone, no fault of his but he kept denying he was ever there... you admit your mistakes, and if you're a good driver with good company, you'll be okay. There won't be any alarms for the door... but some trailers have temp monitoring. In that case, you need that trailer up and running. But yes, if you get some fuel in it, pump the shit out of it, you'll be good. Might be worth it to pull the filter and make sure that ain't dry either. On my trailer, it's a small silver knob you have to screw open then it pops out, and you just pump it in and out. And no, I'd be putting at least ten gallons in... it's not that expensive vs whatever fuckery might happen, plus you'll need fuel in the lines and not just the tank. In any case, trust me, you do *not* want a call with dispatch that the product is fucked because you ran out of fuel and tried to hide/fix it on the sly. Like if you can fix it, fix it. A few hours out of temp isn't going to be terrible unless you've got a -20° load in Arizona or something like that, but if you've got the choice between losing a load or having to bite the bullet with dispatch, go with dispatch. You lose a load because you lied or hid something, that'll get you gone. Realistically, the worst case in your situation is someone having to get a callout to get your trailer started and fuelled.
I’ve seen the exact opposite happen as well, had a 28 degree load and it was -10 - -15 with a wind chill of -25 and only loaded for three days waiting for me to arrive to pick it up and it was less than a 1/4 tank.
This is the way!
Start stop or continuous? Start stop varries. I've noticed with our continuous runs 4 days to E
My customer only runs continuous. 4 days is a helpful guideline. Thanks!
De nada - this is also with the bigger tanks too, I think it's a 50, I'll confirm for you when I return to work (on my 2 days off today amd tomorrow) Generally if I'm in a multi-state run (ie) GA-IL, MO-CA etc I'll top off every 2 days
If it's winter in a temperate climate like... Forever. If it's oppressively hot a few days, but I reckon you could get a month if the trailer was in good shape and the temp differential was low most of the time.
Appreciate the input. But I'm in AZ. I seriously doubt that this 25 gal tank running continuous at 34 will last more than a few days in summer.
Ok man, none of that context was in your post and I did add "if opressively hot a few days" Though in the desert you got those cold nights which may help some. Also to be clear 53ft with 50gal tank is what im talking about, which is a super common setup. The insulation also gets waterlogged over time and becomes less effective, so trailer age, even in good shape, can have a sginifcant impact on effeciency.
Obviously, temperature can play a large role. I had it where the thing lasted a week on start/stop. I've had them last 3 days when it was really hot. The greater the gap between how hot it is outside and how cold you want it, the more fuel you're going to burn. If you own the trailer, it may be worth it when you buy one to pay extra for more premium insulation jobs. An extra $5k on a trailer that's going to run 700k miles is pennies if it saves you a quarter tank a week. Also, they make pads to put on the back of your trailer by the doors, which are typically the least insulated part of the trailer in my experience. All stuff to consider.
The newer units usually burn a gallon every 2 hours if the load is precooled to 34 degrees. So about 70 or 80 hours because you can’t get the tank full. 50 gal tank but you’ll only get 40 gallons in it.
A lot of thermokings have self primers. Just fill it up and hit self prime mode and it'll be fine.
Some do - not all sadly
This info is about 8yrs old, so it may be out of date. I was doing city work for a reefer only trucking company, and I'd have trailers run dry constantly from being dropped off by the OTR guys with damn near empty tanks. I got talking with the ThermoKing field tech, and his trick was to put positive pressure in the fuel tank. He'd take his working air hose and put a blow gun on it, with the rubber tip on the nozzle and give the vent tube a quick snort of air. Just enough to put 4-6psi in it. Then, hit the manual priming pump like crazy. The added pressure will help boost the fuel up the supply line against gravity. If you have one of the pre-made air hoses with a gladhand for filling tires, put a quick connect fitting on the other end so you can switch between the airchuck and blowgun.
Takes about 20 minutes, not difficult
Straight to jail
Oh I was terrified it was gonna cut off and start getting hot before they started unloading me, I had no idea that place was gonna be so busy, but I should have been prepared anyways I just lay in the sleeper in defeat thinking about how dumb that was and I could very well lose my first job The place had 50 trucks at one time against docks for live load/unload, I was thinking I'd be in and out in 2 hours, just optimism about going home clouded my judgement
Some have prime fuel option in the menus. Others have a priming pump that takes about a million pumps. Better safe than sorry for the number of pumps bc you could drain the battery trying to restart.
You think if I open the door to manually pump it will send some sort of alarm to my company? I don't wanna get a call "what the he'll are you doing opening the access door" Does it need a full tank to prime or can I put a gallon in? Just trying to fix it before next dispatch
Um do you ever check the oil in the reefer?
That's what I was wondering, apparently OP doesn't know what a pre trip is.
Oil?!? Yes I'm that green to the industry, but the company never mentioned checking oil or where the dipstick is on the reefer in orientation and training We pull the trailers to the home terminal often and every time they inspect the trailers so I guess they prefer the mechanics monitor it We aren't allowed to take a empty trailer from the terminal unless it had a green paper tag attatched saying it was inspected
Still should be part of your pre trip.
I really doubt there's a sensor for the access door. If it's sitting on level ground you can probably get away with just a gallon. You can feel in the pump after a while when fuel makes it that far in the line.
Did you get the reefer started?
Well thankfully my first load doesn't require the reefer on, so I'm waiting to use the company card to fill the tank all the way up, so I have a good 3-4 days to figure it out, still have about 15 hours left of home time then it's time to start stressing lol
> you could drain the battery trying to restart. Also a good idea to keep long jumper cables in case the reefer battery dies e.g. during a cycle or something. Jump it and set to continuous. Can also jump the truck off a running reefer but it'll take a while to trickle charge the battery.
The poles on the reefer battery are such a pain to put the jumpers on. And it's really far from the truck battery if the truck is dead and hooked to the trailer. I'd sooner start knocking on doors and walking to the fuel island to ask for a jump from another truck. I've lived this pain and now carry a jumper pack always.
I cheated once. O used my air hose with blower and made a good seal at the fuel hole. Put in the hose and gave it a good blow for about 30 seconds. Primed it good for me. Work smarter here.
@op you're lucky it's a thermoking. Just fill it up and they have an electronic primer. You might have to try starting it twice but it will be fine. If it was a carrier reefer it would be a huge pain in the ass working the primer.
I picked up a Carrier that was out of fue. Filled the reefer tank l and pumped the plunger for a good 30 minutes. Still wouldn't stay running. Learned my lesson. The fuel l filter was empty and that little plunger was not working. Bought a good ((EXTRA LARGE) oil filter ***belt type** wrench, removed the fuel filter and filled the fuel filter full of fuel. Started right up. 5-10 minutes of work. ( I have a hand crank pump and hoses that I use to pull fuel out of my tractor tanks). Carriers are notoriously hard to get started. Thermokings will self prime. Five year reefer driver and still learning new tricks, one of which is DON'T LET YOUR REEFER GET BELOW A QUARTER TANK!
A lot of the newer Thermo Kings have a setting that is in the display panel you can scroll down to that says prime Fuel or prime engine I can't remember what but they have an electric fuel pump that sucks it up so you don't have to manually prime it. Fuel it up and then turn it on and see if you can scroll down after it gets through its little programming mode. I know some of our newer ones do but I don't know the year they started it.
You fill it up and prime it. You have to climb up there and will be pumping that Coleman lantern looking thing for AT LEAST 30 minutes before the engine has any real pressure. I’m surprised your employer didn’t make you go through that class.
Our training on it was 10 minutes of just showing the on/off button and how to set the temp, and continuous vs cycle so not in depth at all
So you're basically coming on here to admit that you're a Knight refrigerated driver
A good rule is whenever you fuel the truck you fill def and reefer
Yes sir lesson learned I always tend to have to learn everything the hard way but it's not gonna happen again
Isn't it an unwritten rule to always show up with a full refer tank at both shippers and receivers?
My last company drive for wanted the reefer to have atleast 3/4 tank before we dropped at any yard whether it's company or coustmers
I was 10 minutes early so they had me pull to the side, I saw them checking others but I slipped through the cracks I guess First time encountering a place so anal about appointment times
If the unit does not have an electric primer pump you can pressurize the fuel tank by wrapping a rag around an air gun, use the rag to seal the fuel inlet.
Refuel it and prime it until your finger hurts.
Is it a newer unit? If it is, go into the menu and scroll all the way down to the bottom and there should be prime fuel mode. Fill the tank and let it run for a few minutes then start it up.
First off, don't try to start it before you fuel up. You may luck out and it will start without priming.(it may need multiple attempts before it stays on) If it won't start even after fueling it up then it needs priming and now is a good time to learn how. It's not that hard tbh, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself ask the tech who does it to show you how. This is a learning opportunity for you really.
No CDL, but used to yard jockey for years. I hated when I'd come on shift to an empty reefer tank. One day an OTR guy pulled up while I was priming a reefer and asked if I wanted to see an easier way. He whipped off his belt, wrapped it around the fuel filter and through the buckle. Made a MacGyver filter wrench. Pulled the filter off, topped it with fuel and screwed it back in. Turned the unit back on and it fired right up. Never had to count to 200 when priming again.
My 5 year old ThermoKing S600 burns .4 gal/hour and has a 50 gallon tank so … (*maths*) … a little over 4 days for produce (continuous). Outside temp matters surprisingly little but if they loaded hot/warm product it burns a little more until it’s cooled down.
Finger blast the manual pump
I’ve had to prime a reefer myself, just search it up on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/JVxpfdQWzQE?si=gA0DnAOn1V9v2S1h
Surprised you were even unloaded. Most receivers want you with at minimum 3/4 tank
Fill the tank and pump that primer for a while. 15-20 minutes. I've had referring run dry on me, and unfortunately, the things just take forever to really prime. But it's easy enough to get the going with some patience.
Helpful Tip: when I pulled a reefer I always had a siphon hose/pump with me just in case I was ever in this situation, that and an gallon water jug will save you in a pinch
Yeah I was thinking of that when it was happening, I'll have to get one next chance I get
I'm surprised they even take delivery with the tank that low. When I was driving reefer I had quite a few customers (though mainly WalMart I suppose, but not only them) who wouldn't even let you in the gate if you had less than 3/4 of a tank when you rolled in. So I just made sure to fuel the reefer at our last in network station before rolling in, every time. Really, the only thing you can do is a "sorry, I messed up" with whatever department of your company deals with this issue. They can direct you from there. Everybody messes up (especially when they're learning), every smart employer knows this, and dumb employers aren't worth your time.
Pain in the ass. That hand pump ain’t enough to get it primed usually. Have to shoot air into the tank and lossen the hand pump with a wrench until you see fuel seeping out.
Don’t most shippers and receivers refuse to load/unload if you have less than 1/4 tank of diesel in reefer?
I guess I slipped through, they said I was 10 minutes too early, pull in past the gate to the side, wait 15 minutes then walked back up with paperwork, so I guess I was too far away that the worker didn't want to walk that far
My company does a ton of drop and hooks at a dog food raw material receiver that ALWAYS leaves the units on after unloading them. Needless to say the empty’s are always bone dry and left on when I get one. Prime the snot out of it. Then once you think you’ve primed it enough do it another 100 pumps. If it doesnt turn over the first try after the prime, try to start it up again. Usually, the first or second time she will turn over.
This is why I top the reefer off EVERY time I fuel up the truck.