A refrigerated container or reefer is an intermodal container that can be used to transport temperature-sensitive, perishable cargo such as fruits, vegetables, meat, and other similar items.
There are three different refrigerator containers: 53’ reefer container, 20' reefer container, and 40' reefer container. These refrigerated containers are a low-cost alternative for customers since it is already insulated.
VIDEO
Purchase Container Modification World Products Featured in The Video
YouTube Video Transcript
0:00
I'm Channing mccorriston the container
guy in this video we are going to show
you a brand new 40-foot High Cube
refrigerator unit we get a lot of
requests in the comments in our videos
for more information on these reefer
units because a lot of people like to
use them as container homes and these
brand new ones they'd be great for that
although they're really expensive so
follow along this video we're going to
show you everything this new 40-foot has
to offer and more horns hopefully
I'll start off by showing you the
exterior and how these differentiate
between regular shipping containers and
even just other refrigerated containers
that are meant for cargo so these here
are specifically built to be utilized as
a refrigerator in North America or
actually they're stocked all over the
world by this manufacturer and so if you
are anywhere on the planet and looking
for one of these they might not be right
in your Inland City but they're
typically stocked at all port cities so
if you get a hold of your local
container guy around your area they'll
likely be able to Source One of These
find one sell it to you'll just have to
wait you know a week or two for them to
arrange shipment to get it to you but
beware they're not cheap so yeah let's
here one thing to note about these is
they got a polyurethane uh top coat of
paint on the exterior which is super
bright we had it in the sun earlier and
I felt like I was cutting onions my
eyeballs were watering and so uh yeah it
really will reflect the light away from
the container and make sure that the
contents inside stay cool even in more
desert environments I guess or places
colder than or warmer than Canada but
also it's very easy to clean with that
type of coating and so yeah it's a it's
a really nice exterior it would fit well
in any commercial or an industrial
environment say if you don't have room
inside your facility for additional
fridge or freezer space you can purchase
one of these put it in the back they
work great and now you've just expanded
your store square footage 320 square
feet so one thing that's really nice
about them unfortunately we don't have
the key so we can't open this door and
show you how it works but it's really
cool so they have an access door inside
what they call The Butcher door so this
is a wider and nice and Tall door if
you're bringing larger objects through
but this individual door here opens from
the outside with the key it's lockable
and you can actually close it on
yourself so when you're inside the
container there's a panic button where
you can hit that and then also get out
and so a lot of people ask me how do I
make the container doors operate you
know and close and be able to open them
from the inside and I haven't really
quite figured that out yet on a regular
set of doors and because it's difficult
the lock rods are in the way a previous
version of these reefers actually had
the lock Rod here and this mechanism was
tied into the lock rod and the latch
mechanism and it was very complex and
also if the can wasn't sitting nice and
level it could jam up and wouldn't work
that great so they've made this door
wider which allows the lock Rod to be
clear free and clear of it and then just
use more of a regular refrigerator style
hardware here so that's that's a huge
bonus here another thing to note down
low is they actually have a lip here for
a ramp so you can connect an aluminum
ramp or something so you can actually
drag dollies or whatever of your
refrigerated Goods into this container
and so that's that's a really cool
option uh it's just you know
great foresaw and it's there for you if
you need it and just also they have a
little a rain drip on the door so no
water actually gets in there because
these doors will be cold and and they
couldn't you know Frost up and freeze up
and so having this waist height extra
long single door handle gives you tons
of Leverage to get this door open even
if it's frozen up and that's what they
advertise here so yeah let's uh
maybe Cruise along to the back side of
this thing and check out the reefer and
let you know the specs on that and how
they work so as we move along this
container you can see the the
corrugation profile it's just very
slender every 14 inches or so and so
that allows the insulation value not
much thermal bridging there and this
thing will be very easy to cool really
in any climate so that's awesome there
and also just this white paint it's
really nice I think the steel on these
is a stainless steel not a mild steel
too so it's a painted stainless steel
and this thing should last forever like
uh they're very you know well built well
thought out well planned and my opinion
worth the money so let's check out this
so these plugs here this is what's meant
to plug into the the container ships so
each ship has their diesel engines and
potentially cleaner engines now but uh
they'll provide a whole bunch of power
to run multiple containers on the ship
and it's you know around home it's a 460
volt three-phase power that you need to
operate this thing they do have
inverters as an optional kit here that
will allow this thing to plug into
different voltages of three phase and I
think don't quote me on this but they
might have a 120 volt or sorry 240 volt
single phase option which would be
really cool because then anybody with
just regular household power could
actually plug this thing if you have
enough amperage so yeah that's that's uh
interesting thought there they're really
intuitive controller you can set highs
and lows so that it you know it doesn't
kick in all the time or just a constant
temperature there's also the ability to
data log in these things so you can see
you know how it reacts throughout
different temperatures throughout the
day and then also like especially if
you're shipping Goods across you can
make sure that your bananas or whatever
didn't freeze or cook or you know so
that has all the data ports there and
it's actually able to I think there's an
app or something you can check it on
your phone through Thermo King so
there's two different types of reefer
units that come with these this here is
the thermal Thermal King unit there's
also carrier units so I don't know if
that's just personal personal preference
but also maybe something that uh if you
have a a local carrier or Thermal King
you know a service tech near you or
nearest you maybe that would sway your
decision on which one to go with but uh
in here they do have a siren to sound an
alarm if something was going on or if
the reefer shut off that's cool as well
and yeah I'm not sure what else but if
you are to buy one of these things as a
container home this really is
unnecessary and often times people
unbolt them and so there are all the
stainless steel bolts here and they're
actually very easy to remove you just
remove all the bolts and then there's a
couple lift lugs and sometimes even yeah
Fork Pockets right here so you can just
take your forklift and grab these things
and carry them around so so that's nice
and we'll build some sort of patio door
or a glass or something here a lot of
the structure you probably would want to
keep though that does you know provide
the moment frame and stop the container
from twisting but I'm sure you could cut
into this especially if you reinforce it
if you were wanting to put some sort of
patio door or something on the end wall
of these 40-foot reefer units one thing
that's interesting to point out on the
side of the container here is that the
there's damage on the bottom of the
channel already and uh I know the
supplier of these things they sent me
marketing images from China right at the
factory and already had this damage and
so it's unfortunate that potentially the
equipment that they have at their site
they're damaging this already and
they're not utilizing a side lifter or
top lift like what we have and yeah I
guess if you're purchasing one of these
and you're moving around your site be
careful you don't want to be handling
this with a bobcat or skid steer
anywhere try to lift from the corner
points and that's what's going to
protect this container and ensure that
yeah yeah you're not wrecking the
envelope before you even start using it
it's kind of difficult as a one-man show
here to try to operate this door without
the keys but here it is so we have the
Icebreaker door let's not let this swing
we know that we can get out in the
instance that we get locked into this
thing it's very carefully labeled and
what's really cool inside this
there's actually rubber door stops on
the sides of the doors or on the hinges
as well and that stops uh your doors
from swinging around and scuffing but
this here it's got the the butcher
curtain curtain I guess so the vinyl
curtains that drop down and so this is
and allows you to have it close as long
as everything's nice and level and so
you can go in and out of this thing and
you don't lose all your Refrigeration oh
it's uh it's nice and cool in here
actually that's crazy so yeah come on in
so what's intelligent is they've put uh
four inch pot light LEDs inside this
thing so they're very low profile they
don't take up much of the insulation
value again but they give you light in
here and so there's a switch for the
lamps there's also the alarm switch here
at the door now if we jump inside these
things you can see they got the uh the
scuff resistant siding so all the
stainless steel interior here and that
protects it from it from its maiden
voyage so you can see there was Cargo in
here this is prior to getting delivered
to the end user and it has scuffed it a
little bit but at least uh if this was
fiberglass it potentially could have
damaged it more and now this thing's
going to show up to the customer in
great condition another thing to note
and it's optional on these uh 40-foot
reefers and I guess they have 20s and
tens as well but this here has the uh
the flat floors what they call it so
it's an aluminum floor with a very low
profiled dimple so there's just a tiny
bit of air movement allowed in here so
if you're putting boxes directly on the
floor in this low profile flooring
potentially if you're trying to
refrigerate the underside of it might
not stay cool and it could absorb heat
from the floor up and melt the product
so if it's ice cream or something so be
careful if you're using this as a reefer
and you have the low profile floor you'd
want to put your product on top of
pallets or something to allow the air to
circulate it typically likes to blow all
the way along the roof and then return
on the floor underneath the pallets and
that's why the the higher t-slot floor
is utilized on on any uh briefer that's
meant for for moving cargo but this is a
really nice floor when you're wanting to
convert this into a modular structure
container-based structure so if you're
doing a home or an office or whatever
just operate right on this floor it's
amazing or if you're really fussy uh
yeah just put some plywood or something
right over top and then go back to
traditional flooring methods and
products so yeah that's cool another
thing to note on these is they have uh
drains on the Four Corners so if this
thing's not sitting level and it doesn't
matter which way it's sloping towards if
water was to build up and drain it will
go out to Four Corners which is another
intelligent thing that they've added and
it's it's uh those aren't in regular
refrigerated 40-foot containers and then
they've also even just the lashing
points put them on the walls uh just for
uh regular cargo sometimes people use
this just just to get these to North
America where they're needed it doesn't
necessarily even ship uh refrigerated
Goods they might just throw anything
cardboard box whatever product regular
product inside these just just to get
them to the end user so but if you are
using it another thing to notice is up
top here they always say no cargo go
above this level and so that's that's
important because that's where the the
cold air the supply it runs along the
roof and then like I said it Returns on
the floor typically through the t-slot
floor or under the pallets so uh yeah
let's jump to the back here and just see
uh how this all turns out so they have
like cabinets so to speak on both sides
of the bulkhead at the back of this
thing and uh this here you can see where
like there's a bunch of electrical
connections where you can download all
the data from its trip across the ocean
another just nice little storage space
and I'm not sure what this is that an
air deflector or something maybe to
the amount of return not 100 certain but
here if you can see that's the drain
there and there's one on all the Four
here that's the supply so that tries to
evenly distribute the air as it exit the
reefer unit but again I guess if this
was to come off your hole is going to be
pretty much that big through here nice
place for a chunk of glass or uh you
know if you can continue to utilize this
thing as your heater and cooler but
they're too loud you can't actually
utilize them in in like an office
setting or a home setting because yeah
it's the thing kicks on and I mean it'll
freeze you for one thing but also it's
style heater it's just it's just yeah
the fans way too many decibels on those
things so yeah I don't know what else to
to show you guys on these maybe talk a
little bit about the the envelope
typically they're uh well 53s and stuff
they're two inches of foam on the walls
and three inches of foam in the floor in
the ceiling I think these are closer to
two and a half three inches in the walls
and the floor and ceiling so you're
what one would call like an R20 wall
system but this is going to perform so
much better than like a R20 wall with
just two by four studs and fiberglass
insulation in the cavity like that's an
ideal scenario r value or this is you're
R20 and and a real R20 and probably
would compete to more like a I don't
know r28 or R40 traditional Wall Systems
so yeah they're great they don't take
much to heat or cool and when they're
brand new they're beautiful but you
might have to get out your pocketbook so
anyway we wanted to show the audience we
always get all these questions on the
reefer units and and how they're
utilizing container-based structures we
do have other videos with these things
where we've installed a man door and
we've done some fans and things like
that so you can check that out or check
out all of our other videos on our
Channel a lot of the components that we
design for corrugated containers work
great in reefers so yeah if you enjoyed
this video please help us out give it a
like subscribe to our Channel and ring
that Bell for notifications and as
always check us out at tcg.ca
hope you learned something
