Reefer Shipping Containers - Why They Are Useful For Modifications
Reefer Shipping Containers: Why They Are Useful For Modifications. There are three different refrigerator containers: 53’ reefer container, 20ft reefer container, and 40 ft reefer container.
These refrigerated containers are a low-cost alternative for customers since it is already insulated. These shipping containers are great to modify for container homes, offices, hunting shack cabins, air compressors, tool cribs, master control rooms, etc. I will explain why 53’ refrigerated containers are the best option for your next container modification project. Stay tuned. Hope you learn something!
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YouTube Video Transcript
0:00
Hi I'm Channing McCorriston, the container
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guy today we're going to be talking
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about using refrigerated shipping
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containers for container modifications
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we also call them x-reefers once we peel
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the refrigeration unit off the back as
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you can see these are amazing structures
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they have a beautiful building envelope
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there's tons of insulation in this
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container and often you can buy this
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unit for next to the same price as what
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a steel non-insulated structure would be
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after landing a deal on national
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television in 2011 where his team
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pitched their idea of modifying shipping
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containers he went on to start his own
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business
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since then he's completed thousands of
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container modifications for clients in
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every major industry
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now he wants to teach you everything he
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knows about container modifications and
0:47
accessories
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channing mccorrison is the container guy
0:57
we're going to take a look at 53-foot
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x-reefers which are an intermodal
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container these are six inches wider
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than an iso container they're meant to
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stay within north america and are used
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on roads and with trains where the 20
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foot and 40 foot iso refrigerated
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containers those are only eight feet
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wide and they're meant to fit in a
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vessel slot in
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on a container vessel i'll give you a
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little tour of the building envelope so
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these here have a fiberglass frp panel
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it's a white pebble finished panel very
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similar to what's in uh commercial
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freezers or refrigerators it's a nice
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panel it's white so it reflects the the
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light very well container here has two
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inches of foam in the walls and three
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and a half inches of foam
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in the floor and in the ceiling
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it's a great
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building envelope where the foam
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actually continues around the top edge
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and then through the floor there's
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basically two floors in this thing where
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the foam comes down the wall and under
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this aluminum t-slot floor but then
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there's the i-beam cross members that
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are running below the foam structure as
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well so
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they're great building envelope super
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easy to heat or cool disadvantage to
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this and the 20s and 40s is that
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aluminum t-slot floor often people don't
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like it what we do to make it a more
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usable floor and easier to clean is
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we'll take 5 8 tongue and groove plywood
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and lay it down we can screw right
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through the plywood into the larger
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sections of the t-slot it seems to hold
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it down very well and then on top of
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that we can take an epoxy floor coating
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or lay down you know a nice vinyl
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flooring it depends on what the customer
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is requiring for an interior finish
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so here's a look at the back end of the
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container this unit's already had the
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reefer removed off the back and the
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plastic air deflector has been removed
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and also we've peeled the entire tarp
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off the ceiling
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this has only been
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boarded with just treated plywood the
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customer using this specific one is only
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using it as an insulated cold storage
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unit if we were to modify this
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often we like to take cutouts from
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other containers
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the same wall system and then fill this
3:12
hole that'll allow it to be aluminum on
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the back side still give you the two
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inches of foam and then that nice white
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frp panel finish on the interior
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this here is our favorite way to fill
3:22
these reefer holes but we're only able
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to do it when we have remnant cutouts
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from other overhead door installations
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so with this we have a panel from the
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side of a can we've left a flange all
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the way around drilled riveted through
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there and then silicone the perimeter
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and here's the interior view of the
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finished reefer hole it's done the way
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we like to do it it's got the frp panel
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finish and then just foamed all the way
3:46
around but you can see this sits nice
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and snug
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and a nice matching finish to the rest
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of the container
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the reason why we often use these
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containers as the canvas for a container
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modification is because typically
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the spray foam that's in this container
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alone is more expensive to apply and pay
4:07
a contractor to do than it is to buy
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this entire structure so
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this often makes the job it's make or
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break for the customer whether they go
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ahead with it or not because they don't
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have to
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frame spray foam and interior line the
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container all that's left to do is just
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install the windows doors electrical and
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any ventilation another cost saving for
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customers is that these containers are a
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smooth walled exterior so we don't have
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to battle the corrugations for watershed
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so i'll give you an idea
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on the outside here often customers can
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even install their own windows and doors
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you know something they purchase at
4:43
their local lumber yard but
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yeah just cutting a hole in the side of
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this container and not having to deal
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with any of that corrugation
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framing kit that we have
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is less expensive for us to manufacture
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and therefore cheaper for the customer
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lastly installing electrical on these is
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often cheaper because we don't have to
5:01
strut line the interior we can fasten
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our conduit to the wall and not worry
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about penetrating through to the outside
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so
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electricians often can come right in
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here and start piping in their
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electrical switches plugs
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if there's something heavier that needs
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to be hung from the wall often will
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still
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line it with struts say to hang a heater
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or
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the panel you know transformers whatever
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something that needs to be wall mounted
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it's heavy you don't want to just go
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right into your fiberglass wall you'll
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want some structure there but all in all
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yeah cheaper again for the electrical as
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well using these containers is often a
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low-cost alternative for customers
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you might sacrifice a little bit in
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interior finish but often
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the price tag at the end of the project
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is half so we love using these customers
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in the past have used these for hunting
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shacks cabins we've built offices or
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office storage combos uh job site uh
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tool cribs spitballing here there's lots
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but master control rooms air compressor
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shacks many things so we love these cans
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insulated ahead of time prior to
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lining your walls totally the way to go
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we'll give you an idea on what the 40
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foot looks like next so here we have a
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40 foot x reefer container so this
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actually had a working reefer on it and
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we just missed the guys taking it off
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these are an electric unit they're 460
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volt three-phase
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they are much easier to remove there's
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just the stainless steel bolts all along
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the perimeter you hook a chain up to the
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top of it
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lift
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and it is removed so
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yeah these are it's a much larger hole
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as well than than
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what the diesel unit leaves but the
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reason why the 20s and 40s are electric
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and not diesel is because the container
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vessel or
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the storage yard will have
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shore power and be able to plug all
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these units in so the vessels will
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generate 460 volt three phase power so
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the interiors of 20 foot and 40 foot
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reefers are identical they're
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all typically stainless steel lined
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interiors they're only 91 inches wide
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rather than 97 on the 53 foot x reapers
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so that six inches wider plus the
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stainless steel color it kind of narrows
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up the space and doesn't make it feel
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quite as comfortable and for that reason
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we often
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go to the 53 for a lot of our
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modifications that and sometimes the 40s
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and even the 20s are more expensive than
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the 53s so customers can get that extra
7:37
square footage for the same price if not
7:40
less same goes in 20s and 40s they have
7:43
the aluminum t-slot floor the purpose of
7:45
this floor is actually to return air
7:48
when the reefers running so if this
7:50
thing is full of pallets and there's not
7:52
much room for the air to circulate the
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cool air will
7:56
flow above the pallet to the back door
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and then it returns underneath the
8:01
pallets so it provides a nice even
8:03
circulation and even temperature inside
8:06
these things
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on that note
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the building envelope to talk about how
8:11
well insulated they are these things are
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designed to hold minus 40 and plus 20
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and plus 20 in minus 40. so both ways uh
8:20
yeah
8:21
in the arctic or in the desert they can
8:24
maintain the uneven temperature and so
8:27
if they can do that
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you know with cargo they can definitely
8:31
keep that temperature for an office or
8:33
for a job site shock side of the
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container i'd like to point out you know
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a downfall to the 20 and 40 foot reefers
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is they often get a lot more dinged up
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than the 53s the 53s always seem to be
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just perfectly straight when we get them
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and yeah the 20s and 40s i don't know if
8:48
it's the way that people handle them
8:50
across the planet or just less careful
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but
8:53
the structure is maybe a little bit more
8:55
i wouldn't say compromised but it
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definitely isn't as cosmetic even after
9:00
paint here we have a panel prepped and
9:03
ready to install to fill the reefer hole
9:05
this panel is out of a 53 53-foot reefer
9:08
it's a good time to show you the wall
9:10
cavity of the can so you see there's
9:12
aluminum
9:14
structure in the container that
9:16
and then the foam actually
9:19
goes over the aluminum stud so it
9:20
provides you that nice vapor barrier so
9:22
you don't have any
9:24
condensation condensation or frosting in
9:26
the winter time
9:28
with this panel here we've also like for
9:31
installation on the back end we've left
9:33
this flange here
9:35
this we will silicone it allows us once
9:38
we lift it up to
9:39
fill the hole
9:40
we will self-tapping screw into the
9:43
structure
9:44
of the back end of the can and then just
9:46
on the interior give it a nice
9:48
silicone and yeah it should be all
9:51
sealed up and now the reefer hole is
9:53
just as insulated as the container is
9:55
the boys have the panel prepped and
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they'll just be lifting it in place now
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show us how it's done
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[Music]
10:12
so that fits nicely there
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we'll be able to
10:15
self tap
10:16
all along the perimeter because we left
10:18
that flange and then this gives a nice
10:20
aluminum exterior finish still and the
10:23
interior is finished with that
10:24
fiberglass frp panel so there's a pretty
10:26
comprehensive review of
10:28
reefer shipping containers
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if i didn't cover anything or there's
10:32
any other questions that you may have
10:34
please feel free to leave a comment
10:36
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10:38
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10:40
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10:48
hope you learned something!
Reefer Shipping Containers - Why They Are Useful For Modifications
