sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
I am interested in buying a temp validated truck and am having trouble finding one. I already looked at ellenbaum and diddent like it and refuse to buy from fyda! Any tips on where I should look.
where can I get a tvale truck
- Thread starter sparkle8859
- Start date
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
yeah i checked there was only 1 and it was to old
Who do you plan on leasing on with? As far as I know FedEx is not putting on new White Glove trucks, unless they lifted that.
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
leasing on with panther and a reefer will do ill make it a tvale. Panther, I think said none over 5 years.
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
cool ill talk to them about it. As far as making a reefer into a tvale all you have to do is have it tested. Costs about 100$ and takes 24 hrs. At least that is what the carrier people tell me. Theres also an add on here for it.
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
P.S whats a GxP?
greg334
Veteran Expediter
Well Good X Practices (GxP) is an FDA regulation covering the manufacturing and distribution (among a lot of other things that's where the x is). Reefers are to be tested under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Distribution Practices (GDP) to ensure that things don't go bad during the chain of custody (aka transportation).
There is another standard, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which also covers a number of things that are used in Manufacturing and things like Art and high value things.
Then there is Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), which is used in food manufacturing - many of us don't deal with this. I did for a bit but it was a pain in the a**. I hated washing out my box so I can haul three pallets of food dye. It also covers food safety as in food handling at those fantastically clean truck stops.
Basically the box, recorder and reefer are all tested to ensure that it ramps up (or down) temps, hold temps and the probes work properly, print outs are accurate and the temp tolerance is held under most conditions. While that is done, there is test results documentation which is part of the chain of documentation that is created (a lot like the quality standards under ISO what ever) and those are kept on record with the carrier so they can be sent to the customer for their compliance requirements on some products.
The last time I had this one validated, it cost $350 plus 24 hours of fuel, not to mention the hotel bill and losing two loads. It failed and hence don't run a validated reefer. The problem had nothing to do with the unit but the qualcomm and how it was tied into the recorder/reefer unit so I decided that it wasn't worth the effort to change it unless I did more than three runs a month, I've done three in two years.
By the way, be aware of sticker shock on labor for reefer units. I work on my own, it is simple for me to do my own work, I have all the tools now and Carrier provided all the manuals for nothing but nevertheless the last time I had this thing worked on the bill came to $3,800. The time before that is was a $1200 injection and fuel pump. I know one guy who runs for FedEx dumping $7000 into his unit, rebuilding the engine's head and replacing the compressor among a few other things and that was with a hefty discount. I can make a good point that one or two real issues with the unit will wipe out your profits.
Also as I am thinking about it and sorry about forgetting this, the age of the truck isn't a real issue but the box age is. The insulation breaks down. Depending on how well the box was constructed, they may not start until the 5th year. However, I have seen a couple that were made like crap and the reefer unit had a hard time holding temps and that was caused by the insulation already breaking down.
My question as I'm thinking about it is have you had reefer experience?
There is another standard, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which also covers a number of things that are used in Manufacturing and things like Art and high value things.
Then there is Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), which is used in food manufacturing - many of us don't deal with this. I did for a bit but it was a pain in the a**. I hated washing out my box so I can haul three pallets of food dye. It also covers food safety as in food handling at those fantastically clean truck stops.
Basically the box, recorder and reefer are all tested to ensure that it ramps up (or down) temps, hold temps and the probes work properly, print outs are accurate and the temp tolerance is held under most conditions. While that is done, there is test results documentation which is part of the chain of documentation that is created (a lot like the quality standards under ISO what ever) and those are kept on record with the carrier so they can be sent to the customer for their compliance requirements on some products.
The last time I had this one validated, it cost $350 plus 24 hours of fuel, not to mention the hotel bill and losing two loads. It failed and hence don't run a validated reefer. The problem had nothing to do with the unit but the qualcomm and how it was tied into the recorder/reefer unit so I decided that it wasn't worth the effort to change it unless I did more than three runs a month, I've done three in two years.
By the way, be aware of sticker shock on labor for reefer units. I work on my own, it is simple for me to do my own work, I have all the tools now and Carrier provided all the manuals for nothing but nevertheless the last time I had this thing worked on the bill came to $3,800. The time before that is was a $1200 injection and fuel pump. I know one guy who runs for FedEx dumping $7000 into his unit, rebuilding the engine's head and replacing the compressor among a few other things and that was with a hefty discount. I can make a good point that one or two real issues with the unit will wipe out your profits.
Also as I am thinking about it and sorry about forgetting this, the age of the truck isn't a real issue but the box age is. The insulation breaks down. Depending on how well the box was constructed, they may not start until the 5th year. However, I have seen a couple that were made like crap and the reefer unit had a hard time holding temps and that was caused by the insulation already breaking down.
My question as I'm thinking about it is have you had reefer experience?
"Also as I am thinking about it and sorry about forgetting this, the age of the truck isn't a real issue but the box age is. The insulation breaks down. Depending on how well the box was constructed, they may not start until the 5th year. However, I have seen a couple that were made like crap and the reefer unit had a hard time holding temps and that was caused by the insulation already breaking down.
My question as I'm thinking about it is have you had reefer experience?[/QUOTE] "
The insulation is the key. A typical box with 3" of insulation will begin to go out of tval specs (FedEx specs) in 4-5 years assuming quality work.
My original box was not even that old and was no longer able to make extreme cold in hot, humid weather at 2 years old. That box was very poorly constructed with uneven thickness and even gaps in the insulation. When we had the new box built we put in 4" all around. The difference? At 80F the old box "came down" at a rate of about 1 degree every 5-10 minutes. If it was hotter and humid I could not get down below -17C. The new box "comes down" at about 1 degree per 1.5 minutes and -25 is not a problem at any outside temp and humidity.
The new box was built to make -25C at 120F outside temp with a Carrier 844 under belly mount. Under belly reefers are not as good at keeping temp as roof mounts are and to not last as long due to the amount of road dirts and salts they are exposed to.
My question as I'm thinking about it is have you had reefer experience?[/QUOTE] "
The insulation is the key. A typical box with 3" of insulation will begin to go out of tval specs (FedEx specs) in 4-5 years assuming quality work.
My original box was not even that old and was no longer able to make extreme cold in hot, humid weather at 2 years old. That box was very poorly constructed with uneven thickness and even gaps in the insulation. When we had the new box built we put in 4" all around. The difference? At 80F the old box "came down" at a rate of about 1 degree every 5-10 minutes. If it was hotter and humid I could not get down below -17C. The new box "comes down" at about 1 degree per 1.5 minutes and -25 is not a problem at any outside temp and humidity.
The new box was built to make -25C at 120F outside temp with a Carrier 844 under belly mount. Under belly reefers are not as good at keeping temp as roof mounts are and to not last as long due to the amount of road dirts and salts they are exposed to.
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Ours does fine but will not last as long as a roof mount. The answer to holding temps is the insulation.
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
thank you for that info. We have reefer experiance dont really care eather way but with a tvale truck we can get hired on at a higher rate. I want to be a fleet owner within the next 5 years and with this first truck averaging 1.35 we would be able to buy anouther one straight out within the next year. We work for panther now so know how the company works but I have only seen 3 tvale trucks for sale and thought it might be easier to get one validated. With the one that had the qc problem couldent you get the company to fix that?
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
also layoutshooter how much did it cost you to rebuild the box?
The insurance covered it, but the cost including having it put on the box was $32,000.
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
do you think its worth it getting the tvale I mean hoe many loads do you get as aposed to dry box runs?
sparkle8859
Seasoned Expediter
ahh who do you work for?
greg334
Veteran Expediter
I used to work for FedEx but now another company. FedEx used it about once a month, mostly paint but some industrial test equipment (anyone can be a W/G driver) and some prototype stuff but the new company not much.
Actually I have my first reefer load this year tomorrow, not a big deal just needs cool temps. I ran the unit for two hours, got it down to 15 in the box in 1:15 with the outside temps being at 87 and a lot of sun (box temp was 85 so 70 degrees drop in 75 minutes seems good for the age). So I feel confident the 6 hour drive will be fine because it is in the early morning.
Actually I have my first reefer load this year tomorrow, not a big deal just needs cool temps. I ran the unit for two hours, got it down to 15 in the box in 1:15 with the outside temps being at 87 and a lot of sun (box temp was 85 so 70 degrees drop in 75 minutes seems good for the age). So I feel confident the 6 hour drive will be fine because it is in the early morning.