Running costs, power, dimensions, buying used, regulations: the technical questions to settle before hiring or buying — each one on its own page.
All guides
- Buying guide — A practical UK checklist for buying a used reefer container: PTI test, running hours, door seals, CSC plate and the cold run to insist on before you pay.
- Delivery & siting — How reefer containers are delivered by HIAB or tilt-bed lorry, the access and ground you need, siting near three-phase power, and a UK site-prep checklist.
- Dimensions & capacity — Internal and external dimensions, volume, pallet counts and tare for 10ft, 20ft and 40ft high cube reefers, and why an insulated interior is smaller.
- Fixed cold room — Turn a refrigerated container into a permanent cold room: siting, three-phase connection, shelving and strip curtains, and how it compares with a built room.
- Fridge unit repair — Reefer fridge unit playing up? The common breakdown symptoms, what gets repaired vs replaced, spare parts by make, and when a repair stops paying. UK, £ ex VAT.
- Frost protection — A refrigerated container heats as well as cools, holding paints, wine and stock above freezing through winter. Frost protection explained, with UK hire prices.
- HACCP monitoring — Storing food in a reefer: HACCP records, dataloggers and remote alarms for UK operators — and why ATP covers transport, not a static cold store.
- Insulated vs reefer — Insulated or refrigerated container? An insulated box costs 30-50% less but makes no cold. Compare uses, UK prices and running costs before you hire.
- Noise & neighbours — A refrigerated container’s cooling unit runs in cycles, day and night. How loud it is at distance, where to site it, screening, and UK noise rules.
- Off-grid generator — No mains on your site? A reefer still needs real power. How to size a clip-on generator, what diesel it burns, and when a genset is your only option.
- Planning permission — Do you need planning permission to site a reefer? It depends on size, duration and location. What UK councils weigh, and who to ask before you hire or buy.
- Power supply — 32 A three-phase CEE plugs, the single-phase question, generators and sign-off: what a refrigerated container needs from a UK power supply before delivery.
- Power-cut backup — How long a refrigerated container holds cold in a power cut, plus backup generators, alarms and a plan to protect your stock. UK hire guide, prices in £.
- Reefer unit brands — Carrier, Thermo King, Daikin and Star Cool reefer units compared for UK buyers: spare-parts networks, servicing and resale value — and why parts beat the badge.
- Running costs — How much electricity a refrigerated container uses in the UK: 70–170 kWh a day by size and set point, what that costs in £, and practical ways to cut the bill.
- Super-freezer -60 °C — What a super-freezer container at -60 to -70 °C does that a standard -18 to -25 °C reefer can’t — who needs it, and how to hire or buy one in the UK.
- Temperature settings — How a refrigerated container holds -25 to +25 °C: setting the temperature, chill-down, chilled vs frozen, defrost and heating, with UK hire and buy figures.