Maintenance and servicing is an aspect that is often overlooked by people who are in the market for a refrigerated storage unit. If you are leasing or purchasing a refrigerated container, it’s important that you understand that the unit is far more than a shipping container. It’s better to think of it as a large appliance that requires routine maintenance and servicing in order to ensure that it continues to operate properly and provides you with adequate temperature control.
Kiwi Box offer routine maintenance of our leased units
If a refrigerated shipping container fails, the loss of product can have a severe impact on the business’s profitability for the year. We want our customers to know they can trust the equipment we provide to them. In order to ensure the reliability of our refrigerated containers while they are out on hire, we ensure that all our chillers and freezer containers are fully serviced before they are hired out and then conduct routine, onsite servicing of the units for as long as they are out. Our pre-hire service includes a full inspection of the electrics, power lead and plug, as well as fitting a current COC electrical certificate that states the lead is safe to use.
In the Canterbury region, we have a maintenance programme for all leased containers. One of our technicians will come out every six months to inspect and service the refrigeration system and electrics to ensure they will continue to be reliable for present and future customers. For the rest of the South Island, we make a visit once a year to examine the containers, write a report and issue a new COC electrical certificate.
We do all of this at no extra cost to our customers. It’s all about keeping our containers running smoothly and providing that extra layer of assurance to our clients. We have found that this servicing programme pays off in the long run because it keeps our containers in good working order and minimises occurrences of costly breakdowns.
Purchasing a second-hand refrigerated container
Many of our customers are interested in purchasing a used refrigerated container, rather than leasing one. We offer a wide variety of used shipping containers, all of which have had a thorough inspection and servicing to ensure they will provide reliable service to their new owners. If you’re considering a used refrigerated container, we advise you to view the maintenance and servicing records. We recommend against purchasing from someone who is unwilling to share these records with you.
You should also consider having a refrigeration engineer inspect the container before purchasing. The engineer will seek to determine the following:
- Does the container have a good condenser? The condenser is like the radiator in your car. If it is corroded and has fins missing, it will overheat on a hot day. This puts stress on the compressor, as it has to operate at very high pressures.
- Is the compressor pumping correctly? A badly worn compressor may be pumping refrigerant at half of its capacity, which means the container will have to run many more hours to maintain a cool temperature, thus increasing the unit’s energy consumption.
- Are the inside evaporator fan motors and outside fan motors noisy? If so, they may eventually seize and the motor windings will burnout. This can be very costly to repair and translates to downtime for the customer.
- Are the defrost heaters working and not down to earth? This means that when they go on defrost, they will trip out the earth leakage circuit breaker on the main power board.
- Does the motor, compressor, main power lead, power plug and all electrical equipment read correctly? If there are low readings, this could indicate potential problems in the future.
- Are there any holes in the roof of the container? Holes that have been around for any length of time will allow water to soak into the roof insulation. This liquid is impossible to remove and causes the refrigeration plant to run many more hours than it would otherwise need to.
- Are the container’s doors easy to open and close? Are the door seals in good working order? Door and seal issues can translate to unnecessarily large power bills.
We pride ourselves on the quality of the second hand refrigerated containers that we sell and lease. If you buy a used refrigerated shipping container from Kiwi Box, you don’t have to worry about any of these issues because our team goes through great lengths to ensure that our boxes are in full working order before they are sold or leased. Please contact us today to learn more!