Reefer Vans For Sale

About Reefer Vans

Refrigerated vans, often referred to as “reefer vans,” are cargo van or box vans equipped to deliver temperature-sensitive foods and goods over relatively short distances. Their refrigeration units and insulated interiors allow them to distribute perishable items that need to be kept frozen or chilled to a specific temperature until they reach their destination. Caterers, butchers, grocery stores, and others use reefer vans to transport dairy, eggs, ice, ice cream, meat, seafood, wine and other alcohol, and other foodstuffs. Florists, medical supply companies, and others also use refrigerated vans to deliver non-edible cargo such as flowers, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and plasma.

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Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 Reefer Van

Cooling Components

The reefer units on modern refrigerated vans are usually rooftop-mounted, in contrast with nose-mount units used on the front of a box truck’s compartment. Manufacturers such as Carrier Transicold and Thermo King express their products’ cooling capacity in British Thermal Units per hour, such as 4,700 BTUs/hr at 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 degrees Celsius). They charge their reefer units with different refrigerants, such as R-134A or R-404A, according to the desired temperature range. Thermo King also uses R-452A refrigerant in its electric e200 model for environmental sustainability reasons.

The compressor in smaller van reefer units is powered by an electric motor that runs on the vehicle’s battery, while higher-capacity units use a road compressor mounted on the vehicle’s engine. Both are considered direct-drive types of reefer units, as opposed to bigger, independent semitrailer reefer units powered by their own secondary diesel engine. Some vans can also use electric standby power from a shore power outlet and continue to run the refrigerator unit quietly while the vehicle’s motor is turned off.

Other common features of late-model reefer van units include in-cab adjustable climate control systems, digital display monitors, shipment temperature logging, remote alerts, and support for dual or multiple compartments with individual temperature control.

Van Features

Reefer vans include thermal door linings, heat-reflective windows, and various types of insulation built into the walls, roof, and floors. They’re generally available with a wide range of customizations, including fold-away shelves, meat hooks and rails, waterproof floors, corrosion- and slip-resistant materials, and entryways large enough to accommodate palletized cargo loads.

Newer refrigerated vans built from Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, Ford Transits, and the like are often loaded with the safety and driver assistance tech you’d expect from a modern commercial vehicle. These include camera- and sensor-based driver assistance and safety technologies, communication and infotainment systems with built-in navigation, touchscreen displays, mobile device charging ports, and anti-theft systems.

History

The beginning of mobile refrigeration dates to the 1800s when railroads started to use railcars containing boxes of ice to keep meats and other perishable goods fresh during transport. By the mid-19th century, insulated boxcars were introduced, and by the 1870s, an ice-based ventilation cooling system was invented. The earliest mobile vehicles used cooler wagons, large chunks of ice, and later dry ice to keep cargo chilled. In the early 1940s, the first vehicles with portable mechanical cooling units began to appear in large numbers; the ice cream industry was an early beneficiary of the technology. Today, reefer vans are capable of deep-freeze to chilled operation, and place a stronger focus on enhancing fuel efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.

Find The Right Reefer Van

There’s a variety of new and used reefer vans for sale on TruckPaper.com. Major brands and models include the Chevrolet Express, Freightliner Sprinter, Ford Transit, GMC Savana, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Nissan NV200, and Ram ProMaster.

Elsewhere on TruckPaper.com, you can browse through reefer trucks, cargo vans, step vans, and more for sale.