Questions about refrigerated van.

PeelandPulpLimited

PeelandPulpLimited

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Ford Transit
Evening all. This question may be off track for some guys or maybe I'm in the wrong place completely. I was directed here by a friend, in the knowledge it holds some extremely knowledgeable people.

I've started a fruit and veg buisness and I am into the market for a refrigerated van. I've come across a ford transit with a fridge/freezer system. It will be my first time going into this complex area of vehicle and I have one major query.

I'll always have two days worth of stock (fruit and veg) at any one time. E.g I will pick up from fruit market on early hours of Monday morning, and buy for Monday and Tuesday.

During the evening I have no concern as I have power outlets on my drive anyway and can power the fridge system. My worry comes in when I have to consider being parked up for 12 hours on the Monday - whilst I set up my stall and sell for the day.

Will it have some sort of secondary generator that cools whilst the van is stationary?

Can I buy a silent battery or generator of some sort that will do this for me?

I set up outside NHS hospitals and will not be able to park close to where I sell. It will be a case of unloading and having to move my vehicle away slightly. Being it in a hospital car park area, leaving it unattended and charging wouldn't be an issue.

Any help in this would be hugely appreciated in advance. I am going to look at and purchase this van on Wednesday. It is a from a dealer and I wanted amswers and advice from those who really have credible information.

Have a great weekend all

Charlie 👍🏻



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It’s done 218,000 miles so price about right, although expensive to buy new or nearly new at that mileage not so far away check service history.

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On the other hand, a mate has just bought a 17 seater minibus.
14 years old
low mileage
Full MOT and service history.
Still good for ULEZ use until 2026

£50!
No, that is not missing two zeros, not missing one zero, £50.
It was owed by a school and he runs the local scout group, so in effect it's a 'donation' from the school to a local charity which it attend by a load of the pupils.
But all the same, most Scouts groups pay their way when buying vehicles.

So there are bargains to be had, but I'd be very wary of a scam.
Definitely no 'holding deposit' up front !!!.

As for keeping fruit and veg cold during the day, how about a simple block of ice.
That was the way it used to be done.

Get an old chest freezer
Get some suitable containers, 10 litre plastic jerry cans with big handles may work (available from any camping shop)
Fill up (90%) with water and freeze.
Put them in the van they will keep it cold.
If you have two sets of jerry cans, one can be freezing whilst the other is in the van.
 
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As others have said, beware of a scam.

However,
PeelandPulpLimited said:
Will it have some sort of secondary generator that cools whilst the van is stationary?
Click to expand...
At that price, I would not expect it to include a secondary generator and iin any case, leaving a secondary generator running in the car park is probably not an option.

So you will need to be thinking of batteries and an inverter, which will probably double the cost of the vehicle.
 
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2 days worth.
Make sure all what you by is green. Job done, let it ripen.

Loads of fruit and veg merchants do vans and don't have refrigerated.

Even better, buy and sell same day like most do.
 
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Bessy765 said:
It’s done 218,000 miles so price about right, although expensive to buy new or nearly new at that mileage not so far away check service history.
Click to expand...
MOT checker has it at 281,465k.
Peel and Pulp Limited: Dissolved - Final Gazette dissolved via voluntary strike-off 17 May 2022
Newbie 1 post, could this be another fire truck conversion wind-up?
As you can't live in it, not sure I can add more, I'm out.

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Last edited:
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Jez1966 said:
MOT checker has it at 281,465k.
Peel and Pulp Limited: Dissolved - Final Gazette dissolved via voluntary strike-off 17 May 2022
Newbie 1 post, could this be another fire truck conversion wind-up?
As you can't live in it, not sure I can add more, I'm out.
Click to expand...
Peel & Pulp Limited has not dissolved. Peel & Pulp Ltd has. Do your research properly dude
 
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Tombola said:
2 days worth.
Make sure all what you by is green. Job done, let it ripen.

Loads of fruit and veg merchants do vans and don't have refrigerated.

Even better, buy and sell same day like most do.
Click to expand...
My concern is through the summer the van will be incredibly hot if I don't have the temps how I need them.

If I lived alot closer to Spitalfields market, I would do that. I run two different hospital sites. Miles apart. I may have to do that in the end, I was simply asking for helpful advice to try and solve the problem 👍🏻
 
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LithiumConvert said:
As others have said, beware of a scam.

However,

At that price, I would not expect it to include a secondary generator and iin any case, leaving a secondary generator running in the car park is probably not an option.

So you will need to be thinking of batteries and an inverter, which will probably double the cost of the vehicle.
Click to expand...
Thank you for reaching out. This is the answer I was hoping to learn more about.

This may be the road I have to go down. During the summer the van will be very hot and j can't have all the produce going bad.

Once the fridge is at its set temperature of 1° for e.g. How long do I have before it warms itself back to normal with the fridge turnt off?
I could go back to the van and run it for half hour to keep the fridge on, a few times a day
 
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Be very cautious, fridge vans rot out for fun and are difficult to repair, when condensate gets between the lining and the metalwork. what you need is one fitted with a diesel powered fridge unit that will run when needed, plus a plug in cooler
 
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PeelandPulpLimited said:
Peel & Pulp Limited has not dissolved. Peel & Pulp Ltd has. Do your research properly dude
Click to expand...

Not really sure why you were directed our way, we are motorhome owners 🤔

Due to the large number of members you might get lucky with someone knowing about these , but the questions would be better directed at the van seller as we don’t know the spec
 
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Any commercial vehicle is a gamble! I've bought a couple of tractor units, 44t recently, one good (no warning lights on dash) and the other was a lemon :rolleyes:. Seems like a decent price. I'd check service history, see the fridge running and check temps. Fridges are fickle and super expensive to fix.
If previous owner went bust or retired then yes I'd have a gamble on it! (y) Looks tidy and/if it does the job.

Think his free posts are used up?
 
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PeelandPulpLimited said:
Thank you for reaching out. This is the answer I was hoping to learn more about.

This may be the road I have to go down. During the summer the van will be very hot and j can't have all the produce going bad.

Once the fridge is at its set temperature of 1° for e.g. How long do I have before it warms itself back to normal with the fridge turnt off?
I could go back to the van and run it for half hour to keep the fridge on, a few times a day
Click to expand...
I can't speak for a panel van, but the type of insulated chilled/frozen vans that Tescos/Asda/Morrisons use for home delivery won't sit for more than a hour in the peak of summer without the chiller getting warm. I believe you will need 240v, IMHO I don't think you'll be able to run off Lithium for the Day.

Before we had 240v EHU at Click and Collect, we had an on board genny to run our chiller/freezer, it was super noisy, if you fit one you'll not want to leave the van near any residential or office buildings.

Cheers
Red.

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Jez1966 said:
MOT checker has it at 281,465k.
Peel and Pulp Limited: Dissolved - Final Gazette dissolved via voluntary strike-off 17 May 2022
Newbie 1 post, could this be another fire truck conversion wind-up?
As you can't live in it, not sure I can add more, I'm out.
Click to expand...

Well, there is a you tube couple who built a fantastic camper out of a second hand sainsburys van. They wanted for a trip to the Arctic and asit is already insulated it makes an ideal base for a campervan conversion. They did an impressive job.

 
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You need to differentiate between EHU units only and one with built in generator/alternator that is powered from vehicle engine , the latter would be best for your purposes as they can auto stop start . They will be more expensive and also will have far more engine wear .
 
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In a previous life I used to drive for Ocado/Morrisons. Loading of the vans at the depot could be anything up to 2hrs and beyond before my round began and the vans were all left running ,in exess of 200 vans at that time and expanded to well over 300 since.

These vans are great for what they are designed to do. If your only selling fresh veg I acctually think you would be ok unless its really warm. Perhaps a couple of wifi temperature gauges and a router in the van which could alert you on your mobile. The only thing you can do then is nip back to the van and let it tick over for an hour.
 
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