20ft New Domestic Refrigerated Container

excl. VAT · incl. VAT: €12,791.31

What domestic means on a 20ft domestic refrigerated container

A 20ft domestic refrigerated container is bought for land based cold storage duty rather than for carrying cargo across an ocean. The word domestic describes the job, not a different kind of box. The construction is the reefer construction: a steel outer shell carrying loads through the corner castings, polyurethane foam injected into the panel cavity, a stainless steel or food grade aluminium inner lining and an aluminium T bar floor. What changes is how the unit spends its life. It stands on a yard, a farm track, a factory apron or a hospital service area, plugged in permanently, opened many times a day.

That difference in duty changes the questions worth asking. A shipping line cares about voyage performance, stowage and how the unit behaves on a vessel deck. A food producer, caterer, grower, brewery, pharmacy or laboratory cares about how many pallets fit, whether a trolley can get in, how the drain runs in winter, what the wash down routine looks like and what the electricity bill will be at the end of the quarter. The rest of this page is written for that second reader.

Recorded figures for this unit

Planning capacity against 12.48 m² and 28.00 m³

Capacity planning for a cold store is a floor exercise before it is a volume exercise. The recorded interior floor space is 12.48 m² over an internal length of 545.00 cm and an internal width of 228.00 cm. Take your own pallet or dolly footprint, lay it out on that rectangle in both orientations and see which arrangement wastes less. Then deduct what you cannot use. You need a working area inside the door so that somebody can set a pallet down and move it, and if you intend to pick individual cases rather than move whole pallets, you need an aisle as well. Most operators find the honest usable figure is meaningfully lower than the raw floor area, and it is better to discover that on paper.

Height follows the same logic. The internal height is 215.90 cm, and the stack height available to you is that figure less the pallet, less whatever clearance you leave beneath the ceiling. That clearance is not optional. The return air path runs along the ceiling back to the evaporator, so cargo pressed up against the roof panel will starve the machinery of return air and produce warm spots at the far end. The recorded internal volume of 28.00 m³ is therefore a gross figure. It is the right number to give a refrigeration engineer, and the wrong number to base a stock forecast on.

Door aperture, trolleys and pallet access

The door opening is 229.00 cm wide and 226.40 cm high, and for a cold store that is doing daily work this matters as much as anything else on the specification. That aperture accepts a hand pallet truck with a loaded pallet, a wheeled cage or dolly, a stack of stillages or a roll cage without the operator having to angle the load through the frame. Wide double doors also mean you can open one leaf for a quick pick and keep the other closed, which limits the warm air pulled in.

The point people miss is the step. The unit stands on its corner castings, so the floor sits above ground level, and something has to bridge that. A ramp, a raised plinth built at working height, a small dock or a levelling platform all work, but the choice affects the whole daily routine and it should be decided before delivery rather than improvised afterwards. If a forklift will enter the unit, confirm that the machine, its mast and its wheel loading are suitable for a T bar aluminium floor.

Power planning

The machinery is three phase. Establish what supply exists at the intended position before anything else, because bringing three phase to a remote corner of a site is frequently the largest single line in the project and it can also be the slowest to arrange. Ask for the machinery nameplate data on the unit actually offered and give it to a qualified electrician. They will size the supply cable for the run length involved, choose the protective device and the isolator, and confirm the distribution board can take the starting current.

Two practical additions are worth the small cost. The first is a dedicated meter, so that the cold store appears as its own line in your energy figures and a rising trend at a fixed setpoint flags a developing fault. The second is an alarm or remote monitoring arrangement, because a cold store that fails quietly overnight is expensive in a way that a warehouse never is. If you store pharmaceutical or laboratory material, monitoring is not a convenience, it is part of the specification.

Condensate drainage and winter behaviour

Every refrigerated box produces condensate at the evaporator, and it has to leave the unit. On a mobile reefer nobody thinks about where it lands. On a fixed installation it lands in the same spot every day. Plan a drip point away from doorways and walkways, because in winter that spot becomes ice, and route it to a gully or a soakaway if the volume warrants it. Check that the drain is clear as part of the routine cleaning, since a blocked drain shows up as standing water on the floor channels and then as a hygiene problem.

Level standing is part of the same subject. Set the unit down on firm, level ground with the load taken at the corner castings, on concrete pads, heavy slabs or sleepers. Level standing makes the doors seal properly and makes the drains run the way the designer intended. Out of level, you get a door that whistles and a puddle in a corner of the floor, and both cost you money continuously.

Hygiene, cleaning and food or pharmacy duty

The interior lining is stainless steel or food grade aluminium precisely so that it can be cleaned hard and often. Set a routine appropriate to what you store: detergent wash, thorough rinse, sanitiser where the product requires it, and a check that the T bar channels are clear along their full length. Lift and inspect anything left standing, because the space under a pallet is where problems start. Keep a written cleaning record if you handle food, since this is the first thing an inspector will ask for and it costs almost nothing to maintain.

Watch the lining for punctures. A hole in the inner skin is a route for wash water into the polyurethane foam, and wet foam is the one defect that ends the useful life of a refrigerated unit. Repair damage as soon as it appears. If you store strong smelling product, remember that odour transfers, and think about whether one unit can honestly serve two different product groups or whether you need to separate them.

How this differs from a marine reefer

Not in construction. A 20ft domestic refrigerated container is built the same way as a unit going to sea, and that is an advantage, because marine specification means the shell is weatherproof, structurally rated for stacking and designed for a hard life outdoors. What differs is what you should specify and how you should run it.

• Permanent power at the site instead of a vessel or generator supply
• A fixed drainage plan instead of wherever the condensate happens to fall
• Ramp, dock or plinth access instead of a container terminal handling it
• Frequent short door openings instead of one load and one discharge
• A cleaning routine and records instead of a wash between cargoes
• Local service cover instead of a global reefer network

Getting a useful quotation

Ask for the machinery make and model, the refrigerant in the circuit, the operating mode range, the electrical requirement, the plug and cable supplied, the controller and its data logging capability, and whether a pre trip inspection record is included. A pre trip inspection, usually called a PTI, is the standard functional test for reefer machinery and puts the commissioning behaviour of the unit on paper. Ask also about delivery method, offload arrangement and the access your site needs to give the vehicle.

Buying a 20ft domestic refrigerated container is straightforward once those points are settled. The construction is proven, the recorded internal figures let you plan a real layout, and the remaining variables are power, access and the service arrangement behind the machinery. Settle all three before the unit arrives and the first day of operation is uneventful, which is exactly what you want from cold storage.

How much can I actually store in a 20ft domestic refrigerated container?

The recorded interior floor space is 12.48 m² and the internal volume is 28.00 m³, but usable capacity is lower. Deduct a working area inside the door, an aisle if you pick individual cases, and the clearance you must leave beneath the ceiling so return air can reach the evaporator. Lay your own pallet footprint on the 545.00 cm by 228.00 cm floor to get a real figure.

Will a pallet truck or roll cage fit through the doors?

The door opening is 229.00 cm wide and 226.40 cm high, which accepts a hand pallet truck with a loaded pallet, a roll cage or a picking trolley without angling the load. The part to plan for is the step, because the container floor sits above ground on its corner castings. A ramp, plinth or small dock should be decided before delivery.

Is it built differently from a marine reefer?

No. The construction is the same: steel outer shell, polyurethane foam insulation, stainless steel or food grade aluminium lining and an aluminium T bar floor that forms the supply air duct. What differs is the duty. It runs on a permanent site supply, is opened many times a day, needs a planned drainage point and needs a cleaning routine with records rather than a wash between cargoes.

What power supply and monitoring should I plan for?

The machinery is three phase, so confirm the supply at the intended position before ordering. Have a qualified electrician size the cable for the run length, the protective device and the isolator using the nameplate data of the unit offered. Add a dedicated meter to track consumption and an alarm or remote monitor, which is essential rather than optional for pharmacy and laboratory stock.

Where does the condensate go?

The evaporator drains continuously while the unit runs, and on a fixed installation that water lands in the same place every day. Plan a drip point clear of doorways and walkways, because it will become ice in winter, and route it to a gully if the volume justifies it. Standing the unit level on its corner castings is what makes the drains work as designed.

How should the interior be cleaned?

Detergent wash, thorough rinse and sanitiser where the product requires it, followed by a check that the T bar floor channels are clear along their whole length and that the drains run. Lift anything standing on the floor and inspect underneath. Watch for punctures in the lining, because wash water reaching the foam insulation is the defect that ends the working life of the unit.