Moisture intrusion is a common issue with refrigerated trailers, but you don’t have to surrender your trailer’s thermal efficiency and operating capacity. Using a specialized reefer trailer lining will help to mitigate those issues, curb insulation outgassing, and provide greater value over the life of your reefer.
In most trailers, wear and tear lets moisture in, which eats into payload capacity and increases fuel consumption. As the trailer ages, gases escape the insulation, weakening performance. The result is a loss of value and productivity.
Great Dane’s ThermoGuard is a durable and lightweight composite liner that is significantly stronger than traditional liners, and because it is virtually impermeable, you can significantly reduce moisture intrusion and improve thermal integrity.
How Does Moisture Intrusion Affect Reefer Trailer Lining?
Reefers without a specialized impermeable liner can lose up to 25% of insulating capability within the first year of life from outgassing effects alone, reducing the ability to maintain thermal integrity and resulting in higher refrigeration fuel costs. Moisture intrusion caused by a permeable liner can increase overall weight, limiting the load size available over time.
Some reefer trailers can gain up to 500 pounds in trailer weight over a span of 5-10 years. While the variables for refrigerated trailers weight gain are many, and the actual weight gained by a reefer over its life may vary, it happens dramatically in some cases.
If you’re looking for a warning sign that moisture intrusion may already be occurring, look for frost on the metals inside the trailer, with condensation appearing on the warmer side of the trailer’s body.
How ThermoGuard Preserves Your Trailer’s Efficiency
Where many permeable trailer liners allow for damaging outgassing, ThermoGuard’s multi-layered design includes a foil metal barrier layer within polypropylene and glass fibers. This helps seal the insulation to significantly reduce insulation degradation.
With ThermoGuard, refrigerated trailers maintain more consistent thermal efficiency than trailers that don’t sport the revolutionary lining design. The innovative design can lower operational costs by reducing cooling unit run time, impacting required cooling unit maintenance and cooling unit fuel consumption.
A refrigerated trailer with ThermoGuard, operating at -20F in a long-haul capacity, can save up to 2,100 gallons of fuel over seven years. Results vary depending on application and maintenance practices, but reefer trailer owners can experience an average savings of 200 gallons of fuel per year.
When evaluated against several competitive refrigerated trailer lining materials for the permeability of water vapor and foam blowing agent, results confirmed that ThermoGuard lining had the lowest permeability.
Thermal Efficiency and Puncture-Resistant
Great Dane’s ThermoGuard touts the same puncture-resistant properties as Great Dane’s PunctureGuard, which was designed to protect the trailer’s interior walls from the daily rigors of the job. ThermoGuard liners are thin and lightweight, saving up to 200 pounds compared with similar liners.
In the event that damage does occur, ThermoGuard is quick and easy to repair, reducing maintenance time and costs. Great Dane’s patented ThermoGuard is the only reefer trailer liner designed and manufactured to help maintain insulation performance for the life of the trailer.
