Deer Chiller Project: Advice & Refrigeration Help Needed

[Mr. Gain]

One of the landowners I shoot for near Banbury has kindly acquired a second-hand chiller unit for our little syndicate to use. Apparently, in a previous life, it was the back of an Ocado van! Very generous of him—but unsurprisingly, it needs a fair bit of work before it’s ready to take deer.

The first priority is getting the refrigeration system serviced. It includes a Carrier Neos 100 unit, and I’m looking for someone who can check it over and quote for any necessary repairs. Almost all the information I have so far is in a walk-around video the landowner sent me today.

Beyond that, this is shaping up to be a bit of a "project," so I’d love to hear from anyone who has converted a similar trailer into a functional deer larder. Any tips on layout, insulation, or practical modifications would be greatly appreciated.

I'll also be heading to Stafford for the Stalking Show next month—if anyone has suggestions for people or companies worth speaking to there, please let me know.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[The Singing Stalker]

When my chiller went down, (double drinks) I just phoned up the local companies, he came, he saw, he fixed, for not a lot of money.
But, a some stage, I want to get rid of the drinks and build a, err, built in unit, so that will be more of a challenge.

 

[Donkey Basher]

That’s an old, and I mean a few years past decommissioning, Sainsburys online delivery back. The chiller unit will need a controller & will have been run of the 12v system in the van. If you’re lucky you may find a blue plug under the offside front corner (ie behind where the drivers seat of the cab would be) that is a hook up for 240v, but again you’ll still need the control unit that would’ve been in the cab of the van originally. The chiller unit only ever chilled the front part of the box when it was a delivery van. One thing I would do before even contemplating using it to put carcasses in is give it a really good steam clean & possibly think about relining it with new wall & ceiling panels & putting a new floor covering in - the orange is anti slip but will be a bugger to clean! Finally, they’re not very thermally efficient as they probably only have about 40mm of insulation thickness in those panels so consider whether you can get it out in a barn or at least build a lean to cover over it to keep it in the shade so the chiller isn’t running permanently.

 

[Mr. Gain]

That’s an old, and I mean a few years past decommissioning, Sainsburys online delivery back. The chiller unit will need a controller & will have been run of the 12v system in the van. If you’re lucky you may find a blue plug under the offside front corner (ie behind where the drivers seat of the cab would be) that is a hook up for 240v, but again you’ll still need the control unit that would’ve been in the cab of the van originally. The chiller unit only ever chilled the front part of the box when it was a delivery van. One thing I would do before even contemplating using it to put carcasses in is give it a really good steam clean & possibly think about relining it with new wall & ceiling panels & putting a new floor covering in - the orange is anti slip but will be a bugger to clean! Finally, they’re not very thermally efficient as they probably only have about 40mm of insulation thickness in those panels so consider whether you can get it out in a barn or at least build a lean to cover over it to keep it in the shade so the chiller isn’t running permanently.

Brilliant. Thanks for all the bad news! But seriously, it's close to what I already feared. I was assuming some degree of relining would be necessary but hadn't thought of upping the insulation. Is adding a further layer of insulating material behind a new lining viable? (Probably the first of many daft questions I'm going to ask, so apologies for that: this is all new to me!)

 

[The Singing Stalker]

Brilliant. Thanks for all the bad news! But seriously, it's close to what I already feared. I was assuming some degree of relining would be necessary but hadn't thought of upping the insulation. Is adding a further layer of insulating material behind a new lining viable? (Probably the first of many daft questions I'm going to ask, so apologies for that: this is all new to me!)

You ask away, I would rather you ask the question and look stupid, than me.

 

[Donkey Basher]

Other things I should have mentioned are… they are not strong structurally - the boxes are made of sheets of insulation material that is sandwiched between a two thin sheets of fibre glass. The sheets are formed into a box using the aluminium vertical corners, the lower aluminium rail & the upper fibre glass rail, all bonded together. There are no bolts, spreader plates etc. the partition inside is also there to stop the box distorting although you could move it towards the middle of the length if you wanted a bigger chiller area.

If it were me, I’d seriously consider adding new inner panels to it, a) to improve the insulation but more importantly b) to isolate the current panels from anything that needs to be kept clean! - the insides of those vans are NOT cleaned properly or hygenically & after 5 or so years of use who knows what’s been trodden in & walked into the back, spilled on the walls (yoghurt, milk, etc = black mold). You’ll need to grind the heads off the rivets holding the lashing eyes to the wall & knock the body back in before relining the walls.

I’d certainly also do the same for the roof - be aware the front of the box slopes downwards so you may struggle putting a flat panel in. For the floor, to save losing any more height inside, I would consider a new floor lining just stuck on top of the existing one & with the sides curved up to meet the wall panels for ease of cleaning & to prevent trapping dirt.

If you want to hang deer in it I’d suggest looking at a free standing frame using kee klamp or similar, it’ll be the easiest way to get the strength you’ll need.

On a positive note, if you took the door off the chiller area at the front the unit should be man enough to chill the full box area

 

[Mr. Gain]

Other things I should have mentioned are… they are not strong structurally - the boxes are made of sheets of insulation material that is sandwiched between a two thin sheets of fibre glass. The sheets are formed into a box using the aluminium vertical corners, the lower aluminium rail & the upper fibre glass rail, all bonded together. There are no bolts, spreader plates etc. the partition inside is also there to stop the box distorting although you could move it towards the middle of the length if you wanted a bigger chiller area.

If it were me, I’d seriously consider adding new inner panels to it, a) to improve the insulation but more importantly b) to isolate the current panels from anything that needs to be kept clean! - the insides of those vans are NOT cleaned properly or hygenically & after 5 or so years of use who knows what’s been trodden in & walked into the back, spilled on the walls (yoghurt, milk, etc = black mold). You’ll need to grind the heads off the rivets holding the lashing eyes to the wall & knock the body back in before relining the walls.

I’d certainly also do the same for the roof - be aware the front of the box slopes downwards so you may struggle putting a flat panel in. For the floor, to save losing any more height inside, I would consider a new floor lining just stuck on top of the existing one & with the sides curved up to meet the wall panels for ease of cleaning & to prevent trapping dirt.

If you want to hang deer in it I’d suggest looking at a free standing frame using kee klamp or similar, it’ll be the easiest way to get the strength you’ll need.

On a positive note, if you took the door off the chiller area at the front the unit should be man enough to chill the full box area

All brilliant info. Thankyou