Food Trucks

[jmellc]

An old customer approached me about installing outlets for food trucks that he has come to his place for special events. The same 3-4 trucks come at different times. I told him to check with them about any NEMA labels on their equipment and/or any make/model #'s of their trucks. He will get back to me.

Have any of you done much with food trucks? Is there a fairly common outlet for them or are they all different? (I suspect all different). I am looking around for heavy duty enclosures too, as this will be facing a parking lot.

I have never done food trucks. Used to install a few RV outlets but it has been a long time & I have forgotten more than I remember. I do recall some of them being high amperage straight blade rather than twistlock.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[iwire]

My experience is that it could be anything from a simple NEMA 5-20 to a non-nema 50

That 50 amp I linked to above seems very popular with refrigerated beer trucks.

It really depends on what they have in the truck and what they power with propane vs electric. The smart guys run the heating appliances with propane and use electricity just for small stuff.

If they can't give you a specific type I might install a small 3R panel outside and nipple on whatever receptacles I need for each truck as it shows up.

 

[kwired]

I mostly see same things used for RV's, and they are usually custom designed (by the operator) trailers or modified RV's.

They usually need to set up equipment so it can be run from a portable generator should they have to set up in a place without power, this usually means they will be limiting themselves to what is typical on a generator for output receptacles, and that puts you into either 5-15 for limited loads or 14-50 for heavier loading capabilities. Plus they cringe when seeing price of anything else. Need more then 50 amps? - they will generally opt for two 14-50 plugs. Used to see a lot wanting 10-50 receptacles (old 3 wire range receptacle), and some still use them just because they are reluctant to change their setup, but they also carry a homemade 14-50 to 10-50 cheater:roll:

 

[zbang]

I've seen a lot of food trucks.... Iwire is right, they come with everything, and half of that used improperly. I've posted picture of a few .

Most of the places I work, for higher power we provide 124/250v 50a CS connectors and adapt to 14-50R as needed. For others, we have Good Ol' 5-15R's (w/ GFCI, of course). Anything else usually means coming off a 50a into a 2-pole breaker box with a 30a or 20a in it and then attaching the correct tail for the truck.

If you want to install for each specific truck, you'll probably have to look. IME asking the vendor can get weird answers.

Also, beware that many of these seem to have been wired by RV companies or the vendor them self and have a system bonding jumper somewhere in them. If the truck has a small panel, take a look, especially if they're also carrying a generator (which probably also has a SBJ).

BTW, Iwire's link points to the 250v connector, you want CS6364/CS6365 compatible, the panel-mount is CS6396. See http://www.hubbellcatalog.com/bryant/catalogpages/h34.pdf. Marinco also makes them.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I have wired 2 food trucks on the inside and one I supplied the power cord and installed the outlet at the building.

I get with the owner and talk about the layout of the equipment and supply the outlets accordingly. Even though their is no NEC involvement here I wire it to code. I used emt for everything and set a panel inside the van.

One I did had an on board generator but no land power so I just wired to the genny. The other I set it up with a transfer switch so they could power from the house or power thru a genny.

BTW, both trucks ended up in Chicage and the inspectors (not electrical) said it was the best job they had ever seen on a truck. That is why they came back to me with the second truck. The guys father is a mechanic so he buys them here and then we set it up and he sends it to Chicago.

The second one was an old fire chief van that had an on board genny for power. We had to redo it all,,,

 

[AdrianWint]

And almost 10 yrs on the road with these guys has taught me ....... one will always show up with a widow maker!