The Food Fort

We use an external generator so that we can fill up the refrigerator and freezer in Reno and tow everything into Burning Man. There used to be one mounted on the tongue but this was not a good design. Currently we ratchet a portable generator down in the bed of the rental pickup truck that we use to tow the trailer. This needs to be a pretty heavy duty generator (like a 9000 watts or more) with 30 amp 207/240 output to power the condenser for the refrigerator.

Reno Repair Resources & Repair History

Need something repaired in the food truck? We've found these services in Reno who can come out to the yard and fix things.

Moving the Damn Thing

The trailer is a 24' bumper pull. Owing to its weight, it needs to be hauled by a 1-ton truck (i.e. a truck with 2,000 lbs towing capacity - Ford F350, Ram 3500, etc). But in a pinch you can get away with a 3/4-ton truck (e.g. F-250).

Here are folks who can move it:

Adventure Assist Recovery / Mikel Tirado

(cell/txt) 415-470-0308
adventureassistrecovery2025@gmail.com

Matt

(cell/txt) 702-551-1717

?

(cell/txt) 408-840-1845
Quoted $350

Major Trailer Repairs

(775) 358-6390
Washoe Metal (Jason)
order@washoemetal.net

Referred by Fixxer for raising the ground clearance

Minor / Cosmetic Repairs

Paramount RV

https://paramountautobody.com/

bill@paramountrv.com

Refrigerator / Freezer Repair

Hilltop Refrigeration

https://hilltoprefrigeration.com/northern-nevada

RenoOffice@Hilltop.Pro
They do both HVAC and refrigeration and do not give you any BS about food trucks. The only catch is you need to schedule 2 weeks out before they book up.

Burney’s Commercial Service

(775) 355-9111
https://www.burneyscommercial.com/
sparks@burneyscommercial.com

We do not have an account with them, but other burners use them. Will go to the yard, but kinda annoying. Will readily charge overtime.

Cool Breeze Environmental

https://www.coolbreezenv.com/
775-535-7192
We have an account with them. Will go to the yard. Reasonably priced. USED IN 2024 TO REPAIR FREEZER, but as of 2025 no longer service food trucks (the real answer is, it depends on whoever the service manager is at the time)

Hi-Tech Commercial

https://www.hitechnv.com/
(702) 649-4616
(877) 924-4832

Specialize in commercial kitchen appliance repair
We have an account with them. But they are somewhat expensive compared.

Buffo’s

https://buffos-refrigeration.com/commercial-refrigeration-repair-reno/
775-782-8204
We have not used them, listing as a backup

AC Repair

M+S Heating and Air

https://ms-ac.com/

(775) 843-7930
Recommended by Brian Konash of NYC Deli
Importantly, they will come to us!

Full details here.

Manuals for Major Appliances / Equipment Aboard the Food Fort

[Blueair BLUI-250A Spec Sheet ](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/bfe936a0-27b9-4a6d-8089-e8344058e348/BLUI-250A_opt.pdf)

Blueair BLUI-250A User Manual.pdf

Uses R-290 refrigerant

Repair History

2023 Freezer Problem

Hi-Tech Commercial serviced it but we had to drag it to them. It sucked.

There was a leak in the refrigeration line. “found leak on high side process port. Repaired and pressurized unit to 200Psi, unit is holding. Vacuumed unit and added 2.5 Oz of R290”

Inv_WO184473_from_Intiam_Inc_dba_Hi_Tech_Commercial_Service_9624.pdf

2024 Freezer Problem

"Replaced Schrader cores in both service ports to ensure proper seal. Pulled vacuum and recharged system with R290."

Invoice #107302.pdf

2025 Freezer Problem

Low on refrigerant, but tech could not find leaks.

Hilltop Refrigeration, Inc. Invoice #41156.pdf

2026 Ice Maker Removal

Ice maker was damaged due to not being winterized, and had never worked well (by design it wasted a ton of fresh water which it dumped on the ground, and it didn't produce much ice anyway). We tore it out, took it to the dump, and replaced it with additional counter space.

Winterizing

The Future Turtles provide running water in the shower, sinks, our canteen filler, and the food fort.

All this stuff is stored outdoors in Reno where it freezes every winter. If there is any water left in the plumbing fixtures (like faucets), that water will expand and break the fixture.

This is not hypothetical! It has happened to us almost every year, requiring thousands of dollars of repairs and hours of work that we wouldn't have needed if we had properly winterized our water system.

Luckily, winterizing is easy. All we have to do is connect the whole system up to air instead of water, and blow the air through the system to push out any water. It takes about 20 minutes and can be done by one person.

Where do we get air?

The build team RV has pressurized air available whenever the engine is running.

The air valve is located in the bay door under the driver window.
There is a coiled air hose stored in a milk crate in one of the bay doors in the RV. It will click right into the air valve.
To get the engine running, obtain the ignition key from Jetpack and just start the engine like a normal car.

The Winterization Valve

This is the magic valve that makes winterization easy:

On the right hand side, it plugs into the air hose to bring air from the RV.

On the left hand side, it has a garden hose fitting just like our fresh water system.

All you have to do is remove the camp's water supply hose from the fresh water tank and hook it up to the RV's air supply. Now the whole camp has air on tap instead of water!

Run Each Tap Until It's Empty

Go to each tap in turn and open it all the way. At first a lot of water will come out, but eventually it will just start spitting air. That's how you know the water has been cleared from that line. Close the faucet and move onto the next one.

Remember:

Every faucet in the food fort, hot and cold
The canteen filler
Both sinks, hot and cold
Both showers

You should work on one faucet at a time to get maximum air pressure.

When you're done, disconnect the air.

Store the winterization valve

Put the valve back in the shower spare parts (blue) box. Put everything else back where you found it, turn off the RV ignition, and give the key back to Jetpack.

The Food Fort

Food Fort Pictures

Technical Details

Equipment Schedule

Ice Maker (Blueair BLUI-250A)

Range / Oven (Imperial IR-6-C)

Freezer (TurboAir MUF-60-N Undercounter)

Merchandiser (True CVM-13-HC~EGC01)

Trailer Specifications

Over-the-road Generator