APU vs idling in very cold weather?

I had a gelling issue with the ThermoKing APU on my previous truck a couple of years ago when I was in Wisconsin during the January polar vortex. The cold temperatures and wind chill was severe enough to cause fuel supply lines from/to the fuel tanks to the APU to gell up and freeze,basically shutting down the APU. I had to run the engine to stay warm for a couple of days. At the time I was driving a Cascadia,and my truck wasn’t the only one affected.

 

I do believe if i ran up north for the majority of my year, i would have fuel tank heaters, fuel filter heaters and engine block heaters. Small price to pay at truck build vs money lost (and personal discomfort) having to get started after a gelling incident. Yes, you can treat fuel to prevent, but the added peace of mind with the heaters takes some stress out of the game.

 

Must have had bad batteries if it ran all the time or bad alternator.

 

It would run all the time below a certain temperature other wise it would shutdown. I preferred it run continuously, made sleeping easier.

 

I’ve been running #1 diesel for the last month pretty much.

One truck works 24 hours a day and the other gets shut down at night - even when it was -55 with the wind chill she fires up in the morning ( had an engine webasto heater programmed to start 2 hours before driver left )

 

Yes I sleep better as well.

 

I idle the truck at 0F and below. I might idle at 5-10 F if I was goingbto be in it for a long time. If in doubt, idle.

 

Do you add any fuel additives, or do you just rely on Diesel#1?

 

Just #1, it already has everything added to it from the process facility.

It costs more because of it.