Is tanker driving physically demanding?

There is not much drop and hook. Climbing on to depends on otr or local. Local can be three or four times a day, otr can be three to four times a week. The transmission depends on the company. It is hard to say but I would say manual. It gets stressful especially if you haul explosive liquid and have tight deadlines due to traffic. Also if you are in the northeast like me where traffic gets rough and o/o or company. I did o/o and you have to think about running a business, the load, and the other things.

 

General chemical. ....oil field....food grade....fuel....? All of them are different. ...which one are you inquiring about

 

Check the Foodliner website.

 

Local water hauling or crude oil...tthey have sand our there too

 

In my experience, water hauling involves a fair bit of stair climbing & walking on/over obstacles. It isn't aerobically demanding, but depending on your limitations it may be too much.

Typical day: drive to well, climb over waist-high wall or earthen berm, hook up hoses, climb ~2 flights of stairs to top of tank to get preliminary gauge, climb down stairs & step over thigh-high pipes to open valves, wait 20 minutes, climb back over thigh high pipes, close valves, climb up stairs, gauge tank, climb down stairs, disconnect hose, drive to disposal site, wait 45min to get a stall, hook up hoses, wait 30min to drain tank, & repeat the whole process

 

General chemical is very easy...only time you get on the tank is to vent it...or make sure your wash out caps are tight...or if your air line needs to go up there....other then that its just dragging hoses...but its easy...so easy you have to watch what you eat lol...

 

You got some good answers. I drove a tanker for over 4 years locally. It all depended on the runs, how short or long they might be.

In the evening time they would perload our truck. Usally at least one time a day I woudl have to climb on top to open the hatches to load. Them after loading pull up to a place were tehre was air hoses, close the hatcks, & blow the podwer cement off the top of the tanker. Every once in a while if I got short runs I woudl do this 2 to 3 times.

That part did not bother me the least bit. What bothered me about that job we had several cut throats. Even if they saw you broke down they would not stop & help, they would just use that opportunity to get ahead of you & get another load. I guess we had about 10 or more drivers that was like that. And that was the reason I left it behind me. The pay was pretty good for driving loacl, but I could not stand the cutthroats any longer.