Space heater, electric blanket, or 4-season sleeping bag?

Both. My n14s had it from factory and Detroits did not, so I installed myself

 

Now i cant speak for others here and wont try but my procedure for not freezeing to death is as follows.

Idle truck when fuel gelling is a concern.

Run APU/bunk heater when not a concern (if you heater is roasting you alive either have it serviced to be adjustable if the adjuster is not working or get a 12V fan to circulate air) with a pair of arctic fox heaters in the tanks that can run off my APU

If above 2 options fail then i resort to the "oh ####" kit. In order i have heavy blankets, a 10 degree sleeping bag, a -30 sleeping bag, heavy clothing, mylar blanket, 12, 24 hour emergancy candles with a folding candle heater. 24 of the 18 hour hothands large warmers and 4 of the 6 hour cans of fuel for those buffet food warmers. (Used mostly with my metal mess kit for heating food and drinks but as heat in a pinch) and finally i have 24 MRE heaters mostly used for well MREs but great for a burst of warmth when getting food.

and i also have a mylar tarp i can throw over the engine and stuff a couple candles under it to warm the fuel and engine up enough to hopefully get it running and into a shop to thaw.

If im stuck more then a week and run out of heating options with all the above.....odds are i royally screwed up or have bigger issues. And the best part is all the above save the MREs which go in the food box anyway and blankets/bags which go at the foot of the bed or on the bed, fit into a small huggies baby wipe box and are pretty cheap.

That said ive only had a double failure and had to get into the oh #### kit once and that was when i had double viral pneumonia and was passed out for 2 entire days then ran out of fuel.....i also learned to always park eith full tanks in winter that year lol.

 

I got to drive a KW t680 with an Espar bunk heater.It was super quiet,the best I've ever seen.
Once it gets down to 10 degrees probably best to just let the truck run.
One night I slept in my pickup camper,no heat,at Destruction Bay,Yukon.It was -29 f.I had a foam pad mattress and an old army cold weather sleeping bag.Slept great but it was rough getting out of the sleeping bag and getting the truck started.It started right up.

 

I can understand why folks die from pneumonia. I was down for an over a week, passing in and out before getting ok to go to a doc for meds. Terrible stuff.

Bunk heater till around zero degrees ( I use 5w-40), after that idle. I don’t mind having my clearance lights on when it gets really cold either. Seems like other people lose their mind when it gets insanely cold, and the extra visibility isn’t gonna hurt. For emergencies I have arctic Extreme, bibs, arctic, muck, boots, arctic gloves, facemask, Carhartt beanie, and, of course, a cold weather, sleeping bag.

 

If you have a means to boil water in your truck, you can fill a water bottle with hot water and toss it into your sleeping bag.

Personally, I would just use the heater, but it’s still good to be prepared in the event of a breakdown or whatever.

 

Two 200 lb lot lizards keep ya warm all night all and be cheaper than the LP you would burn Just say’n

 

Dont use 120v blankets. There are 12v electric blankets available.

 

I live in SD and used to live in ND and work in the oilfield. You learn a lot of this stuff is less optional then common sense. I knew a dude up there personally who was coming out of one of the wells when his truck died. Problem is it died going into a blizzard and no one could get to him for 3 days. The dude ended up losing both feet to frost bite.....that always stuck with me.

Yea lol that is just about the sickest i have ever been. Even covid was not that bad in comparison. Ended up in the hospital for almost a week because my lungs were filling with fluid and i was coughing so hard i had ripped my throat and burst something in my eyes. So i went in hacking up blood and having blood dripping from my eyes....heh fun times.