When to leave Truck Running overnight

Your company probably has it set up to idle around 10 or below. Idle your engine at that temp. An APU won't keep the fuel from gelling.

 

Heard on the news yesterday a driver has been running his trk 38 straight hrs.I wouldn't chance not letting it idle,Company may charge you if they have to send a wrecker out to jump start you if a trk nearby wont offer his assistance.

 

Depends on the engine. The Volvo D13/D16 is designed to idle at 700 rpm and uses the variable nozzle turbo to create back pressure to keep the engine warm.

 

It's quite the opposite with Tripacs. The majority of units are designed to hook in with the trucks cooling system. They make a stand alone closed loop independent system but on their website they recommend that only for trucks that run in a climate with average lows above 32 degrees like the deep south. You can easily recognize them units as they have a cooling fan is on the outside front of the box. You don't see many of them and if you do it's like places like FL or TX. If you see two hoses coming out the front of the box it's tied in.

Rigmaster's theory of an independent system is in case of coolant loss the truck is still operational. I think that's just an excuse. That tells me it's not designed for large volumes of coolant but want an independent system so it can keep it's own engine up to operating temperature and relies on the trucks block heater to aid keeping the truck engine warm. Block heaters do a half ... job in extreme cold. Plus most Rigmasters run off a small CAT engine which CAT isn't well experienced in small engine design. It's the smallest engine they make and they are fairly new on that block. Them Tripacs use a little Isuzu motor that is one of the toughest little engines I've seen. I bet in the future you see Rigmaster offer a system that ties in to the trucks cooling system.

Block heaters are just a starting aid when idling isn't feasible like when someone is on off time. Extreme cold weather starts are hard on the rings and cylinders until that oil thins out. Extreme cold changes the game for everyone. First one doesn't want dead batteries from excessive cranking. The oil is so thick it barely flows. One wants the ability to return warm fuel. The only way to keep things up to par is idling or one is playing with a service call possibility. Northern fleets will plug up daily mainly because anti-idling laws. I'm sure they upgraded the block heaters as they make different wattages. OTR drivers really don't have that convenience nor spec their trucks on one particular climate.

 

Depend on the motor and who's opinion you listen to, but i idle at 900 with my Detroit s60.

 

Thanks for your much more complete info.....That being said, I'd recommend AGM batts. I've had to cold start my truck twice and the AGMs can handle the load better IMO. I have 4 deep cycles with 1000CCA each. 4000CCA with enough deep cycle to crank for 20 min should get her started. That being said, in most cases I'll leave it running if under 10 or so. I was in canada for a month in a company truck and i did not shut down the whole month aside from when it was in a warm shop for service. it was under 0 the whole time and the radiator bib didnt do enough to keep it warm.

Recenly i got a dedicated account with power at shipper. If I leave the block heater plugged in, my electric bunk heater, and my 500watt electric fuel pick up heater it seems to start just fine down to 10 or so. Under 10 i havn't tried with block heater, but i don't want to hurt my poor engine so i'll leave it on. Block heater seems to keep coolant at 130ish at 10 outside. I also have hot fox heaters in my tanks, so once the truck warms up the fuel wont gel.

 

We run isx15s and one of our mechanics told us to idle around 975. We usually shut everything off at night because we have those Webasto heaters which usually work great. However this morning it was -43C with the wind chill and half the trucks in our frac crew wouldn't start. We eventually got everything going, but needless to say we will be leaving everything running until it warms up. The consultant didnt want to frac today either so now sitting in a hotel in Provost, AB. Have a good day everyone.

 

at -15 i would idle. as far as idle rpm. at -15 id probably bump it to 1k.

hell i had a day at -10 + 25mph winds and the only choice i had was to park facing into the wind, winter front at home. i was idling at 1200 to keep the engine temps up

 

I'm with you. I bought a Dynasys too. Got suckered in by the lease they were offering OOIDA members. Worse choice I made in years. I so wish I had just spent the money on a Tripak, but we all know about 20-20 hindsight. You can bet my next truck will have a Tripak on it.