idling a truck. . .

Motels can be up to $100 bucks a night ( but usually $75) and without earplugs, good luck getting a good nights rest. ( always pick a motel on the entrance ramp, not the exit ramp) Somebody breaking into the truck, some doofus parks right in front of you, the list goes on. I think you can tell who the bosses are here.

 

Trucks with the engine I familar with will burn about 8 gallons to 12 or so overnight dependiing on wherre you have the idle.

If you are at cruise, you burn a certain amount of gallons per hour. About 8 or so. Mountain pulling it's off the charts minimum of 20 gallons per hour.

 

My Jake is never off.
Shake, rattle, but no roll

 

I figured about .7 to .8 gallons of fuel per hour of idle.

8 gallons of fuel X $2.50 = $20. Can't get a motel room anywhere near that cheap.

No offense to all you that would prefer a motel. But if i have to provide the accomodations. You're sleeping in the truck. But then, i'd allow idle time for a/c. And provide bunk heaters. I"m not supplying apu's as that's added expense in repairs and downtime. But then, i'm not running a 48 state operation either. Where you're out on teh road for weeks at a time. You're out and back. Home on the weekends.

 

Honestly, I prefer the truck bunk to a motel when I'm out. Trying to find a motel that has parking for a big truck, and then maneuvering around (been there, done that) isn't much fun. It's so much easier with a sleeper to find a truckstop/rest area to call it a night.

As for not having an APU, I do realize that they're expensive, and for some companies, not cost effective. With that said, any company that can't (or won't) provide an APU should at least have a liberal idle policy. No driver, especially considering the sacrifices made to be out on the road, should be forced to freeze or roast on their 10 hour break.

 

I don't get it, the last time I was on the road, it was a great night for some quiet sleep but almost every truck was idling in the truck stop. I've done this stuff for a long time and no one can tell me that they have to run the truck for A/C when it is 63 degrees.

 

Yep, that gets me all the time too. Even down to 50 degrees.

Another thing they don't comprehend is the heat factor from all the trucks idling. I mean, stand 10 feet in front of your truck and it's 20 degrees cooler then standing between to idling trucks. Imagine if everyone would shut their truck off how much cooler the parking lot would be.

 

I can't see idling when it's 60 degrees out either. I'm talking about a the middle of a July heatwave in the northeast (or anywhere for that matter) when the overnight lows don't go below 70 and it can still be 80 degrees at 10pm...with 90% humidity. At those temps, the inside of the sleeper is going to at least that, and often times, 10 degrees or more, higher. That's what I'm talking about as far as idling is concerned.

 

[QUis cheapTE="snowwy, post: 5435031, member: 30838"]$10 in fuel per day X how ever many trucks. Isn't cheap.,[/QUOTE]

It is cheap; people need sleep Stalin.

 

$20 to 40 in fuel, how much for the excess wear and tear on the motor from idling? If you're on the road 200 night per year, that's an extra 2,000+ hours of wear and tear on the truck annually. As pointed out elsewhere, at 800 rpms, you're not getting good oil flow either. Mack claims my truck gets good oil at 700 rpm on clean idle, that's about 15 psi of oil pressure, not buying it, since cruising down the highway at 70 mph I'm getting 40 psi of pressure. Now, if you're gone that much, I can understand the logic of sleeping in the truck more so than getting a hotel, but for someone whose only gone 3 to 5 nights per month, the cost of a hotel is justified. You also hope the driver uses common sense, the areas where I typically have to get a room, I know the hotels that take trucks, I also know the rates (except for one which varies between high and low season), on average it's about $59.99 per night (with taxes). I'm not staying at the Ritz or the Four Seasons, but as my bosses have said, be reasonable. But again, every case is different, sometimes I will stay in the truck as it's more convenient, especially if it's a split log situation.