Anyone using a portable propane heater?

Fmcsa rule or someone not getting sleep and becoming a hazard on the road because they were freezing. Kind of a no brainer.

Put it under your bunk or somewhere out of the way. If an inspection gets involved enough that they are searching in those areas you will have more trouble then having a heater with you.

 

When I was a kid, my grandpa used to make idle sticks that he would give out at the beginning of winter. What he did was cut the legs off of old metal chairs so that the tube was cut at a 45 degree angle. Then he used a wooden dowel and a washer that just fit over the dowel as the adjustment. The wooden dowel went down the tube and the washer locked it in position when it hit the 45 degree angle.

To put it in service, the leg (which had a rubber foot) was placed against the seat and the dowel was placed on the throttle and adjusted with the washer. I need to ask my dad if he still has one, if not I'll have to make one. I think my truck will stay idling if I keep the throttle open a bit, but it won't work with the cruise.

 

A guy died here in Talladega Superspeedway this year due to using one of those heaters in a camper. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his wife was transported by helicopter to bham because she was unconscious and unresponsive. A good rule of thumb would be, "If it uses some type of fuel, probably not good to use in the cab". Even if you roll all the windows down and open all the vents in the sleeper I still wouldn't do it.

 

One of what heaters? Brand? Model? Fuel type?

The Mr Heater Little Buddy is CSA certified for indoor use, has a tip shut off, and an O2 depletion sensor. I wouldnt have an issue using one of these, but I'd still take precautions. A fire alarm with carbon monoxide sensor (a good idea anyway if you idle the truck while sleeping) and only use the heater while I was awake to take a bit of chill out. For sleeping I prefer the truck cold and my blankets warm. I slept in Grantsville MD Wednesday night with the truck off and my sleeper vent open... it was 15 degrees outside.

 

They didn't give any info on the heater. They said that his generator died so he used a propane heater and that the fumes is what killed him and put his wife in critical condition. I slept in Reidsville, NC the other night and it was 13 degrees. I left the truck running but I wasn't running heat or A/C and I left the sleeper vents open (as I always do). Woke up at one point in time and I was fine. I woke up a few hours later and everything in the truck had frost on it. I was trying to devise a plan on how I could get my clothes out of the front seat without getting out from under the cover and put them on under the covers. It's got to be cold for me to sleep but that was a little overboard.

 

At last, a little common sense.

 

I had a truck setup like that I ran for ONE trip.
NEVER again....
I told the company to give me a truck that would stay running or here is the keys!
They put me in another truck that day.

It really ticks me off a company treats drivers this way!

I use one of the Big Buddy heaters in my shop......no way I would burn propane in a sleeper of a truck.

 

Yeah, it's a pretty good indicator. If they aren't concerned with your comfort, they aren't concerned with much else over you ... the person.

I idle when it's cold. Cold to me is under 50* and I'm trying to sleep. I have asked them to look into an APU, but they don't feel it cost effective. I'm only overnight a night or two a week, if that. I would definitely get one should I purchase the tractor. We have a lot of pump time as well, and it's factored into the operation. So the truck can't automatically shut down. If it did and we were in the middle of a push, everything would instantly plug up.

Exactly. If you are freezing your butt off, you aren't getting rest.