APU vs idling in very cold weather?

Whether I idle or not depends on my fuel condition, the wind and my carrier heats the truck engine.
After - 20 the apu even with an auxiliary heater gets pretty lame so I will idle up the truck engine .
Wind and fuel condition are the biggest factors on whether I will idle or not ...and I don't like being cold .

 

Make use of that inverter & plug your block heater in while the apu is running

 

-30f yesterday, truck fired right up. 10f I laugh at.

 

You guys are scaring me. Going back to work next mon or tue.
Havent started (or even looked at ) truck since dec 29th. Going down to the yard tomorrow. Probably put jumpers on batteries for a hour or two. Then will attempt to start, and drive her home. Hope not but planning on having to replace fuel filters and all 4 batteries

 

Mine doesn’t stay running.. which is what I’m trying to figure out how to do. I got the espar bunk heater on full blast (tied to the thermo king controlled), the APU starts for a few minutes then shuts off. Is there a way to keep her running so the coolant stays warm?

 

I have only idled once in the past 15 years and that was in ND with major wind and -20
Other than that one time I just park the front of the truck away from the wind ( wind at trailer back ) and keep additives in the tank

I’ve actually never even had gel in the fuel filters

 

Couldn’t you plug in the truck to the inverter?

 

It should kick on when the coolant reaches a set temperature. There is a way to keep the unit running constantly. If you are ever near a thermo king dealer I would stop in and ask.

 

They only thing I ever got figured out to keep a tk running ( I don't have one anymore for that reason ) is leave the clearance lights on to create enough draw that it will stay running .

 

True. But all wind chill does is dissipate heat from a surface. A piece of metal will only get as cold as the ambient temperature. Wind chill will of course cause a radiator to loose heat quickly but only to a point.