Finally got my own truck

So I went to the Webasto plant today, and took the tour I was talking about. It was pretty #### neat, I'll tell you that.

They explained how the bunk heaters work, inside and out, and the engine pre-heaters. They work by using a glow plug to transfer heat. Uses a small amount of fuel. The engine pre-heater pumps in coolant from the truck, heats it up with a glow plug, and pumps back out, recirculating it through the engine, so that depending on the temperature, you can set the timer on the interface that you can have installed on the dash, and then it starts warming up your engine for you. It can take anywhere between 15mins to an hour depending on how cold it is. It warms up the engine so that when you do start it, it's at an operating temperature warm enough to burn the fuel right away so that it doesn't clog up the DPF filter.
It works well in North Dakota and the guy says it's pretty much a necessity to have one of these when it's that cold out.

The engine pre-heater draws 15amps for 3 minutes when it starts, and then 2amps for the remainder of the time. Bunk heater draws .75amps when running. The maintenance is negligible. You have to run the bunk heater for 20 minutes every month during off season in order to keep the glow plug and everything cleaned out. And then change a small fuel filter every now and then and make sure the wires are all connected properly.

They gave me a ball cap and a tshirt.

 

No I didn't ask about that, and they never said anything about that. I'll ask when I go there again.