Idle or Not to Idle?

I idle cause thats what I want to do. Doesn't matter who's truck. I don't drive a blue/yellow/orange/purple/green box(The big companys trucks)for a reason.
No I dont like the way they look.
Idle Aire yes not sure what Shore Power Technology is
Ive used a hotel twice. When I was younger and thought I just had to run.

 

The 1 gallon per hour is NONSENSE! Please show me the place where that bogus info originated from. I have a 15L ISX. At regular idle it is around .5 gallon per hour, at high idle it does between .7 and .8 so I will say .75 gallon per hour. So a 50 to 25% factor of error in any of the calculations.

But, I have a ThermoKing Tripac. And it has just shy of 13,000 hours, more hours than my engine! And because of the design of the TriPak, and how it cycles on and off, and is NOT running all the time the bunk heater is on, like other brands, it actually represents many more engine hours if I had idled.

 

What you need to consider is that most Owner Operators don't really idle their trucks all that much.
The idle numbers you're using are pretty high and some would say "cut that number in half or better".
In Winter months many will run lanes that keep them out of areas that require idling the truck and same goes for summer. If a load/miles pays well then it most likely makes idling worth the feul.

If you see a broker idling their truck it is because they NEED to.
Many guys will tell you that an APU is nice but paying for and maintaining one is not and in almost all cases it is more affordable to "run" the motor.


APU's need to come down to the $5000 range for most guys to start even looking at them. Remeber that an APU still uses feul and that has a cost as well.

 

I never did idle. when fueling truck is off, when loading/unloading truck is off. stop to eat. truck is off,off,off. I do not like the wear on the engine or the cost. some have told me they would rather buy the extra fuel then to buy a starter. the money I saved by not idleing in less than a month I bought me a used starter, had it rebuilt & have it in my side pocket if needed. I know of a driver who told me when he starts his truck up for the first day of the week, he turns all the lights on & never shuts lights or engine off until he is back home. I ran one load & return load with him. he does actually do this. when it's 60 degrees out, why people idle for hours , I do not know. but to each his own.

 

I love to idle and the loud noise it produces.Makes me sleep like a baby.When i am home in my own bed.I turn on a fan and set a Mountain Dew can on my bedside.I sleep like a baby..

 

In winter I almost never need to idle. I have a bunk heater that cost me $1400 installed and more than does the job. It burns so little fuel it doesn't even need to be measured.

In summer I will only idle as need be. If I have 3 months of the year where I have to idle for say, 50 hours per week, 50hrs X 12 weeks = 600 hours or about $2400 in fuel. Even this is a very high estimate for me. I try to drive in the day when it is hot and sleep at night when it is hopefully cool enough to sleep with the windows just cracked.

I have priced new TK units and they tell me it is about $10k. This would mean 4 years to break even with it. My truck is a 2009 with about 620,000 miles on it. I run about 100k miles per year so it will be at about 1 million miles when the APU has paid for itself. If I ever buy a bran new truck - it would make more sense to have one then. However the new trucks of today may not live long enough for the apu to actually be worth it's extra weight. This doesn't even take into account the fuel the APU burns. OH - and one other thing - I don't even have the frame rail space to FIT the apu. I have a 244" w9, 300 gal tanks and of course the "planet saving" emissions junk. Probably another 3 grand to lengthen the truck. If I did, now I can't run western Canada with it. I am screwed.

I am looking at other ways to "make my own" apu. I am thinking a small portable a/c unit vented through under the bed and out the side door should do the trick, along with a small generator to sit outside between the tank and the wheels. Chained to something of course. This will cost me less than $2k. The generator I am looking at claims to burn 1 or 2 gallons depending on load per 10 hours.

Another apu issue is how the ....... EPA and CARB want it to be routed into the exhaust system unless it has it's own dpf. Perfect. Another cash draining time bomb. If I use the gasoline generator CARB can't do squat to me. Although I don't go to cali much, I haven't yet completely ruled it permanently out of my brain.

 

Here's my view on this topic...

I idle when i am cold or hot. everyone has different temp thresholds, and mine is usually around 50*-80*. I idle on my 10hr break, but if I am sitting on a weekend layover i will go to a hotel instead of idling.

I have thought about getting an APU, but until now, I had not found a truck i planned keeping more than 2 years. But now I have decided to keep my current truck for the duration and an APU is on the list of things to get in the next few weeks. But I will still stay at a hotel on my 34hr reset if I am stuck out here (granted i always try to get home for it)

and just so you know, you are supposed to idle at over 800rpm per most engine manufacture's reccomendation. Low idle idling builds up carbon and also causes incomplete fuel burn.

 

I can't justify the cost of the diesel apu's, between the price, the maintenece, and the fuel they actually burn under load I don't see a real return on investment until its worn out, then you are back to square one. I am actively looking at gas powered gen sets and heating/cooling options that would coincide with them, for less than half of what a typical diesel apu runs, and what I am finding so far is a good quaility (Honda) gas gen set will run much cheaper under load per hour than a diesel apu. Going this route I will also be adding less weight. The only downside to it is I will have to use a gas can and walk to the gas pump at stops for its fuel, but that doesn't bother me as I am not lazy.

 

I think my truck uses more than 1 gal / hour when idling. I don't have proof of this but I do notice a significant change on the fuel guage if I idle for 12 hours or longer. But 1 gallon / hour is conventional wisdom. I purchased a Honda generator a few months back. It's gas, so a little more work than just firing up a diesel APU, BUT, it is much quieter than an APU. In fact if the guy next to me or a truck down is running an APU I hear his APU and not my generator. Also, it is more fuel efficient than an APU (3 gallons lasts about 12 hours). And it is cheaper than an APU, I picked mine up for $1600 nearly new, the heater I am using cost $200, and a heavy duty roof AC is $900.

Besides all this, we are finding out more and more that idling is terrible for big diesel engines. It dramatically reduces their lifespans, they want a load on them. If you think about it, when a truck has a load on it each joint (piston, rod, crank, cams) is held tight with back pressure. When idling there is nothing pushing back. Also with EGR systems we suspect it doesn't properly reburn the exhaust gas when idling turning your engine into a soot filled mess. Well, it's been documented. Companies with local trucks and OTR trucks began noticing the local trucks which were shut off at night had far less engine trouble than the ones idling with a driver in the bunk.