Idle or Not to Idle?

scania man, when ya add in the cost savings from an apu of being able to a 12v fridge and a small 12v freezer, microwave , coffepot, etc etc and never worry about truck not starting, etc etc the savings are great, i save at least an addl 150 a week on eating costs, i easily save the apu payment plus another 1000 a month overall with my apu. in long run its very cost effective. like i said til ya have one ya dont know

 

I , understand that mate but we have all that stuff too, maybe the 24volt system can cope better i don't know, in Europe fuel is so expensive we don't like to use any while idling, my last 3 truck had fridge/freezer , microwave, park heaters and parking aircon and never had any problems, APU's were offered in Europe about 10 years ago but they never sold any due to the expense and trucks come as standard with night and bkock heaters fridges etc so no need to add another power unit I guess

 

Gas.....anywhere.
Propane, Not so much.
Not to mention, if you use a big propane bottle/tank, the hassle gets worse.
8 gallons of gas is DOT legal, as is the generator with a fuel shutoff valve.
I looked at the propane conversions long and hard, but at the end of the day, propane is nowhere near available as gas is. Some of my loads I cant drop the trailer, and trying to get an OD load into a gas station, or the gas side of a truckstop, would be impossible.
They also use a little more fuel than a straight gas motor too, from my reading.
Martin

 

Guess it is all relative. Depends on where someone runs. Propane is available at a majority of major truckstop chains. The portables I have seen are actually tri-fuels. They can use gas, propane, and NG. With the big time push to have NG at most truck stop chains, that is rapidly becoming a viable option also. And with propane or NG, you can either remove the tank and fill it, or pull up along side (probably only bobtail) and fill up right at the propane or NG pump. And you can carry, legally, far and away more of these two products onboard than you can legally carry in gasoline. There are several distinct advantages to using propane or NG for a portable. One also is price.

 

Personally I would rule NG out, I think its all just a bunch of big ideas that will never really take off. Just like propane back in the eighties was supposed to be the new fuel to power the future, now look at it, we run fork lifts and grills off of it. I hope I am right about the NG, because I really don't want the fuel that I heat my house with to go up in price because it now has to compete with the auto industry.

As far as propane, isn't FJ really the only one that fills your bottle? If I am not mistaken all the others only have an exchange program.

 

On that, you could be more right than wrong. I really haven't made a study of who is offering propane fills. I know that the Loves in Des Moines is doing it, as well as most of the Flying J's you mention. Somehow, I keep thinking I had seen a couple of T/A's doing it, but can't recall which ones. But since I stay pretty much Nebraska to Ohio, north of I-70, on a national basis, I wouldn't know for sure who all has propane fill up capability. Probably one of the RV related fuel stop guides would show who is and who is not doing it. But even then, with one of the larger tanks strapped on the frame rail, it would last way beyond a week or more before needing a fill up. And it sure seems that each day, I get some email news blurp about some fuel chain that it going to have NG pumps at their facilities. For someone like me, that goes home each week, it would be a no brainer to go that route.

 

As with any used equipment it was in poor state of maintenance. I did the PM on the power unit, no big deal. The exhaust pipe for the heater was rusted out so I replaced that to be safe. I didn't like smoke rising under the bunk, even though there was no signs or odor that it was getting inside. The heater also signals a new pope election now and then, so I need to take the heater apart and clean it out and replace the glow pin screen. One of these days. Thanks MN - my belt squeals a little when first started. I just haven't bothered to check it out yet. Next time the cover's off
before you tear apart for cleaning id try disconnecting fuel line and running a gallon or 2 of kerosene through heater that often cleans unit out and gets rid of smoke

 

I have an idea for an automatic belt tensioner for the tripac.

Now i just have to make it.

 

may not have to make it, the dynasys uses the same engine and has a belt tensioner, may just bolt on.

 

Wont work i dont think.

It's a long tensioner bar about 18"