Idling fuel consumption at 900rpms 2023 Freightliner

The truck I drive has MX 15 it burns from.4 to .9 gallons an hour with ac and inverter on I have the idle set at 800 and the engine cooling fan locked on always.

 

I gladly will debate your 2 statements about a modern truck burning more than .5 gallons per hr
I know 7 or 8 friends that have 4 year old or newer trucks that burn .5 gallon at a idle
Your statement about a APU paying for it's self in a year's time is also false they don't burn air while their running they burn .33 gals per hr about .2 less than a truck motor ..
And if you think.it will pay for it's self in a year's time then you must do a hellva of alot of Idling and not much trucking ..
And yes I have priced fuel lately it was 4.28 last night at the fuel stop I use at home
BTW their is Maintenance involved in a APU as others have stated
And if you wanta get down to the penny.. you better Pencil in interest on the 15000 cost of that APU .

 

Isn’t an apu like a lawn mower and any small engine. Pretty much worth nothing to resell after a couple years worth of use?

 

I would buy .85gph to 1.25. NO WAY do I buy .5gph.

 

Not at all. APU's pay for themselves in resale value. Especially if they still work. People say "you're factoring in fuel but not cost to maintain the APU." And I reply with "And you're factoring in fuel and forget the maintenance costs of idling the big engine."

There is a reason big companies use APU's. They save tremendously on fuel costs and maintenance costs to the big engine. There is nothing to do with an APU other than change the oil and filter every 1500 hours.

 

Just started the truck, not even warmed up yet. If you enjoy your APU then that’s good, your view of them may be different and it would be easier to see how they don’t pencil out for everyone if you were the one paying for the equipment. Fleets run them because they know their trucks would never shut off without them. Your anecdote about your idle hours in your previous truck proves that. There is zero motivation for a company driver to park in the shade or park facing away from the sun so they can open their windows and go to bed once the sun goes down. You’re also not factoring in the times the APU won’t keep the cab cool and the truck idles anyway. Reading threads on this site it seems like mid to upper 90’s is about the cutoff, and I’d be looking for a motel room anyway.

 

APU is a waste of money unless you idle every day.

 

Apu’s have been around for 25 year's. They were rare but out there. They didn’t become a big thing with fleets until 2010 when failures and major cost to emission systems due to idling became a huge maintenance cost and down time nightmare. Fuel cost the same during that regime as it does now. Bet it has Nothing to do with driver comfort or saving fuel like they want you to believe.
Before the emissions debacle Big engines were going a million plus miles between overhauls after running dang near 24/7 in most cases. As long as the truck was working it never shutdown. No help from an apu needed.

 

You should Freeze or sweat to death for the planet….. no idling ever

 

Big companies get apus because they don’t give a flying fck about how long they keep the driver out in that truck, I sleep in my truck twice a week (unless I do a different run) ill be dead by the time it ever saves me a dime, or at a minimum, the unit itself will be scrap

nothing but oil and filters, LMAO