Swift - Starting the New Year training with Swift 1/7/13 - A long read...

This might be off topic. But I didn't want to start a new topic. Does anyone use the bunk heaters? I'm on my second truck and neither had working bunk heaters. It just blows cold air, I left it on for an hour and no change. Maybe I'm not turning it on fully? It there more then one switch?

 

I've noticed my bunk heater will not work if the engine is idling. I can either idle or I can use the bunk heater, not both.

 

yeah im using my heater, ran it on a low setting all night last night since it was like 36 degrees, just turned it on for tonight
my bunk heater worked great for all the trucks I had (4 of them) there could be a problem with yours, stop at a terminal and get it checked. I know with my freightliner there is only 1 way to turn it on and its a single nob and you adjust clockwise however hot you want it to get, I use the 2nd marking which keeps me warm enough all night with my blanket. If I turn it up too high I wake up sweating real bad it gets so dang hot.

 

Hmm yeah mine must be busted. I just have the red nob as well in my international. Cranked it all the way and nothing. It's frustrating I'm have been running in ne, wy, co, ut and northern ca. Actually had to chain up on the 80 a few days ago.And its in the single digits at night. I bare it as long I can and usually idle for two, three hours. When I go home, ill put truck in shop I guess. #### it. LOL

 

yeah idle if it doesnt work, if they complain then tell them your not going to freeze. You could always try stopping at a petro or something, tell your DM you need heat.

 

Yeah I avoid the shop if I can unless its over hometime. Because I dont want to lose time and money. I go home in a couple days anyway.

 

My bunk heater works fine. It's integrated into the bunk radio controls in my Volvo and not exactly intuitive on how to turn it on. (Push the Menu button until the display reads Heat, press the On/Off button (display says On), then press the Set button.)

At one point it quit working. I had left it turned on one day when I ran the fuel way down, and apparently the heater sucked up a line full of air. The shop fixed it quickly.

Get the heater fixed. Idling is illegal in a lot of areas, and I have seen local cops write tickets for it.

 

you can find a reference somewhere but there are times for extreme weather you can idle, it will say how many minutes per hour etc

 

I guess I lucked out with mine. Stupid thing will cook me right out of the sleeper at night. I also carry a military surplus two piece sleeping bag. Been following Swift's little winter tips thing and idle my truck for about 15 minutes to super heat it and charge the batteries up. Shut the window curtains to insulate the cab, and the sleeper curtains to "cocoon" myself in, and I stay pretty toasty. If I run the heater constantly, with my cooler going, it'll give me the "load shedding" warning half way through the night and force me to get up and start the truck for a few minutes so I prefer to just bundle up instead and kick the heater on just before I get out of bed.