Truck and Trailer I got

congrats on the truck purchase, hope it serves you well

 

Freightliner makes a good truck. Good choice and I wish you the best. Nice dog too. Jack Russell?

 

Okay then, let's break this down one point at a time starting with cost.

You bought a truck WITH an APU, smart move, no problems there. But you may have passed countless deals on trucks without one, and also likely spent a little extra on your truck to have the APU. Then, if I recall correctly you have spent $6,000 on repairs to said APU in the first year of ownership, who knows what the future holds ? (EDIT - MNdriver corrected me, he only spent $1,000 on a repair to his APU, my mistake)

I got a Honda EU3000is off of ebay for $1600, only used during one storm. Heater $200, nice, quiet radiant heat I would add. And roof mount Coleman Roughneck for $800. That is $2400 for those keeping score. Likely less than MNdriver's maintenance per year on his.

Now you mentioned diesel engine. an obvious benefit to your system, you do not have to walk and get fuel. However, I enjoy getting out and stretching my legs, I'm usually looking to do a little walking when I park anyways, I don't mind it. Your engine is also LOUDER, much louder, and less fuel efficient than mine. The point is to save fuel, right ? Mine uses 2 gallons every 12 hours, if I was running the AC hardcore I would expect maybe 4 gallons at the most. And that is gasoline, which if you haven't noticed is significantly less expensive than diesel. The point is to save money as well as wear on your big engine, right ? So in that category, I win. Unless you are ridiculously lazy and simply do not want to walk to the fuel pumps and fill up a can with gas.

bunk heater - mine also heats the bunk, not to mention anybody with a gen can add a diesel fired bunk heater if they want. My truck actually has one, I just did not want to figure out if it is functional and get a controller for it because parts and repairs for them like everything else in YOUR APU are so ridiculously expensive. And I like my nice silent radiant heater just fine. These electric heaters basically last forever with no maintenence, isn't that a neat feature ?

AC - your AC cannot come close to the performance and durability of a Coleman Roughneck, end of story.

engine heater - you have cobbled together coolant lines running all over to keep your engine warm. I plug in a block heater if I want.

already discussed dual fuel. mounting case - welded two angle brackets and a plate, strapped it down and put a safety chain on so nobody would steal it, done. Keep in mind you have never installed an APU, your truck came with it. It is far less of a job to put in my system than yours, less parts, less costly, less to go wrong.

Now, let's talk about what my system can do that yours can't. I have a 3000 watt gen, I am not sure what kind of 110 power you have available with yours, but I can run power tools, battery chargers, etc... I can easily remove the gen from my truck and use it around the house or shop ? What do you do when your power goes out at home ? stay in the truck ?

My nice radiant space heater I can also use in or out of the truck.

And as mentioned before your AC is nothing close to the quality, performance, and durability of a Coleman Roughneck but I guess if you don't mind spending money to keep repairing yours and you don't get in ultrahot weather then we're similar on the AC part.

good day to you sir, it's comfortable here so I am not running my gen at the moment. But remember if I was running mine, and you were running yours I would be spending about 60 cents per hour on fuel and you'd be spending about $1.50 per hour on fuel for your system, and mine would be running quieter as well. I'm glad you like yours, you are paying for it. and don't worry, you can always add a generator and an AC and heater to yours so you can start saving $1/hr while parked on fuel alone as well as $2000/yr maintenance or more.

edit - oh and one other thing, since I can pull my gen and heater rather easily, guess which one of us can transfer out system to another truck more easily if we decide to trade ?

edit - one one more thing, I can walk away from mine as well ? not sure what that was about. If I wanted to let it run all weekend that would cost me the install of a 10 gallon gas tank but I thought the idea was to save fuel not let it run when you're not in the truck ?

 

that was kind of a ramble... bottom line the point is to save money.

gen setup - cheaper to buy, cheaper to install, cheaper to maintain, cheaper to operate. the "poor man setup" is the smart man setup in my book. but maybe it's more important that you don't have to walk over and buy cheaper gasoline, maybe the most important thing is to be able to flip a switch and burn expensive diesel straight from the tank. to each their own.

 

$1000.

That's all i have spent on my apu. That bought me a service kit for the bunk heater too. That alone was $250. Also have them find 5 wiring issues on the apu. Along with both a water pump and ac/alternator belt, set of 4 motormounts (installed), oil filter and air filter.

Since I knew nothing about that system 2 months after i bought it with the truck, I had taken it TO thermo-king to fix it. So labor rate was $120 per hour. The worked on it for 4 hours that morning. Took 3 of THEIR mechanics to find all the electrical issues that day. I'd say I got a deal.

When my bunk heater took a dump, it was $830 to replace it. They got me $600 just for the part. Unfortunately, you had to plug INTO the bunk heater to diagnos it with a computer. It's like $2000 for the software. It's webasto brand.

Feel free to cobble a system together, "to save money". Past experience has shown me, sometimes it's not worth it to try and invent a better mousetrap. The ones that are trying, more power to you.

Between all these cooking/apu crap that people put in their trucks along with tv's, video games etc. Where do you find the space? These trucks are big, but not limitless.

 

you seem to enjoy using this phrase, "cobbled together". But let's think about this for second. My "system" has a generator, your system also has a generator, mine is just better. My "system" has and A/C, yours does to but mine is much better. We both have bunk heating ability, it's debatable, mine has some advantages, but Webasto's are pretty nifty.

Now, my generator you either plug something into it or unplug it. You can also remove it from the truck entirely and it is perfectly functional as it's own unit. It's not "cobbled together" with anything, it's simply a stand alone generator. Same goes for my heater, not "cobbled", just a heater. A/C is a bit more of a permanent install. If anybodies system is "cobbled together" it is yours, each component being essentially worthless when you attempt to remove one piece.

It's not "cobbling", it's plugging or unplugging a cord. Are you cobbling a TV into your house ? Is your coffee maker cobbled into the electric grid, no , plug or unplug, no cobbling thank you. lol.