Van Wyk Inc.

Question, during the winter or whenever you use your bunk heater, does anybody here get up to turn there truck on every 4 or 5 hours, run it for an hour, and turn it back on or hook a pair a jumper cables up to the jump post from the reefer battery?? I was told we had to do this anytime we run the bunk heater... i did not have to do this last year. Personally i think my batteries arent in the best of shape after sitting for 2 months back in the summer. Doug and I went back in forth after i had to get a jump start on a 40 degree morning earlier this week. I just think it's the biggest inconvenience either way, i understand on very cold nights to do this but 25 to 30 degree nights?? Nah fam.... Your thoughts????

 

I run a jumper cable from the hotpost on my truck to the reefer when I sit for long periods.....even if the reefer is on automatic when it runs it will charge your battery.....if power drops the reefer will start anyway and keep your batteries charged...not to mention from getting frozen or really cold....and if it gets really cold you can just turn your key on to warm the fuel in the filter assembly...or if you have the newer trucks with the artic fox you can have the fuel heater going.......the draw wouldn't be enough to overwhelm the charging system of the reefer....

 

I haven't started the truck every 4-5 hours or ran the jumper cables yet and its been fine so far. I haven't been in really cold conditions yet though.

 

Just FYI...the New Stanton Supervalu has overnight parking.....which would have been nice to know a couple days ago.....considering I was exceptionally early....although that J 8 miles down the road is not too terrible...got to shower and eat non fast food.....so meh it was worth it...the only issue with it is all the drivers who think the ENTRANCE ONLY sign is a suggestion and try to exit through it....also try to get there early it fills up fast....

speaking of fast food.....I can't stomach it anymore....it makes me sick thinking about it...I refuse to eat it when I am home cause I eat so much of it on the road....

 

Lol mic, i've seen a lot of drivers these days that dont read signs at all.

As for the battery issue, after i had that jump-starting problem on mine, i finally got to valley fleet, and they solved the problem by actually taking the time to test them, and found one of the batteries were bad, and found the coolant leakage, even though i had to get that fixed at the kw place in syracuse because no one had the parts on hand. I had the truck in sheldon a couple of times for those problems and it never got properly fixed there. I got to virginia and let cory know i was still having problems with it, and he made the calls and kicked some tail to get it done.

 

My kw has been thirsty too....I've looked everywhere for the leak....I once had a bad water pump which got fixed...since then she drinks a gallon a week...at minimum...figure I'll have them work on it during the week of Xmas cause I'll have the kids and won't go out til that Friday...

Sitting at the Ashland TA..waiting for time to pass for a 3am appt....uggg I just don't understand how the dcs` policies can be s different from place to place...one has parking..and another god forbid you show up early...even if it has more room..at least Walmart is consistent about its files and I know what to expect at every one...

 

Doesn't the batteries on the truck get charged when the APU starts?

 

Hawk best thing to do is buy a set of cables and turn the receipt in,they will reimburse you. As far as getting things fixed I think it's kinda hit an miss in Sheldon. I prefer to stay away from them just because of the attitude you get from Andy and to a lesser extent Dean.

 

That does happen when an APU runs. Slight problem in this case: there is no such thing as an APU on a Van Wyk Truck.

 

That's true lol....escapes me why we don't considering all the anti idle laws......winter is fine without considering we have hot posts and reefers....even battery APU(yuck) would be nice for the fact we can keep them charged off the reefer.... must be an Andy or Doug thing...