Best APU

[tweety bird]

Dickhead.

Where'd that come from?

[NotSteve]

If you get a Rigmaster, you have to be cool and get a rooftop A/C (and wear a kick me sign on your back on CAD for a few months)

That was in response to BanditJerk. I kicked his azz a month ago and he's still pissed about it. Or at least I think I did. My memory isn't so good these days.

[CanadianFTE]

Is that Onan a Cummins comfortgaurd? I,m looking at apu,s and thinking of thermo king tri pac or Cummins comfortgaurd. heard lot's of good things about tri pac but nothing about the comfortgaurd. I like the options on the comfortgaurd but would like to hear some comments on them. Anyone out there got one?

[Musicman]

We had a TriPac for about eight months (until our truck was stolen), and it was decent. I did not like the “Arctic” feature on it that is designed to heat the entire truck engine by circulating the coolant, because that little diesel engine would never generate enough heat to make any real difference in the temperature of the truck’s coolant. Also, the TriPac does not put out enough cooling BTUs to cool a high rise roofed truck in extremely hot weather. When sitting in Ontario, CA in the summer, for example, we would have to start up the truck and idle 5 minutes out of every 30 to keep it reasonably cool. Also, the TriPac and most other APUs don’t put out nearly enough electrical energy… if I remember correctly most APUs including the TriPac only come with a 65 amp alternator. Despite its shortcomings, the one thing that was great about our old TriPac was that it could be serviced at any TK dealer.

We now have a Comfort Master APU, which is great in a lot of ways. It has two alternators that put out a combined 400 amps of power. It also cools well enough to freeze you out of the truck, even in Phoenix in July. Same thing goes with the heat in Fargo in January. It also comes with a 3000 watt inverter that you can plug into shore power to keep your batteries charged, etc. . The problem with Comfort Master has always been that the units are a bit quirky. The designer of the system tried to make it do too much too quickly and the result was a few irritating problems with the system that will cause it to occasionally error code out and turn off. Now it seems that the credit crunch got the best of the company and it is currently out of business. Luckily all of the parts in the system are easy to find from independent dealers, and the Isuzu engine warranty can still be serviced by outside dealers if problems arise there.

My advice is to put a lot of thought into what you want from an APU. Some systems are better than others in particular areas. Define the things that are most important to you, do a little research and buy the APU that most fits your wants and needs. Also keep in mind that in California, and soon many other states as well, you will not be able to use an APU on a newer (’04 / ’07) truck unless the APU meets the same emission standards as the truck. I have noticed that some of the APU manufacturers are now offering upgrades like particulate filters that should make their APU CARB compliant, but if you run in these emission control happy states, make sure that what you are buying will be legal there.

[BanditsCousin]

My truck stays very cool in Vegas in 100+ degree weather. I have a newer unit, a white truck, and a 86" studio sleeper. It might be that the unit was newer, but I doubt it. I have no complaints, but it won't cool you all too well up front in the seats.

I've heard a few complaints about the Tripac's cooling ability, so i could be an exception, or easily pleased. I also noticed the Arctic package only makes the APU run more, and I'm still finding out how it warms the coolant (being my first winter). Overall, I'm happy with the Tripac.

[allan5oh]

I think it just uses the trucks coolant system for cooling.

[BanditsCousin]

The tripac uses its own system with a condenser and aux. fan mounted on the back of the sleeper. It does use some of the truck's ventilation system as routing. Mine came with 1 custom hose/vent installed under the sleeper and lumbed into the rest of my vents in the sleeper.

[allan5oh]

The first you described is the air conditioning system, not the cooling system.

The second is the espar heater under your bunk.

There will be two coolant lines going to the tripac probably. The reason you cannot run the tripac while the truck is running is the tripac uses the trucks coolant. Both cannot be on at the same time.

[Musicman]

There will be two coolant lines going to the tripac probably. The reason you cannot run the tripac while the truck is running is the tripac uses the trucks coolant. Both cannot be on at the same time.

You are correct about the two coolant lines. They patch them in from the heater lines running to the bunk and connect them with “T’s” and ball valves. They claimed you could run the APU with those valves closed, but a few mechanics told me they wouldn’t personally do it.

You are incorrect about not being able to run your truck and the TriPac simultaneously. My alternator went kaput and we drove for about 12 hours using the TriPac's tiny alternator to keep the batteries charged. You run into problems idling the truck and running the TriPac for any length of time, or at least we did, because the coolant will heat up too much. The conflict is that the truck likes to keep the coolant at a minimum of 175 degrees and the TriPac turns on its radiator fan when the coolant reaches 130 degrees or so. We did do it, as I mentioned in an above post, for five minutes at a time to keep the truck cool when parked in the sun and ambient temps above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and had no problem.

[allan5oh]

Thanks, didn't know that. A few people have asked if you can run both at the same time, how do you actually do it?

[Musicman]

My truck stays very cool in Vegas in 100+ degree weather. I have a newer unit, a white truck, and a 86" studio sleeper. It might be that the unit was newer, but I doubt it. I have no complaints, but it won't cool you all too well up front in the seats.

I've heard a few complaints about the Tripac's cooling ability, so i could be an exception, or easily pleased. I also noticed the Arctic package only makes the APU run more, and I'm still finding out how it warms the coolant (being my first winter). Overall, I'm happy with the Tripac.

I can just about guarantee it won’t warm your coolant worth a damn. I’m sure it will keep it from freezing, but that should be a moot point anyway if you’re running a 50/50 coolant mix. Your Espar heater will roast your butt right out of the truck. That, IMHO is one of the good things about the TriPac.

With our unit, it would barely keep the sleeper cool in the hottest weather if you kept the curtains closed; but with a spouse and a cat in the truck, it’s nice to be able to keep the curtains open when you’re parked for any length of time. I think the biggest problem with cooling is that the TriPac (and most other APUs as well) doesn’t move enough air. That’s one of the primary reasons we bought a different APU for our new truck. The APU we have now blows about five times harder on the highest fan setting as the sleeper’s OEM HVAC system does.

[Musicman]

Thanks, didn't know that. A few people have asked if you can run both at the same time, how do you actually do it?

Just start up the TriPac while the truck is already running. It’s that simple. If you ever run the batteries down to a point where they will not quite turn your truck engine over, you can start up your TriPac and let it run for ten minutes or so to put a quick charge in the batteries. The TriPac’s starter requires much less power to turn it than does the starter on your truck. You can also start the truck up while the TriPac is running and use that little extra boost from the APU’s alternator to get you going. Just keep in mind if you ever are in a situation like we were, where you needed to run off the TriPac’s alternator, that it is only a 65 amp alternator. When alternators heat up their amperage output drops quite a bit, so after a while you may be only getting 35 amps or so from the TriPac’s alternator. You can run your truck off of the TriPac’s juice, but I would turn off all non essential high power consuming devices, like the truck's HVAC blower, CBs with big amps, etc., especially if it is at night and you need to use your headlights. You can also run your TriPac to keep cool while driving if you lose the AC compressor on your truck. We did that for a day, too and it worked out pretty well. Having an APU gives you a lot of options that others without an APU don’t have, you just have to be creative.

[allan5oh]

Most tripacs are set up to turn off as soon as the key is on.

[Musicman]

I also might add that there is an $80 option available that many companies elect to have installed that will prevent you from running the truck and the TriPac at the same time. If the truck is a company truck, you may not be able to run both at once. Since it was my truck, I wanted the extra possibilities that are available to me by being able to simultaneously run the APU and my truck. In the end it was a good decision, as it saved me a tow in just the 10 months we had it before our truck was stolen.

[Musicman]

Most tripacs are set up to turn off as soon as the key is on.

That would be the $80 option I was referring to.

[Walking Eagle]

My Tripack has been slightly modified, in that I put a bigger altinator on it. I have 148 inch ARI sleeper with all the goodies, Micro, AC/Heat, oven, freezer, lights etc. and it keeps up with them all ! I have two 3000 watt invertors hooked up to different things but have never got a low volt warning ! If the batteries get low it fires up and charges them. At night, just watching satilite TV, with a few lightd on, it doesn't even fire up (Carrier for 110 volts it has to be running)
Tri Pack is the best around !

[Musicman]

My Tripack has been slightly modified, in that I put a bigger altinator on it. I have 148 inch ARI sleeper with all the goodies, Micro, AC/Heat, oven, freezer, lights etc. and it keeps up with them all ! I have two 3000 watt invertors hooked up to different things but have never got a low volt warning ! If the batteries get low it fires up and charges them. At night, just watching satilite TV, with a few lightd on, it doesn't even fire up (Carrier for 110 volts it has to be running)
Tri Pack is the best around !

Hmmmmm, wonder what I could power with my 400 amps from two alternators?

[big-trucker]

Look at the Pony Packs. Much more simple and over 20 years of experience.

Whatever you do dont buy a Pony Pack in this case 20 years exp dont mean nothing

[big-trucker]

I parked next to a truck with that Pony Pack APU a few weeks ago...and I ended up moving in the middle of the night! That thing is LOUD!!!!

But, loud as it is, it may be cheaper than an $8k tripac.....

No just as pricey and even more with all the repairs you will need and nowhere to get them done and they are very loud too

[mikeymike]

I have had my tripac a few months now and I LOVE IT. I have a volvo 670 and my tripac heats and cools it VERY well. Also mine has 2 ducts that they installed under/front side of bunk. I got the inverter 1800 watt and it cost me an additional $400. Sometimes I will get that dreaded beep noise for batt power before the unit starts up but I attributed that to 2 things. First thing is I only have 3 batteries (seems that most folks have 4) and then mine are only 700 amp, so i figured that had sumthin to do with it. Any ideas?