carrier comfortpro?

[firebird_1252]

most likely i'm going to be getting a comfortpro.. anyone have any experence with it? its about 1800 cheaper then a tripak

[merrick4]

complete garbage. From what I heard they stopped making them. I know the Carrier dealer I got them from refuses to sell them. I had one and it didn't work and my friend had like 11 and they are just boat anchors. I have a Tripak too, much better.

[firebird_1252]

hmm.. i wonder if something changed, when i spoke to the salesman he said they're were sold out and was waiting for carrier to ship new ones. also seeing a lot of fleets using them now.

[barf]

Mine is finally working good, after 2 years of constantly taking it back to Carrier. I think they replaced every computer board on it. Glad it was on warranty.

[firebird_1252]

barf what problems did you have with it?

[Maniac]

A buddy of mine has a tri-pak, he has 14,000 hours on it, been on the truck since 2007, a few minor problems and thats all.

[firebird_1252]

i like the tripak.. but their prices keep going up and up. on paper the rigmaster is the strongest one. next the tripak then the carrier.

the rigmaster i just wont do.

i spoke to the local thermoking dealer. he actually told me to look in to the carrier unit. he said its second best out there and the suport group is out there being 90% of the TK dealers will work on carrier. i'd like to set an apointment up soon so i want to cover all my bases.

i found a tripak dealer that'll install it for $10800 and a carrier dealer that'll do it for $9080.

so far what i DONT like about the carrier is the electric heat and the generator.. both seems like they could be a problem down the road.

[barf]

barf what problems did you have with it?

I've owned it for 3 years now, can't complain at all about the last year. But the first two years it was completely unreliable. It would stop running for no reason, I would kick it and then it would work again. I discovered on my own that one internal plug was burned badly. This was after taking it back a few times. Since then it became unreliable again and more parts were replaced. The cab control box was replaced once, the circuit board by the engine was replaced, and I think the controller board under the sleeper was replaced. The water pump was replaced and the engine fan surround cracked and was welded.

Once in a while I would leave my truck at the local truck stop overnight and go home if I was just passing through Winnipeg, but couldn't do so on a -30 degree night for fear it wouldn't be running the next morning.

It seems to be ok now, but I don't use the programmable auto start feature. I only turn it on to constant run.

My truck and APU are both 3 years old. I don't wash my truck as often as I should, but there isn't much rust on it. The diffs are showing a little starting. However, the APU is rusted very badly. An edge against the frame that comes about an inch higher than the frame is rusted through.

I chose Carrier over Tripac because I was quoted $500 less and liked that it has a generator instead of power inverter, and the AC compressor is in the sleeper, not part of the engine. I still wonder about my choice now. I pull company trailers and no question about it I prefer a TK reefer over Carrier.

[firebird_1252]

thats the thing. its $1800 cheaper then the thermo king. barf is yours plumbed in to the coolent and also plugged in to the block heater? how well does it work? i dont know where you go but, how does the heat and ac work?

[barf]

Yes its connected to the engine's coolant, so in winter it heats the big engine while its running. My APU didn't come with a block heater, so I bought a magnetic oil pan heater that I plug in separately. Though, when driving, the coolant heats the APU. I've had a couple nights where my truck wasn't plugged in long enough and didn't start. The tempurature was -30C or colder, and to my amazement the APU did start, so an hour later I had the truck running.

I have a condo sleeper 13'6" high and close the window curtains only, so the APU has a large area to heat/cool. On the coldest of winter nights I don't recall ever being cold in the truck. I have had to set the heat on high though, which uses all the electricity (it turns off the AC power to appliances when high heat is required). At the other extreme, when I'm stuck in Laredo on a 104F sunny windy day, its probably 90F inside the truck. Too hot of course, but AC works good otherwise. Come evening when its still hot outside but the sun has set, it cools inside quickly. AC might work better if I put reflective sun shades in the windows or put the sleeper curtains back in and cooled a smaller area.

I almost had a fuel gelling problem once but caught it just in time. I had only summer diesel on a really cold night and the APU died. Luckily the truck engine started and kept running. The APU does have a return fuel line but doesn't heat the fuel like the big engine does.

[firebird_1252]

so when its 104* out the inside only gets down to 90*? i have a 70" condo columbia so it is a lot to cool. i still ahve the bunk curtians in but mainly shut the ones around the window (mostly so the dog dont go in and out of the bunk all the time) when i'm sleeping. will the generator run a microwave? i know stupid question but you never know.

[barf]

It runs my cheap Danby fine, I would imagine it would run any microwave.

To be fair to Carrier, I only estimated 90F. When stuck in Laredo it feels like 90F inside the truck and makes me wonder if the APU is working I'm sweating so bad. When I step out of the truck and melt I realize it is working. Feels good to get back inside the truck, but after a while feels really hot again.

Anyone else's opinions here? Is my APU AC gutless or is this normal?

[Malaki86]

Every truck I've been in fights the heat in Laredo. The body of the truck itself gets so hot that unless you have a 2ton ac compressor (home unit), it won't be able to keep up. I've never had a truck with an apu, so going by the a/c's in the truck itself.

[firebird_1252]

thats one thing.. my columbia has amazing ac. the only time it had a hard time keeping up was the heat wave over the summer. think it was 110 in pa i had it on max and fan as high as it can go. normally its never on max and on #2. i was stopped windshield covers around motor raced up and did nothing.. i hate that damn window on the top of the bunk.

[Malaki86]

That's one thing I really hate about the ProStar's - they don't have upper windows. If it did, you could open the windows and it would let the heat escape.