Why? Almost, everywhere I have been in the past several weeks, the temperatures have been moderate,. Heck, it's been moderate for the last several months. I know I have a very great tolerance for cold, I don't idle above 30 degrees. I'm still new to driving so I really don't know how low I can comfortably go. Recently, I can see no need to idle your engine. The temperature is very comfortable. No matter where I park, back in, nose in or in the most remote section of the parking lot, some idiot parks right next to me and starts idling his engine. It always seems to be a particularly loud engine and they sometimes have reefers attached. Why? I am begining to see why so many states have bans against idling. Not only is it irritating, but it is a colossus waste of fuel and produces enormous amounts of pollution.

 

Just because the temp is comfortable to you does not mean that it is for someone else.

In addition to that there are other reasons drivers may idle at "night".

Medical issues like CPap machines or allergies
Battery or starter problems
To block out the noise of other trucks.
Or just simply that they can not sleep without the truck running because they are used to it.

 

Do these require idling all night? What about a generator?

Maintain your truck and this wont happen. Those are required to be in good condition according to federal law.

Then get a quieter truck. Better yet, if nobody idled, there wouldn't be a problem!

There are other ways to make noise for yourself. Spending $30+ a night in fuel isn't the best way!

 

I have a very temp sensitive nose, if the temp ain't just right when I go to sleep, I start sneezing like crazy and can only stop by taking 2 Benadryl's. Taking them means I cannot drive, I think for 24 hours. I would have to keep my truck idling to keep the temp in the right place. Just 2 degrees difference can bring on a sneezing fit.

 

The problem with the generators is the cost. They run about $8,000+-. In addition to the cost is the extra weight. I don't idle much unless the temperatures are too warm or cold. I will not wait until it gets to 30 degrees to idle, however. If my wife is with me I will need to idle most all the time because of her health problems. It is expensive to idle, but more costly to pay for doctors and hospital visits. There are a lot of people with allergies who must idle to keep from having problems. Some areas prohibit idling over about 5 minutes. I am sure they don't use heat in their homes until the temperature gets below 30 degrees and use the air until it gets over 100 degrees. Of course, if you have an animal with you it will exempt you from most of those laws. I suppose the comfort of people is more important than animals. :roll: You can always stop at truck stops who have IdleAir and pay them to park in one of their idle free spots.

 

Yes...actually...all you need to do is pay the basic membership fee. A basic Gold Membership is $10/ 6 months. You may or may not be inclined to use the services. Regardless...the services are due on what you use...and you turn it on or shut it off as you please.... or simply not even hook up to it if you won't be using it...period. CB channel 3...call, and they will assist in you backing out....if you need it.

I personally like to park out far...where I can generally find a spot to be alone. Nothing else, I park so my headboard side is against an area that has no further parking, next to me. I can open my bunk window for fresh air.

Most of the time I am shut down. I too do not do a lot of idling. I rarely...if ever care or feel bothered if someone is idling next to me. My tolerance is met when they have an air leak, or something loose and rattling. I have become accustomed to the motors. Sometimes I have to choose NOT to mind...and in a minute or two, I've forgotten about it.

One time I had an apartment next to a busy...noisy road. I thought I could never get use to the noise. Before you know it...I never heard it...unless something out of the ordinary caught my attention.

Anytime I am tucked in nice, and I get an irritating neighbor...I simply move. Fortunately...my little home is quite mobile. :lol: ....or I use my ear plugs. They are so nice....and I replenish my supply for free at loading docks.

I understand the gripe...a waste of fuel...and all. I just feel...there are certain reasons, and certain times I idle. I do not want or need someone telling me what I can or can not do with my truck. I also do not like or need someone telling me how to drive.

As mentioned...there are many reasons a driver may be idling...and even if one reason is...he just never thought about it, or doesn't care...so be it.
Anti-idle laws....f*** 'em.
I will be the last one to support that even in a passive way.

 

Don't park next to me then, I idle probably 9 out of the 10 hrs I'm stopped. I need to power the TV and like to keep cool or warm. It also puts me to sleep which is a good thing.

 

I learned to shut the truck off between 45 and 60 at night. I would have liked to have some kind of thermostat deal, but I didn't. Below 45, odds were I would wake up freezing somewhere in the middle of the night, and not sleep well. Above 60, what a pansy you say, that's fine, I said the same until I woke up one morning and it was 120 inside the truck at 8:00 AM, and I had sweated all the way through my mattress. Woke up and wasted most of an hour getting the truck cooled back down to where I could sleep, and so I didn't sleep that well that time either.

Juggling the temperature, how high to set what before going to sleep, whether to idle or not, was the most annoying thing about sleeping in my truck.

(I'm glad I have only stepped into my current sleeper to marvel at how much bigger it is than the one I used to live in. If I owned this truck on this route, I'd probably save fuel and put a day cab on, but oh well, I ain't paying for the fuel.)

(Oh, and I only slept in a truckstop some handful of times over the years, so I wasn't bothering you anyway. I hate truckstops passionately.)Yes it does. As someone who has either driven for a company or an O/O, all I can say is give me an APU, and I'll use it, but if I don't have an APU, I'm still going to do what I have to do to sleep well. My sleeping well keeps somebody from dying a grizzly death. Maybe even me.

 

There is also a thread in matianence about idleing, I might not get to that one tonight, but how much fuel do you think it takes to idle a newer type enginine? In my line of work, in the north, we idle alot (i.e.) 18000 hr's = 400,000 mi. If it's cold, every truck in town is running, or they won't be tomorrow. It's not an issue. I just parked, it's not very cold, truck ran about 36 hr's, maybe 1000 mi. To tired to tell exactly. But that was alot of driving, somtimes only 400 mi. same hr's. I checked one day, it was frigin cold - 40 same F & Celcius... 1400 rpm, 14 hr's.. I refueled jus to see , less than 10 american gals ? It took 1400 to keep above 180- 200 F. How much fuel do'es your truck use ? Mine was a 550 Acert that year.

 

Most engines burn around .8-1.2 gallons of fuel per hour at idle.

How much it takes to refuel your truck after a night of idling is not an accurate way to figure out how much your truck uses when idling. Fuel expands when it is hot, and that fuel comes out of the refinery hot. Also the tanks it is stored in are double walled and act like a thermos and keep it warm for a long time.

How much the fuel has expanded at the time you fueled depends on how far it traveled in the tanker and how long it has sat in the tanks before you purchased yours.