I suspect thatWally World paid significantly less that $7k for their APUs. Given how little you idle I'd stick with the spring for Idle Air or a hotel.

You may want to get a no-frills heater for the winter though.

 

I've idled my truck probably at least 30 days. I've been in the mountains this past winter hauling stuff around and the temps below zero for weeks at a time. I tried one night to not idle and all my water and juice was frozen and so wasn't I. When the temp is 10 below zero it takes about 1/2 an hour before your cab is also. I can't see anyone not idling there truck all morning after they get up and make arraignments for there next load while they sit inside with there mad bomber hat on, ski gloves, snow mobile suit, long johns and a runny nose.

I've been in Nevada, Arizona, California and many other states where the temp was over 100 and inside the truck I would imagine it would exceed 150 without idling the truck.

I bought mine as a luxury item. I don't think it's a necessity. It just raises the quality of life a lot.

One of the best features is not having to start your truck every so often to make sure your batteries are not on the verge of not being able to start the truck. Even though you have an APU you still use your inverter for everything in the truck running off the batteries. That allows you not to have to run the APU for power. When the battery drops down to a certain level the APU automatically turns on and recharges the batteries then shuts down.

 

i love my apu. as o/o i stay out from home 6 weeks+ at a time. i have a power inverter also. i usually travel in the south and south west lanes and like my air conditioning. with my fridge/freezer in sleeper the apu keeps battery charged . i used to idle 40-60 hrs a week as company driver. now my idle time is probably down to 1-5 hrs total and usually at shippers waiting for a dock. :lol: paying for the fuel myself has made me real careful about how i burn it :lol:

 

i`m a big advocate of apu`s mine paid for itself in a year, plus i`m not killing the engine idling 10 hours a night, next month when it starts getting cold my truck wouldn`t be turned off for a week straight if I didn`t have my proheat.

 

Mike, i'm from the same state and run the same areas as you. I havent tried I/A yet, If i"m at a truck stop its for fuel, food, shower and a nap so the cable and other stuff isnt that important to me. I have a Espar heater in my truck and love it, the only time i idle is when its well below freezing or the dozen or so times that the nights are actually warm enough to need the a/c. I dont have the block heater on mine (wish i did) but will leave the heater on a low setting for the weekend while i'm home to help keep the snow from building up on the truck and so that i have a warm truck to climb into when i'm ready to leave. Havent had a problem with the truck not starting yet because it wasn on all weekend.

I have learned to stop 1/2 to 3/4 hour before i get to a shipper/receiver and turn the heater on, throw a can of Hearty Campbells soup about 10" infront of the vent and i'll have a HOT can of soup to eat when i get there.

 

Idle Air is pretty good. I used it for a few months before getting my APU. There is an external plug on the outside of the unit that you can plug your block heater into.

The cost is $1.95 per hour. The one thing I don't like is there is no timer. It runs until you either shut it off or run out of money. You use your credit card to put money into your account. I needed the Idle Air for about 5 hours so I would figure how much to put into my account then it would shut off automatically when I ran out of funds.

 

I made my appointment today to have the Espar bunk heater and engine heater installed in my truck the first week in Oct.

3k installed.

 

That was my second choice if I didn't go with the Rigmaster. I can sort of take the hot weather but being freezing cold is another thing. I've heard nothing but good things about the Espar.

 

Mike,

Which model did you choose?

TIA

Be careful and stay safe.

 

He didn't say what model it was.