NO APU for me
 

Total engine idle time 5963 hours since I bought the truck NEW on 12-10-98, NO one has ever driven this truck but me, I picked it up at the KW plant in Renton Wa, and brought it back to NY state.

Since I use a pump to unload I figure 10% of those hours to be pumping, which I get paid for.

Truck uses .9 gallon of fuel an hour, according to the Cat printout of the engine computer.
since APU's use .4 gallons an hour there is a difference of .5.

Based on the hours on the truck minus the pumping hours I come up with 600 hours a year.

An APU installed 9 years ago when I took delivery would be just about half paid for now, that is assuming it didn't require any repairs at all.

In 9 years of owning the KW, I put on 800,000 miles, so it doesn't really sit around either, I was off for 6 months in 2001 for open heart surgery, the truck has been in or through ALL 48 states, within the first 3 years I had it.

As far as microwaves, TV's coffee makers, NEVER had them in ANY truck, NEVER will, and DO NOT want them, I figure I spend enough hours in the dam truck, why the he!! would I want to eat in there too?

Save money? If you have to eat in the truck to save money, your already out of buisness, you just don't know it.

While I am NOT a big fan of any truck stop restarants, I will sit and be served any day rather than cook for myself, I carry a few snacks and some breakfast cereal, and bottled water, thats it, and I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 180, no boofay's for me either.

Realize this, these are MY numbers and fit MY operation, NOT Steve's or Rev's, or anyone elses.....every body's operation is DIFFERENT, it just shows that while an APU might be right for some, it isn't right for everybody, MY numbers show it WON'T do me any good.

And one more thing, anti idling laws, just WHO is going to enforce these?

Roaming bands of US Marshalls maybe, dream on, there aren't enough cops or DOT to enforce current laws, just look at "truck safety week" on June, 72 hour enforcement of DOT rules and all the scales aren't even open.

Half of the cops/DOT don't know the idle laws and the other half don't care.

AMEN!! :lol:

Originally Posted by tootie04:
AMEN!! :lol:

+1

Very good point. For me, an APU would pay for itself with the amount of downtime I spend.

However, I agree 100% on the eating in the truck issue.

http://www.cumminsonan.com/apu/products/payback/
According to that calculator, it would take 9 years 1 month and 16 days for me.... :shock: :D

When calculating the cost, You have to remember that an APU is a capitol investment. It's carried on your balance sheet as an asset. If you pay $8000 for a new unit and run for 4 years, then pull it off your truck and sell it for $5000 then the actual cost is well below 1 cent a mile, not including operating expenses.
If you run primarily in the southwest where the climate is more temperate you well log fewer hours which will increase the resale value. If your up in the northeast you will run it much more often which will lower the resale value, but save a lot more through lower fuel costs.
What you pay retail for the unit is only a small part of the picture. There is a lot more to consider.

Originally Posted by Dispatch_This:
There is a lot more to consider.

Of course. Personally, i wouldn't even look at APU from the "return on investment" point You more like "investing in your comfort".
In my type of operation, APU is not justified for any reason, but for some, who practically lives in a truck, it's a must! And so on....

One thing, and I could be wrong so feel free to correct me, OP has a 98 truck which I guess doesn't have all that EGR stuff. From what I understand idling on the newer trucks puts a lot of soot.

We all have our lines we draw. Me I eat in the truck and not only for the money. Yesterday or the day before rather I was out of food as I was thinking of going home. I was starving and at the TA. I stood outside the restaurant pacing back and forth but hungry as I was I couldn't go in. That place is nasty. I went to some restaurant across the street which I wouldn't have even gone in if I wasn't so hungry. (no Applebees or Olive Garden around) I will eat in the Flying J restaurant though.

Sometimes I get food even and just eat it in the truck. I like the solitude of the truck personally.

But my line is having to bundle up in the winter. I refuse to have to do that. That's where my comfort trumps money. So we all have our lines and good for that because if we didn't we would all be broke. Where I am cheap on one thing, another isn't. And where the other person is cheap on something I am not. Balance in life that's all.

I look at it this way,...I don't like to eat what I don't prepare,...I always seem to get sick 50% of the time when I buy pre-made food. I like to cook,watch T.V.,use my computer,shower, use the can....all in the truck. I find public bathrooms absolutely disgusting (unless you get into them early in the morning) but after 2 hrs of people exploding all over the seat, walls, and everything else,...I just as soon empty my holding tank once a week.
Everything I put in my truck saves me on time also,...I don't wait for showers, I don't have to leave my truck in the middle of the night to use the can, and I don't have to eat crummy food cooked by people who stick the fingers in places I don't care to know about,..while they wrap my burger.
I have been sitting here for my entire 34 hr reset, I've used my TV/DVD for 10hrs, the microwave for lunch and dinner for two days, soldering iron, glue gun,drill, computer/fax/printer...all without ever seeing my batteries drop below 12.5 volts (gotta love that solar).
I'll probably only use my APU to warm my engine, and to run the roof A/C, so this is the other end of the spectrum.....for comfort in a truck.
But deep down I would like to go old school for a trip,..in a coffin sleeper, with a 9"B/W T.V and foil for an antenna, no A/C, just a chrome fan,..really sometimes I wouldn't mind that because this truck has a lot more maintenance than a regular sleeper (don't tell mt truck,...its already tried to kill me twice)

Originally Posted by Doghouse:
But deep down I would like to go old school for a trip,..in a coffin sleeper, with a 9"B/W T.V and foil for an antenna, no A/C, just a chrome fan,..really sometimes I wouldn't mind that because this truck has a lot more maintenance than a regular sleeper (don't tell mt truck,...its already tried to kill me twice)

Sorry to tell you, Doghouse, but if you really want to go "old school" you will need to dump the TV. We didn't use them when I started. Most people didn't have any sort of TV until recent years, even a B/W. Some didn't even have a fan. :shock: