The best APU
 

With more and more trucks being equipped with APUs I was just wondering who makes the best unit for the money. Also can a truck be ordered from the factory equipped with an APU or are they strictly an after market piece of equipment?

There's far too many factors including:

- Climate
- Need AC or not?
- Are you going to power anything with it?
- Space
- Weight
- Diesel or battery powered?

I'm just talking about routine stuff with an owner/operator driving all 48 states, running an AC in the summertime and heat in the winter, powering a microwave oven and refrigerator and diesel powered.

I don't remember where I read about it and I have never had one and I really don't know anything about them but what I was reading Thermo King seemed to be the favored. Quiet and made the cab feel like a meat locker in the summer, and seemed to be reliable.

Wal mart installs them in every truck they have. They use the Tripac from Thermo King.

I don't know anything about them. Just heard they save you money on fuel and help help protect the engine from problems caused by idling.

I've heard they cost around $8000. I don't know if that's the installed price or not.

Their is a Tri-Pac (Thermo King), in the "FOR SALE" section of this board that came off of a Wal-Mart truck. Says it has 3600 hrs and is $3650 OBO. Excellent condition, A/C works great.

my tri-pack has been on for a year now, absolutely no problems, and heats and cools great, you can get an extra large alternator if you want to power a lot of stuff.. so far, the stock one has worked fine for me

IMO the best is built and installed by Double Eagle sleepers., good quality, 3 cyl kubota, quiet, and first class workmanship, cost about the same or less as most APU's. They have 30 plus years experience.

Weight is also a consideration. There are some APU's that are half the weight of the Tripac type, yet provide good heat, AC, and keep the batteries charged up. Kohler, a very reputable engine and generator company with hundreds of dealers nationwide, makes a nice little setup called the 3APU. Uses half the fuel of a Tripac, does not use any under the bunk space for anything, keeps the batteries charged for one to use their in cab convenience items. Weighs in at 250 lb max and takes half the frame rail space of a Tripac or other similar APU. It can also be mounted on the frame rail right behind the sleeper if side frame rail space is an issue. Only 15" wide and, if I remember, only 28" long. Similar serviceing intervals of the other APU's.

Not factory equipped as none of the truck manufacturers actually make one of their own. Dealer equipped, sure - bend over.

Kohler might be good for a fleet manager looking to save $$, but for an O/O who's looking to run microwave/tv/satellite/computer/refrig - there's no A/C power out of that unit (so everything runs off of an additional inverter).

The Double Eagle is HUGE, and is a genpac designed to power their larger sleepers - and does NOT include an cooling air conditioner (option), has higher A/C power out, lower DC and their genset can ONLY BE SERVICED by them.

Carrier & Thermo King make units designed specifically for the long-haul industry, have a large dealer/service network making a down unit as easy (or difficult) to repair as a reefer unit.

Prices and feature sets of both are very similar.

I've probably seen more TriPacs on the road than Comfort Pro's.

Tripac DOES require an inverter also - 13K BTU of cooling - 65 Amps/12V Out - ThermoKing engine - 7.5K BTU heat

ComfortPro has an A/C genset (4KW) + 60Amps/12V out - 10K BTU cooling - Kubota engine - 5K/10K BTU heat

Since they are priced about the same, I would probably lean towards the Carrier unit, though it has an electric compressor for the A/C and probably uses more underbunk space for it's inside unit. Carrier also weighs in 55lbs lighter (375 vs 430).

Rick