DP owners, educate me..

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Which does not apply to private coaches. Or on private property.  It's indicative of the best practice, though.

 

[KandT]

even with the the air coming up - 5 minutes here.  the only thing I will say in their defense is that sometimes a jack will be a bugger to get up - can take several more minutes. I wish the jacks were power two way rather than spring back.

I agree it is ridiculous.  The thing I try to keep in mind is that even though it feels like they are doing it just to annoy the h-e double hockey sticks out of me, they probably just got busier than they thought.  I know ever time we pull for a rest stop it is always going to be "5 minutes".  Forty minutes later we are back on the road!

 

[docj]

Face it, a lot of them are older folks, and have always heard/been taught that diesels need to idle and warm up, and are set in their ways

Let me start by saying that I am definitely one of the "older folks!"  Turned 71 last week.  But I hope that I'm never too old to learn!  Getting old isn't a terminal condition; IMO it's acting old that is deadly!

 

[Willandgiselarv]

I think some people exaggerate about how long people idle their diesels, it's funny there seems to always be a post about diesels. What I have observed is it doesn't make a difference I have seen people with their gas coaches or trucks do the same idiling, no difference with diesels.
People with gas units just happen to call out diesels more..I wonder why that is
Same with diesels boats, I have always had twin diesels in my boat..its also always the gas boats that complains about diesels??? MAYBE the complainers should just buy a diesel unit??

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Hah-hah, Will.    I think you are probably right about that. The diesel rumble is more obvious, but I've observed gas rig owners idling for long periods as well. Further, truck & trailer rigs are just as guilty as motorhome owners.  Some people must be overly anxious to get their rig fired up, sometimes well before they are ready to go.  Maybe an impatient guy who thinks he can hurry his wife along with the sound of the engine idling?  Huh! That ain't gonna happen!  ???

 

[RedandSilver]

Like everyone else I agree that 40 minutes is excessive and unneeded.

But tell that to the truckers in rest stops.
I have spent nights in a rest stop and most of the truckers run their engines all night.
I assume that most don't have a generator on board so the engine is their source of heat or AC and power to cook etc.

I found it so loud once that I turned on my generator (and AC) to drown out the sound of their engines on either side of me,
even though I could have slept without it if it hadn't been so noisy outside my unit.

 

[Tom]

[quote author=RedandSilver]I have spent nights in a rest stop and most of the truckers run their engines all night.
I assume that most don't have a generator on board so the engine is their source of heat or AC and power to cook etc.
[/quote]
Some of that noise might have been from their on-board generator keeping frozen or chilled produce cold. When DP owners fill up at a truck stop, we're often asked how much fuel is for the tractor and how much for the 'reefer' (more correctly the generator). I assume they're priced differently, due to a difference in tax rates. Some states handle/tax it differently.

 

[RedandSilver]

Some of that noise might have been from their on-board generator keeping frozen or chilled produce cold. When DP owners fill up at a truck stop, we're often asked how much fuel is for the tractor and how much for the 'reefer' (more correctly the generator). I assume they're priced differently, due to a difference in tax rates. Some states handle/tax it differently.

That's a new one for me.  I have never been asked that question.

 

[docj]

That's a new one for me.  I have never been asked that question.

It's pretty common to see this on the pump "dialogue" at many truck stops.  I presume that reefer fuel is exempt from most, if not all, federal and state highway taxes.  It's probably taxed more like "off road diesel."

 

[Lou Schneider]

Refrigerator fuel (I almost said "reefer" but that's too close to setting up Seilerbird for a joke  ) is off-road fuel, since it's part of the cargo and is not driving the vehicle down the road.

Even areas that limit truck idling allow unlimited running of refrigeration units.  Otherwise the cargo will spoil.  And despite their noise, the trailer's cargo has to be pre-cooled before loading into the trailer.  The cooling unit is sized to keep the cargo cold, not lower the temperature of a warm load.

 

[Willandgiselarv]

It's the same in the boating world, there is "red diesel"
That is permitted for the boats but you will get fined if found on vehicle using roads. The red diesel is cheaper no road tax attached

 

[Mile High]

Because of how much I cussed and hated DPs (even pickup) owners for excessive idle time, I really make every effort to limit my time to retracting slides and jacks.  By that time my air is ready.  What I do struggle with is time required coming in, which is just as annoying.  It takes me a little longer to park just right, then grab some pads and run the jacks and slides, all that time that hot noisy engine is interrupting someones picnic and I fee bad sometimes.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Most diesel gensets are relatively quiet compared to the big engine, so I doubt the noise complaints stem from that.  It's a possibility, though.  A related factor is that there is no a/c inside the coach once shore power is disconnected, so running the engine also enables the dash a/c to help.  Of course they could start the genset for house a/c and shut off the engine & dash a/c,  but many people will say to themselves " it's only a couple minutes more..."  If you are conscious of your neighbors, you would shut the engine down and use shore or genset if needed to heat or cool, but if you are one of the self-centered types, maybe not.

 

[Tropical36]

Today at a nice RV park I ate my lunch outside listening to a huge pusher across from me idling as they prepared to leave. I timed it. They ran the engine for 40 minutes while they wandered around. I wanted to ask the fellow if that was something that was really necessary but thankfully my wife kept me from walking over to his site! (God love her)
    So I'll ask the forum. Was that a requirement of owning such a vehicle or just bad manners?

I agree with Gary on the 5 - 6min and sometimes a little more with what it takes for us to maybe lift and dump slide room water, when it's rained, re-level and retract the slides, retract the jacks and for my high oil pressure to settle down a bit. The thing won't really warm up much until you're moving anyway and always do that slowly, on the way out. I remember someone doing that in Grand Teton NP, once and was wondering what his problem, was. We then owned a gas rig, so wasn't sure. Could have had an air leak that was hard catching up to, I guess.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I once watched this guy in a new coach move around in this big parking areas quite a few times and with quickly shutting it down, each time. Probably without given it time enough, for his turbo to quit spinning in fact.