I was watching re runs of ice road truckers the other day and it was one of the first episodes of the season where they were getting the truck initially ready for winter. I noticed them wrapping their fuel lines with insulation. Would there be any benefit to doing this for us? I realize that most of us do not see anywhere near the cold temps they do, and do not idle for anywhere near the extended periods of time. But...for peace of mind and a little extra insurance would doing this hurt anything?

The main thing that would worry me about doing it would be the increased temp of the fuel during months when it is not cold. If someone were to do this, I highly doubt they would want to insulate the lines when it starts to get cold then take it all of when it warms back up. In my mind it would be a one time year around thing, which is what worries me for the summer trips back to nebraska to see the family. I do not know how much the fuel systems depends on heat dissipating before it gets to the engine.

This seems like a way to possibly help out the fuel system when it gets chilly, especially without having the fuel warmer now that the airdog is installed. It just makes me a little nervous to eliminate a heater that was sent from the factory and not replace it with something else.

 

As lomg as the motor stays running the fuel will stay warm. You have to get pretty darn cold to need insulation on the fuel lines.

When I owned my Mack, it had a temp. on the fuel. One day in York NE it hit -28 degrees and the fuel was still reading 43.

These Cummins motors circulate the fuel back to the tank after running it through the hot motor. Don't worry about it. If you start it up on a cold cold day, let it run a little while to get the fuel circulating warm and go like hell.

 

It regularly gets to -40 here (and colder) and our fuel lines are not insulated and I have no fuel issues. Guys in the fort mac area get colder and do not wrap their fuel lines or have fuel heaters and are running FASS and air dog with no issues. I'm a little more paranoid and am running the stock housing with heater. The key is good fuel. There are 12 volt heaters like this: http://www.alibaba.com/product-free/...ne_Heater.html

Some guys are even running fuel coolers to cool off the fuel before it gets back to the tank. But thats because the vp44 can't take the heat.

 

Interesting info guys, and good to hear. Seeing that episode just kinda got the wheels turnin, and I was not able to find much info on the topic online.

Thanks