Talking To A Otr Trucker Today. He Said In California You Can Not Idle Your Rig For More Than 10 Minutes. That Has To Be A Pain In The Butt At Night.

 

A lot of states have idle restrictions now. http://www.epa.gov/smartway/documents/420b06004.pdf There is a big push for APU's auxiliary power units supplying heat an AC. Some TS's are putting in a Idleaire air system. http://www.idleaire.com/

 

one good thing is the 08 Cummins heavy duty and midrange engine will meet the Nox output that CARB has set and will have no idle restriction at all.

 

Yeah it goes into effect and will be enforced starting Jan 1st 2008. Just another excuse for me to never go out there again haven't been in about 2 years now and don't care if I ever see that place again. Gen sets and APU's are the future of trucking with the cost of fuel as high as it is but these government mandates are just rediculous. These activists, politicans, and buearacrats who think this is a great idea for reducing emissions never think about the human factor a guy like me that has to get a decent nights sleep to do a dangerous job every day and do it safely. You ever tried sleeping with no heat or air at 30F or 100F??? They can go crawl into their comfy bed at night and turn the thermostat up or down without one thought or care as to the enviromental impact. I don't care either as i think it is all a big hoax anyways but I'm not the HYPOCRIT and for the time being i have to idle my truck to stay comfortable and get a good nights rest. Trucking outfits are starting to convert over to aux heat and air but for Calif to penalize guys that have older trucks or can't afford these $7,000-$10,000 conversions is just wrong..

 

Ohh yeah and the mandate states that your APU or Gen Set must meet 2007 emissions standrads or you will be fined if you run it. Also all reefer units must meet these standards which means all Calif outfits and companies that routinely interstate into CA will have to get rid of perfectly good pre-2006 reefers and only use 2007+ in CA. So your pre-07 APU, gen set is crap in CA you wasted $7000 and need to upgrade again...

 

Shoot, the company I drive part time for has a 3 minute idle limit. Three minutes and the rig shuts down automatically. Now that's a pain in the butt. Especially when you aren't fast enough getting loaded under the bunkers and you have one of those trailers that pick up the tags when you shut off the rig. You lose a lot of air and takes forever to pump up the tanks again along with losing the air to your scales.

http://www.walshtruckingco.com/contact.php

 

wow that sounds like some real bs to deal with i feel for you guys

 

The problem is not idling, it is California. California needed 2/3 of the Congress and 3/4 of the existing states to be voted in to the union. It would require the same to be voted out of the union. The sooner the better.

 

I had to check my address and see where I live before I said anything bad......So I figured I'd just say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year instead.

Registered voter of the ROC

 

If you only knew Truckers have to deal with all sorts of crap on a daily basis. But I couldn't see myself doing anything else. There's nothing I love better than listening to that turbo sing, or rowing through the gears, or pulling a heavy load up a long grade, or window shopping... I've got diesel fuel coursing through my veins.

 

It's like the ONLY people who contribute to air pollution are the truckers - NOT!!! They just pick on the bottom of the pile, the rest of the truly signifigant polluters get 'air pollution credits' to keep them from having to meet the regs. I lived in PA, where coal fired power plants an their stacks can be seen for miles in all direction in some places. All those plants were built in the stone age, need major upgrades, but NO - they get relief in the form of those credits. When the wind would change direction I got their soot all over everything, but a truckers soot is more dangerous??

The ULSD should have taken care of a goodly amount of pollutants, how is that figured into the equasion?? NADA. All the new pollution controls should get with taking on the problem - NOT. They must expect all the truckers to check into a real nice motel room, eh? After all, you do live on the road, don't need homes and other living epenses?? Have to shut down anyway to keep with your log book, right??

So do these idle controls look at rpm's as the determining factors of their timers? Is there some way you could idle up and keep the timer from shutting you down? I guess the first of the year will be a real nightmare for everyone who needs to pull over and get some rest.

 

A good way to get this one locked is to politicize the conversation here.