Extended idling in freezing weather

[Aroadracer]

I have a 1999 Affinity with a CAT C12 at an RV park in Fort Worth. I’m out of town currently returning tonight and the ambient temperature will be 27 and dropping to 14 overnight. My diesel fired heater doesn’t work an of course my heat pumps won’t heat at those temperatures. Also, my water system might freeze. The park says I can run my engine overnight if I want. I have CO alarms. Has anyone else done this? Other than burning fuel, is this going to cause any problems?

[OMMM4747]

Diesels are not intended for extended idling but considering your situation, you gotta do what you gotta do. You also have the option of a short-term move to a warmer climate until things improve and you can return.

Alternatively, (1) get marine type anti-freeze into your plumbing system aka, winterize your rig, or (2) get a small heater for the storage area to keep it and the tanks from freezing, or (3) drain your tanks, turn on the water pump and turn on each faucet (hot & cold) and open the low point drains until no water comes out. This will not get rid of all the water but it may be enough to keep you from having burst pipes. Once water stops flowing, turn the pump off but leave all faucets and low point drains open to allow room for ice expansion if it comes to that. Whatever option you choose, disconnect, drain, and store your water hose and check w/the park to see if they want you to leave the water spigot dripping to avoid freezing. Also remember to not flush toilets after you have no water as they will not refill and allow sewage smells to enter the living quarters. If you have a clothes washer, run a short hot and cold cycle to rid water from those lines.

Good luck

[SafariBen]

Lots of truck engines used to idle all night. A 1999 can do that, newer ones would risk considerable pain from DPF plugging etc.



Do you have any electric heaters? It won't take much to keep the basement compartments from freezing, but you'll need a heater down there, and/or a fan to circulate air between the basement and interior. IF you had nothing else, you could rig the water heater to circulate to the fresh tank, the fresh tank would radiate enough of that heat to keep the area nearby above freezing. The waste drain valves will be vulnerable. If they're empty, you can dump a gallon of salt water into the black and grey tanks, that should be enough to keep from freezing. Sea water freezes at 0F, you can look up the concentration for different temps.

[d23haynes57]

Does the Diesel have the electric option, (working), and do you have power at the campsite. The electric elements will keep the heater and water systems from freezing. Run the generator if power not available. You will get little heat from the engine idling. If you do use the engine, use the cruise control to set a fast idle, 1200 to 1400 rpm. Yes that makes some noise. The heat pumps don't heat the basement or water systems anyway.

[Mudfrog]

Looks to be a couple of nights hard freeze, not great but it could be worse.

The OP's is probably a 50 amp rig so investing in a couple of cheap portable 1500 watt heaters might be the way to go. Might also light up a 75 or 100 watt incandescent bulb inside the wet bay as well. This will keep the plumbing inside it from freezing. Most all of the other plumbing probably isn't as exposed to the weather.

If using a hose to hook up to city water, don't forget to unhook and drain the water out of it, especially out of the regulator if one is used. Add water to the fresh tank and use the onboard pump.

Nature calls for me at least once during the night so I'd make it a point to run a little bit of hot and cold water through the faucets while I was already up.

[Aroadracer]

Thanks. Unfortunately I am currently living in it at this time. Driving to a warmer place is a 350 a 400 mile trip plus those miles back. I think I have no choice but to run it at idle as I need that heat in the Coach to supplement my portable electric heater.
Thanks for your input.

[d23haynes57]

Originally Posted by SafariBen

Lots of truck engines used to idle all night. A 1999 can do that, newer ones would risk considerable pain from DPF plugging etc.



Do you have any electric heaters? It won't take much to keep the basement compartments from freezing, but you'll need a heater down there, and/or a fan to circulate air between the basement and interior. IF you had nothing else, you could rig the water heater to circulate to the fresh tank, the fresh tank would radiate enough of that heat to keep the area nearby above freezing. The waste drain valves will be vulnerable. If they're empty, you can dump a gallon of salt water into the black and grey tanks, that should be enough to keep from freezing. Sea water freezes at 0F, you can look up the concentration for different temps.

The Diesel fired heater is also the domestic water heater. If it is not working, not hot water either. If it has the electric option that is usually 2, 1,200-to-1,500-watt elements.
10,000 Btu of heat.

[birdhunter]

Regardless of the truckers doing it (many of them don't own the trucks they're sleeping in) it is definitely bad to idle big diesels for long periods of time. In fact many trucks these days have little diesel heaters. You can buy one off of Amazon for next to nothing. Anyway, it's not going to cause any problems to do this for a couple of nights in an emergency situation, I've done it myself , but it's simply not workable or advisable to stay for long periods in very cold climates without some separate heating system other than your engine. You could run your generator and run electric heaters upstairs. Or plug into Shore power.

[ppine]

Newer diesels are not designed to idle for long periods. It is not like the old days. The EGR systems and particulate filters are sensitive to long periods of idling. Better to find power hook up, add solar or run a generator is you have to. Propane heat works well and does not require a running engine.

[Gooma]

Reading the OP's post, he has a 1999. Let it idle overnight, it won't hurt a thing. Stay warm.
I drove OTR semis for 33 years and idled overnight most nights. The last truck I had , had 700,000 miles on it and ran like a new truck.

[IASM]

On my rig if i turn cruise on and hit set it jumps to a fast idle. This will negate any problems you might get from idling.

[ppine]

Recently drove across Nevada to eastern Idaho during a bad heat wave. I had my then new 2022 Ram diesel. It was 105 in the afternoon. Route 95 going north was brutal. I could not even find any shade. Pulling over to take a short nap on the long drive, I did not want to idle the truck. I tried all kinds of things. None worked very well.

It was so hot I took my dog with me in all kinds of stores. I just asked permission first. We were in auto parts stores, gas stations, and even grocery stores. People were understanding. REally hot weather is as bad as really cold weather.

[Fredward]

Too late now, but idling a C12 all night is a perfectly normal thing. As mentioned above, turn on the cruise control and bump up the engine rpms to 900 or so. Helps build a little more oil pressure for the turbo and generally keeps the engine running a little hotter and more efficient. We idle these old engines all the time. The new ones - no way.
Fred

[Skypalace]

My Lexa has been in cold weather recently, plugged into 50A but not lived in.

I turned on the floor heat (to 84 which it never reached) and had heat pumps set to 58 degrees. This kept the water bays above 34 degrees down to 24 degrees outside te,oerature. I’m sure we were living in it, and had interior temps in upper 60’s or 70’s it’d have been even better.

Below that, I turned on electric water heater (have an Atwood 10 gallon combo electric and hydronic from Hurricane heater), and just from the waste heat the water bay temperature went up a full ten degrees, and it was then fine as outdoor temps got into the teens.

I thought I might need to turn on the diesel Hurricane heater (which has a thermostat in the water bay) but it wasn’t needed.

So I’d suggest
1) Turn on electric floor heat if you have it.
2) Turn on electric water heater.
3) Open all the cabinet doors that contain water fixtures, to help get living space heat downwards through plumbing.
4) Put a remote thermometer of some kind in the water bay, I use an RVWhier system that lets me remotely monitor (with alerting) water bay, interior, and fridge temps as well as battery (charging) voltage.

#4 is the big one. The RV Whisoer let me see temperature traces overnight (all the way back for 25 or 30 days) so I could see exactly what was going on.