• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Leaving a car idling for hours?

Skeptic Bob said:
So I am doing a LOT of traveling this year for my business. I will probably be on the road 90% of the year.

While I can afford to stay in hotels every night I have been experimenting with alternatives. The past two weeks I actually would camp out in National Forests for free. So quiet and peaceful. And every night I did it I felt like I was earning an extra $100 because I wasn't spending it on hotels.

But such places are usually a little out of the way and constantly setting up and taking down camp gets tedious.

The other thing I would do is drive until I was tired and then just sleep at a rest stop. Maybe if I was a single woman it would make me nervous but I am a big guy and haven't felt the least bit nervous. The chair in my car reclines back enough that I actually get a good night sleep in my car. But here is the catch. If I turn off the car it gets uncomfortably humid and if I leave windows down it doesn't help much and bugs get in. Leaving my car idling with the AC on its lowest setting is extremely comfortable.

Now, I know this adds to the wear and tear of the car. I have zero interest in maintaining a high resale value on the car but I also want to keep it in decent running condition so it isn't always breaking down on me. I have measured and it can't be burning more than half a gallon of gas during the overnight stop. A hell of a lot cheaper than a hotel and about as comfortable. I usually just shower at the nationwide gym I go to.

I am not a "car person". Am I destroying my car or is it not that big of a deal?
Click to expand...

I used to do this all the time when I was younger, and still do it occasionally in a pinch. I didn't leave the car idling, though, and I totally get your point about it becoming humid inside. I never left the windows down because I didn't like being exposed like that... asleep in public where some random person could walk by and do something.
 
Lord Tammerlain said:
If I an not mistaken some newer semi's are coming with diesel generators to run accessories when the main engine is off.
Click to expand...

They are but that is because of new idling regs that ban truckers from idling to use their ac and power their stuff at truckstops. Many truckers I have known and just converted to either 12 or 48 volt ac systems with a batter bank rather than using solely the trucks engine powered ac.

Also truck stops are installing more power hookups for trucks as well, often those 12 and 48 volt electric ac systems allow a 120 volt power to be hooked up to power them through an internal stepdown. Also to note the idling laws of various states often only target heavy on the road trucks, and say nothing about generators, or off road trucks, and the laws are almost entirely enforced at truck stops.
 
RetiredUSN said:
Yeah...

The difference between excessive idling and not ...............will not really show up in the short term.

But it will make a difference in a diesel's service life..............like say 25%

Diesels are designed to run through varying speeds and loads. Stationary diesels will always suffer from wet stacking. The older Detroit Diesel 71 Series were famous for wet stacking on the 60kw, 100kw generator sets. I took my generators down every 100 hours for a PM (filters, air box cleaning). You could smell the diesel fuel in the oil before you even conducted a dilution test. Fairbanks Morse diesels were wet stackers to the extreme if you didn't keep a load on them.

When I got to the Keokuk YTB-771 (TUG) as the engineer, I couldn't believe that the asswipe Boatswainmate Chief on the was idling the Fairbanks Morse main engine for 6-7 hours at a time in the middle of winter in NH while waiting to undock a submarine. I told him that he was going to cause a stack fire one day if he kept it up. He blew me off and told me to keep the stack drained..... :roll: He was a new the craftmaster at our command and he thought he was god because he had prior experience. Well, we had a stack fire sitting at the pier one day and the man had a real "come to Jesus eye opener" when he saw flames & sparks shoot out 25-30 feet out of the stack, and the pilot house was shaking like crazy. I ran down to the engine room and took over the air controls, and ran the engine up to max RPM's while the crew broke out the fire hoses. The chief was trying to get me to shut the engine down and I was yelling back at him to just stay out of the way. I knew the soot would blow out in 5-10 minutes and everything would be safe as long as the stack pipe insulation stayed intact......and they did. The look and the faces of the crew during the event was almost comical. There eyes were as big a saucer plates. He tried to write me up for disrespect and refusing to obey his orders. As soon as we tied up to the pier, I went into the tug office and made two phone calls to a couple of diesel inspectors in DC and New London. They both sent messages sent to my command via there CO's stating that what I did was standard damage control for a contained stack fire.

The chief was taken off the boat.

View attachment 67220859
Click to expand...

In terms of wet stacking, I prefer it obvious atleast. In the army when deployed we often used jp-8 which was jet fuel in diesel vehicles, because the army did not want to ship multiple fuels. The jp-8 seemed to run more efficient than diesel in trucks with the downside it was a dry fuel rather than an oily fuel, which was hell on injector pumps.

Now the really bad part was that jp-8 did not wetstack like diesel, the fuel would go unburned but it did not leave clouds of black smoke or the ever evident shiny wet exhaust stack. This made it bad because if too much fuel was unburnt it left little evidence until a fire broke out, while with diesel I could atleast point out the black smoke and raw fuel from the exhaust and tell that dummy he can not use a 60k to run one computer and a few lightbulbs and instead needs a 3 or 5k generator.
 
beerftw said:
In terms of wet stacking, I prefer it obvious atleast. In the army when deployed we often used jp-8 which was jet fuel in diesel vehicles, because the army did not want to ship multiple fuels. The jp-8 seemed to run more efficient than diesel in trucks with the downside it was a dry fuel rather than an oily fuel, which was hell on injector pumps.

Now the really bad part was that jp-8 did not wetstack like diesel, the fuel would go unburned but it did not leave clouds of black smoke or the ever evident shiny wet exhaust stack. This made it bad because if too much fuel was unburnt it left little evidence until a fire broke out, while with diesel I could atleast point out the black smoke and raw fuel from the exhaust and tell that dummy he can not use a 60k to run one computer and a few lightbulbs and instead needs a 3 or 5k generator.
Click to expand...

The problem with running JP type fuel is the lack of paraffin, content, (wax) which in regular diesel fuel............. lubes the injector barrels and plungers.

Fairbanks Morse injection pumps are installed upside down and the continuously leak due to excessive clearances created by the lack of Paraffin. I had two FM 8 1/8 on the USS Inchon, and I had to get a letter from DC stating that I only had JP piped to my emergency diesels and the pumps will always leak because of this. I had "many know it all" come on board and try to tell me that I had a dangerous condition and that I failed my diesel inspection, or OPPE. I showed them the letter and they shut up about it.
 
Found this on line.

Warming car up or otherwise leaving it idling.
Today's engines have enough lubrication that they don't need to be warmed up. Maybe like me, however, you like the seats and interior a bit toasty before you take off in the morning. That's fine, but you should keep it to a minimum...as in just a couple of minutes. Engines aren't designed to sit idling for long periods of time; idle too long and a buildup can develop on your spark plugs, which can make them less efficient. And that wastes gas.

https://www.autoblog.com/2014/12/12/five-ways-you-may-be-prematurely-aging-your-car/
 
Skeptic Bob said:
Am I destroying my car or is it not that big of a deal?
Click to expand...


You’ll get at least as many opinions as posts on this question. So, here’s mine.

1. You may not be “destroying” your car but whenever an engine is running it is incurring wear and tear. Because of that, it has a finite life. Do you prefer to expend that life idling or going somewhere?

2. I question your burning only a half-gallon of gas idling overnight. Whatever, same question as above. Do you prefer to expend that gas (not to mention other consumables – oil, coolant, filters, spark plugs, etc) idling or going somewhere?

3. You may be a big guy but sleeping in your car still isn’t the safest thing to do. And depending where you are, the constabulary may frown on it. In any case, your car seat may be comfortable but I can’t imagine it’s as good as a bed.

4. There is a danger of CO poisoning and no matter how you feel about the environment, why add exhaust pollution unnecessarily?

So what’s the answer? Well, here’s mine…have you thought about a Scamp trailer (https://www.scamptrailers.com/)? It’s hard-sided so not as vulnerable to 2- and 4-legged critters and it weighs only about a ton loaded. I pulled one through the Rockies with a 100-HP 4-cylinder/automatic so it shouldn’t be a challenge for your Camry. Connect your “shore” utilities or generator, secure it with a wheel boot or hitch lock, go to your meeting, and come back to cook a hot meal, take a shower, and sleep in a comfortable bed – and you don’t have to pack and unpack every day. New trailers can be pricey but good used ones with bed, AC, stove, icebox and bathroom can be had reasonably. You probably could get one along with a car hitch and a small generator for a couple months worth of hotel bills, and you’d still have the trailer whenever you need it.

(DISCLAIMER: Despite my enthusiasm for Scamps, I have no financial interest in them.)
 
CHuDWah said:
So what’s the answer? Well, here’s mine…have you thought about a Scamp trailer (https://www.scamptrailers.com/)? It’s hard-sided so not as vulnerable to 2- and 4-legged critters and it weighs only about a ton loaded. I pulled one through the Rockies with a 100-HP 4-cylinder/automatic so it shouldn’t be a challenge for your Camry. Connect your “shore” utilities or generator, secure it with a wheel boot or hitch lock, go to your meeting, and come back to cook a hot meal, take a shower, and sleep in a comfortable bed – and you don’t have to pack and unpack every day. New trailers can be pricey but good used ones with bed, AC, stove, icebox and bathroom can be had reasonably. You probably could get one along with a car hitch and a small generator for a couple months worth of hotel bills, and you’d still have the trailer whenever you need it.

(DISCLAIMER: Despite my enthusiasm for Scamps, I have no financial interest in them.)
Click to expand...

These trailers look pretty cool.
Yet another product gets added to my list of stuff I really want.
 
radioman said:
These trailers look pretty cool.
Yet another product gets added to my list of stuff I really want.
Click to expand...


The spouse and I lived in a 13-footer for a month during The Great Northwestern Expedition through several Rocky Mountain states. Loved every minute of it. Like I said, we pulled it with a little 4-cylinder - on some of those grades, could manage only 30 mph with it floored but we made it. We usually paid to stay in campgrounds so we could have electric and water hookups, but it still was cheaper than hotels and we saved money on food by cooking most of our own meals. And it was nice to sleep in the same bed every night and not have to unpack and then repack every day. Folks in campgrounds tend to socialize more and they were fascinated with our little "egg on wheels." :mrgreen:
 
CHuDWah said:
You’ll get at least as many opinions as posts on this question. So, here’s mine.

1. You may not be “destroying” your car but whenever an engine is running it is incurring wear and tear. Because of that, it has a finite life. Do you prefer to expend that life idling or going somewhere?

2. I question your burning only a half-gallon of gas idling overnight. Whatever, same question as above. Do you prefer to expend that gas (not to mention other consumables – oil, coolant, filters, spark plugs, etc) idling or going somewhere?

3. You may be a big guy but sleeping in your car still isn’t the safest thing to do. And depending where you are, the constabulary may frown on it. In any case, your car seat may be comfortable but I can’t imagine it’s as good as a bed.

4. There is a danger of CO poisoning and no matter how you feel about the environment, why add exhaust pollution unnecessarily?

So what’s the answer? Well, here’s mine…have you thought about a Scamp trailer (https://www.scamptrailers.com/)? It’s hard-sided so not as vulnerable to 2- and 4-legged critters and it weighs only about a ton loaded. I pulled one through the Rockies with a 100-HP 4-cylinder/automatic so it shouldn’t be a challenge for your Camry. Connect your “shore” utilities or generator, secure it with a wheel boot or hitch lock, go to your meeting, and come back to cook a hot meal, take a shower, and sleep in a comfortable bed – and you don’t have to pack and unpack every day. New trailers can be pricey but good used ones with bed, AC, stove, icebox and bathroom can be had reasonably. You probably could get one along with a car hitch and a small generator for a couple months worth of hotel bills, and you’d still have the trailer whenever you need it.

(DISCLAIMER: Despite my enthusiasm for Scamps, I have no financial interest in them.)
Click to expand...

Skeptic Bob, get one of these, this will solve your dilemma.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom