How Do You Guys Survive At Truck Stops While Breathing In Fumes Of The Trucks Idling Next To You When You Aren’t?

I’m a new truck driver and I work for CFI and I don’t believe they allow idling. I have 2 windows on each side of my bed that I have open but I can smell exhaust coming from the trucks next to me. This can’t be healthy. Is there another way to stay cool. Would a small fan be a substitute for having the windows open? The truck does have a PowerDrive 3000w inverter.

Hi,

I understand what you mean about the fumes. First and foremost, when I park, I look for a parking spot that does not have the following parked adjacent: 1) long nose Peterbuilt (most of those drivers never power down their engines), 2) Early Model Kenworths (same reason as 1), refer trailers (they are loud and the idle speed increase and decreases all night long), 3) APU units behind the cab. All of those will produce noise and fumes all night long.

After shutting down for the day I open my 2 windows in the upper bunk and open my hood. Opening the hood will allow the engine to cool quicker because the heat can escape upward instead of being trapped and forced under the truck which makes the cab feel warmer for tge next couple of hours.

A fan is a good idea. I use one in the warmer months. What kind of truck do you drive? If it's a Cascadia you'll have park smart which is very efficient at cooling without the truck running.

Anyway, hope this helps. I'm sure other experienced drivers will have some great input for you also.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I don't open my windows in a truck stop at night. First and foremost, buy something to mitigate the heat coming through the windshield. I have both the fitted heat shields, AND the front window curtains. It stops the fishbowl effect. When I am getting ready to shut down, I run my truck ac at max, with the bunk ac at max while I'm putting the shield and curtains across.

Secondly, Prime trucks all have APUs that power the Heat and AC to avoiding actual idle.

Bill does have good advice about what to watch for, as far as noisy idle all night trucks. Since I pull a reefer AND have the APU , I'm one that you could avoid. I can't sleep without those sounds now though!

Fans are a good idea, just to keep it from being stale. If you can, Walmart has USB powered mini fans, and I would create a cross breeze through the top triangle windows, one pointing out on each side, this will create air flow out the top, and you could have two pointing in, on the bottom windows. You have to play with this to figure out what works best for your comfort.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I usually idle mine in summer months at night for the AC. In any event, mine has smart idle so it will idle as needed. I always run the ac on recirculating and make sure I have fresh cabin filters. I wont park next to old ones as well, don't open the windows as well.

I've had one that parked next to me in a little hole in the wall place on a small two lane road in NM. It was a dilapidated old car carrier that wasn't burning all the fuel. It stunk up the whole place so bad that I left. Several others did too. From where I reparked, I saw sirens not long after.

I avoid truck stops if at all possible. If not, I try to nose in. For noise, for me.

Will your truck not idle, or they just don’t allow it?

If I couldn’t idle, I would be looking for a new job. It isn’t safe to be in your truck in the hot sun, and it also isn’t safe to not get a good nights sleep.

Our resident CFI driver Big Scott idles his truck all the tine.

I'm so glad Kearsey jumped in with that information. I hadn't responded to this because I didn't want to sound critical.

Jay, I've been a rookie driver before. I think it's easy to be paranoid that we're doing something wrong based on mixed messages we've interpreted with our limited understanding of the trucking business/career.

Nobody at CFI is concerned with your idling if it's needed for your comfort and ability to get good rest. Excessive idling is never good, but there are certain times of the year that we need our trucks running all the time. You have to take care of yourself. That's a safety issue.

Do a great job. Be productive, efficient, and work well with the folks in the office. No one will ever be concerned with your truck idling when it's necessary. Great drivers are treated great. That's my formula for not having to breathe diesel fumes, and a few other truck parking lot odors.

I could be wrong but doesn't DEF make the emissions harmless?

doesn't DEF make the emissions harmless?

I would have to say that's wrong. I want to make this clear... the following is my opinion. If anyone has facts that differ, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

The whole DEF system is part scam and part science. It doesn't produce harmless emissions, in fact they are pretty bad. What it does is eliminate black smoke. When people don't see that black smoke they somehow get warm feelings that make them feel they are saving the earth.

There is less carbon coming out of the exhaust pipe, but there is plenty of other bad fumes and gasses being emitted. By trapping the soot and then re-burning it at higher temperatures we eliminate the black smoke common from diesel engines. As far as producing "harmless" exhaust goes, we are a long way from that.

Very interesting, OldSchool. Now I feel naive☹️

What you said makes a lot of sense and really shouldn't come as a surprise I suppose. Keeping special interest groups happy often involves keeping up appearances in order to keep the money flowing😉