Kitted out for the extreme temps
Thats -30C in english !!
Poor visibility is normal this time of yearHi people. Reloaded out of Salt Lake with 6000lbs of car accessories and headed north in blizzard like conditions. The weather seemed pretty bad and got steadily worse and colder as we hit the Canadian border.
The trailer was dropped at Calgary and I spent the coldest night of my life near Calgary airport as the night heater decided to give in and the temp "inside the truck" dipped to -5F (-20C). Virtually the whole of the inside of the truck was covered in frost from both mine and Tom's breath, I have never been so cold and it took a good hour for the pair of us to warm up.
Took an empty to Brooks, a loaded to Lethbridge and another loaded back to Calgary.
Yesterday I bought a heater from Home Depot just incase the night heater gives in and it seems to be working well and gives out plenty of heat without blowing the fuse in the inverter which runs it.
So, up to the present....sat at High River waiting for paperwork as usual which in turn means a leisurely trip is turning into a race against time. The temperature has warmed up a little but is set to plummet again tomorrow. Not good news !!!
18 comments:
I seem to remember you saying that your truck will nor idle no matter. That's a load of B.S. in my opinion. I have the same APU/Heater that you have and feel like if it's below 0F i'm idling. I slept one night in Minnesota where it got to -15F and the best the heater could do was to maintain40F. One thing I did buy that I love is a heated mattress pad with a thermostaic control. It makes it lovely to have that heat radiating up into my feet, back, ect...
Hi Phil, what heater did you get?
Cheers
Graeme
Hi Jim, I also bought a heated mattress pad, thing is when the APU fires up it trips the pad (not the inverter) and it needs to be reset, I assume its a safety feature to protect against power surges.
Coming down to waterloo for the 19th if I ever get out of High River.
Speak soon
Phil
Hi Graeme,
I bought a 900w oscillating parabolic heater. Its a big dish thing which throws the heat out. It has 2 settings and as of yet the highest hasnt bothered the inverter.
Cost $39.99 ($41.99 with tax) from Home depot.
Cheers,Phil
Hi Phil, where did you get the mattress pad, and what's it called.
Thanks.
Hey.Good 2 meet ya both in calgary,hows the telus thingy working?
sorry saw u to late today in Regina,otherwise we could have had a chat.
take care and hi to tom
Steve
Hi Mick, I got the mattress pad from Walmart, its a Sunbeam and cost about $70.
I wouldnt recommend it as I think the inverter messes with the power and makes the control unit show errors which in turn turns the blanket off. Unless I can figure it out I will be taking it back to Walmart.
Hope all is going well.
Cheers,Phil
Hi Steve.
I am very happy with the telus aircard. So far I have only found one place where I cannot get a signal and that was in the middle of nowhere in Idaho. Download speeds hit on average 600-1200kbps and the highest has been almost 4mb which is superfast.
Was good to meet you in Calgary and put a face to the name.
Take it easy and keep warm.
Cheers,Phil
If the temp drops below -15c my truck idles, been around too long to freeze for anyone.
I bought my mattress pad at the Iowa 80 and it runs on 12v. I have seen them in some of the TA's as well. We were using these 15 years ago so the bugs have been worked out of them. Paid about $65.
Hi Phil,
Merry Christmas mate. I hope 2009 is a good one. I'm hoping to get out as soon as next year. The money situation is nearly sorted, and we can then start the ball rolling.
Take care and don't work too hard over Christmas.
All the best
Andy
Hi Andy, working Xmas which I dont really mind at all. Have got Tom with me which will make it better.
Best wishes to you too and maybe we might meet up not too far into the New Year.
Cheers,Phil
Hi Jim, think I will get a refund at Walmart and get a 12v one instead.
Got you text and will call you when I know what I am doing. At the minute I will be in Waterloo Saturday morning but dont know if I will need to shoot off straight away.
Cheers,Phil
that is unbelievable that you cant idle your truck, there should be a bypass in place so that when those tripacs foul up you can survive, no one shoudl have to sleep in minus temperatures, if it were me I would have took a cab abd rented the best room at the palliser in calgary and gave hit and run the bill. I cant believe they expect that out of their drivers, your blog isnt the only H and R drivers blog where i've read of those units piling up.
Hi JBMChad. Cant idle the trucks for longer than a few mins unless you hold everything on the trailer brake and then you get half an hour.
I have booked into hotels before and H&R have had no issue with paying the bill, however when the heater is working when you go to sleep but stops through the night it seems too much trouble at 0300am to find a room.
The heater itself is too small, I am in ThermoKing now and they have them on display, ours is the next size up to a unit for a pick up and only half the size of the top of the range one.
Best wishes for Xmas and the New Year.
Cheers,Phil
Hi Phil the under blanket you brought from Wal-mart is no good I brought one and I even took it to tk for Brian to have a look at he told me the inverter only puts out about 89 volts until you plug more things in I know I didn't understand him as well but I took it back and got my money back then when I was filling up at Reno I brought a 12volt one and it works very well I brought the 42" wide one its got 7 settings on when you get into bed its very warm so I turn it down to 3 and kept me warm all night. When you take that mattress pad back look at the normal mattress pads I got a very thick one well worth the money chat soon mike
Hi Mike, I agree its going to have to go back....but I cant find the receipt so it looks like I will have to sell it to someone who has a place of there own. All in all its only ran for about an hour.
Will follow yours and jims advise and get a 12v one.
I did however buy a sheet of polystyrene from Home Depot and put that under the mattress to insulate from the cold coming up from under the bunk and that makes a noticable difference, think it was 10 bucks.
Cheers,Phil
Phil said
. . . the night heater decided to give in and the temp "inside the truck" dipped to -5F (-20C). Virtually the whole of the inside of the truck was covered in frost from both mine and Tom's breath, I have never been so cold and it took a good hour for the pair of us to warm up."
Have you seen this -
http://www.defa.com/heating4.php3?aid=6&lang=3&ndid=
http://www.defa.com/doc/25666.967112923.productxdescriptioninteriorxheater.pdf
Sounds like it might do the trick when your cab heater packs in again!
M.
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