I know this chestnut gets a fairly frequent outing but,having a dog in the fight,so to speak,I often wonder why integrated cab coolers are an exception rather than the norm these days.? Suffering,as I do,from a back disc issue,I’m finding these hot spells harder to cope with lately.If its too cold,there’s the trusty night heater but trying to get a good nights kip,windows down ,is an exercise in futility these last few summers,I find especially in ■■■■ noisy msa,s etc throughout blighty?
I’ve endured much more of the serious heat of Southern Europe in past times but saddled with a dodgy fleetwood I seem to be entering the departure lounge of this tramping lark of late.Last years freakishly hot temperatures nearly finished me off tbh,in terms of being tortured by pains usually addressed by guaranteed sleep quantities,as per normal during the other 3 seasons,but if you buy into the global warming ethos and these temperatures will soon be par for the course,surely cab coolers should become more available,particularly for trampers?
We had a bloke from head office recently down our neck of the woods expounding on the joys of the new fleet upgrade,tv,microwave blah blah,none of which I need or even have at home,but a mention of possibly acquiring coolers,for trampers seemed to bamboozle the bugger,I retorted the benefits of not needing air_con,better fuel efficency with refreshed drivers,especially those ,(rather numerous),with health challenges,but brutal economics I expect will kill this at birth.
manalishi:
I know this chestnut gets a fairly frequent outing but,having a dog in the fight,so to speak,I often wonder why integrated cab coolers are an exception rather than the norm these days.? Suffering,as I do,from a back disc issue,I’m finding these hot spells harder to cope with lately.If its too cold,there’s the trusty night heater but trying to get a good nights kip,windows down ,is an exercise in futility these last few summers,I find especially in ■■■■ noisy msa,s etc throughout blighty?
I’ve endured much more of the serious heat of Southern Europe in past times but saddled with a dodgy fleetwood I seem to be entering the departure lounge of this tramping lark of late.Last years freakishly hot temperatures nearly finished me off tbh,in terms of being tortured by pains usually addressed by guaranteed sleep quantities,as per normal during the other 3 seasons,but if you buy into the global warming ethos and these temperatures will soon be par for the course,surely cab coolers should become more available,particularly for trampers?
We had a bloke from head office recently down our neck of the woods expounding on the joys of the new fleet upgrade,tv,microwave blah blah,none of which I need or even have at home,but a mention of possibly acquiring coolers,for trampers seemed to bamboozle the bugger,I retorted the benefits of not needing air_con,better fuel efficency with refreshed drivers,especially those ,(rather numerous),with health challenges,but brutal economics I expect will kill this at birth.
Simple answer is the cost, why should a boss waste a grand on keeping you cool at night, he’s fine in his air conditioned office and when he’s at home he can probably leave his windows open because he doesn’t live in a rough area
Some companies just see the price of good one as a waste of money. When I was in a convoy round Europe when we parked up I had my pod running (I had one fitted as my unit doesn’t have built in air con) parked next to me was one of our trucks without the pod (Because he has built in) who would run his truck on idle through the night. He did that for 2 F1 seasons in Europe. So my air con pod which cost around £1500 probably worked out better then his diesel and wear and tear.
EDIT: Obviously im enjoying using it here right now so it racks up the hours, can normally do 8hrs before it shuts down and wants you to run the tractor unit to give the battery a charge.
I can’t imagine how many tanks of fuel I got through over the years sleeping out there with the engine running all night. If I got weekended (frequently) I’d just book into a hotel with A/C and a pool.
But yeh, I think they should be standard fitment on sleeper trucks. As usual cost and the willingness of drivers to put up with it, will ensure you dirty smelly wet wipe trampy sweaty clagged night out men continue to stick to ypur bunks every night.
So you would be happy for a driver to go into a red hot cab and drive down the road with no air con.Makes no sence because an open window will cause alot of drag so saving no fuel.I dont drive with a window open as i think it does more damage to the your ears than anything else.Yes im lucky my current unit has ipark cool and works wonders.As with all bosses he will be thinking if they run the batteries flat with the aircon how much is a call out.
Colin_scottish:
So you would be happy for a driver to go into a red hot cab and drive down the road with no air con.Makes no sence because an open window will cause alot of drag so saving no fuel.I dont drive with a window open as i think it does more damage to the your ears than anything else.Yes im lucky my current unit has ipark cool and works wonders.As with all bosses he will be thinking if they run the batteries flat with the aircon how much is a call out.
Transalliance MAN had a good system, it was a built in cooler that you charged up through the day and it released cool air while you were asleep. They lasted about 8 hours, the only downfall was that you lost a storage locker and the French were forever wanting to take them apart.
Wheel Nut:
Transalliance MAN had a good system, it was a built in cooler that you charged up through the day and it released cool air while you were asleep. They lasted about 8 hours, the only downfall was that you lost a storage locker and the French were forever wanting to take them apart.
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Were they not chipping off the ice to drop into their Ricard?
on the radio today was saying a good idea in Summer you should arrange to put your bedding in the freezer a few hours or have a set left in a freezer ready for you to pick up
corij:
on the radio today was saying a good idea in Summer you should arrange to put your bedding in the freezer a few hours or have a set left in a freezer ready for you to pick up
I wondered why every fridge or freezer has pubic hairs in it.
Don’t for God’s sake wish away aircon, then you’ll just be uncomfortably warm all the time rather than nice and cold while working! Most of these coolers do make a difference but not a huge one and can be as good as useless when it gets over 30c during the day. The only good ones are the factory versions that Volvo and Scania offer, but even then the Volvo one cuts off all the time thanks to battery protection.
Tbf Luke the Eberspacher one of the roof of my MAN is good till 35c, and anything is better then nothing when it gets hotter. Tried to sleep once in the day in Hungary without air con in 35+c and probably got 2hrs of broken sleep and just seemed to lying on a wet pillow the whole time
The 61 plate Actros I used to pilot had a handy thing; you could set the night heater to blow cold air out. Okay it wasn’t as cold as proper aircon but it was definitely colder than ambient which made a huge difference. Another plus point was drivers walking past on a hot night, hearing my night heater and thinking I was some kind of nutter.
switchlogic:
Don’t for God’s sake wish away aircon, then you’ll just be uncomfortably warm all the time rather than nice and cold while working! Most of these coolers do make a difference but not a huge one and can be as good as useless when it gets over 30c during the day. The only good ones are the factory versions that Volvo and Scania offer, but even then the Volvo one cuts off all the time thanks to battery protection.
Aye fair point,I’m guessing max intercooler temperatures wouldn’t compete with max aircon,though I’d like to be proved wrong tbh.It’s a given that ac aids your daily driving approach but if several night kips have been compromised due to extreme heat then you’re a potential hazard as a result,albeit more on an aggregation basis.If it gets too hot at home I generally opt for a 30 minute soak in a cold bath,just to bring down core body temperature and by jove it does the trick.
I know the extreme mileages of you euro drivers,engenders comatose levels of slumber and I well remember the hellish night journeys to Italy only to be brazed alive through the daytime heat and huge noise levels into the bargain.Couldn’t handle that again.
corij:
on the radio today was saying a good idea in Summer you should arrange to put your bedding in the freezer a few hours or have a seat left in a freezer ready for you to pick up
Yep I find the games generally not worth the candle,given the paltry fridge sizes.All you get is maybe 10 or so minutes of cold pillow and heaps of warm dairy produce next day.
mrginge:
Some companies just see the price of good one as a waste of money. When I was in a convoy round Europe when we parked up I had my pod running (I had one fitted as my unit doesn’t have built in air con) parked next to me was one of our trucks without the pod (Because he has built in) who would run his truck on idle through the night. He did that for 2 F1 seasons in Europe. So my air con pod which cost around £1500 probably worked out better then his diesel and wear and tear.
EDIT: Obviously im enjoying using it here right now so it racks up the hours, can normally do 8hrs before it shuts down and wants you to run the tractor unit to give the battery a charge.
I may be wrong but I always thought those unpromising looking pods you see frequently in t&d magazine entailed a certain ammount of warranty unfriendly butchery to the interior of a cab ,hence the offices generally unfavourable response for requests to even try one.If your unlucky enough to have the microlise system like myself and many others,there’s your bonus gone with simply blasting the cab with ac for just five minutes idling,not that you’d be too popular,parked inches from other msa prisoners (no peaceful off road laybys for us lot).Seems genuine health and safety applies only to others alas.
manalishi:
I may be wrong but I always thought those unpromising looking pods you see frequently in t&d magazine entailed a certain ammount of warranty unfriendly butchery to the interior of a cab ,hence the offices generally unfavourable response for requests to even try one.
All they had to do to mine was remove the sunroof panel surround as it was not a universal pod, then the power lead went down inside the windscreen/door pillar plastic. The workshop did it in a slow period (Took them 2hrs I think) so the cost was basically the purchase price. But the company owns the trucks outright so can do what they want to them, we have our own spray shop big enough for trailers so I didn’t even have to ask to see if the pod cover could be colour coded
I tried one of those when the pod failed, bought it in a Carrefour in Italy, wasn’t cheap, £60 roughly with a household plug as I had a spare inverter in the cab. It has I think a 700ml capacity and like I said earlier every little helps when your in a country with ■■■■■■■ flying things that will eat you whilst you sleep if you dare sleep with the window down. Just had the thing pointed at my face all night.
coolers,for trampers seemed to bamboozle the bugger,I retorted the benefits of not needing air_con,better fuel efficency with refreshed drivers,especially those ,(rather numerous),with health challenges,but brutal economics I expect will kill this at birth.
