Owning the Wheel: Insulation savings
Most trucks on the road today were spec’d and ordered with one thing in mind, weight.
By JOHN EWING
Truckers Connection
11/18/2008
With winter just around the corner and more and more cities passing idling restrictions every day, now’s a good time to give some thought to how you’re going to stay warm this winter. While you’re planning, you may also want to look a little further forward and look at a solution that can provide for staying cool next summer as well. An APU (Auxiliary Power Unit) is probably the first thing that comes to mine, but before you start pricing one or looking at one of the other systems give some thought to insulating your truck.
Most trucks on the road today were spec’d and ordered with one thing in mind, weight. At a time when fuel was cheap and weight was at a premium little thought was given to the extra energy that would be required to keep the truck cool in the summer or warm it in the winter as everyone ran their truck all the time anyway. The trend has been reversed today with fuel at over $4.00 a gallon and climate change on the mind of everyone from state and federal regulators to local city councils. So insulation is the first and least expensive step you can take to conserve energy, stay comfortable and increase your bottom line.
Depending on how handy you are, insulating is something that you may be able to do yourself. The work to insulate the floor, a primary source of heat in the cab and sleeper year round, is relatively simple. You’ll need to remove the seats, shift boot and the door sill plates so you can get the floor mat out. In the sleeper you’ll need to clean out the stuff under the bunk so you can get the floor mats out there was well and don’t forget to get the side compartments.
The best deal I found online for insulation was at J C Whitney, be sure to order the 3/8 inch insulation which comes in 4 foot by 24 foot and 48 foot rolls. You’ll also need some spray adhesive and a sharp box cutter or mat knife. A roll of the smaller width insulation to help fill in the gaps and edges is also a good idea. Then you’re ready to get the floor mat out and put the insulation down. Be sure to bleed the air tanks before you disconnect the air hoses to the seats--those hoses can be dangerous whipping around with a 100+ pounds of air pressure behind them.
Once you’ve got the mat out clean the floor thoroughly and give the mat a bath as well. Be sure to have a fan to keep the air moving the fumes from the spray adhesive out of the truck, and insulate the firewall and floor. You’ll need a cut out in the insulation where the seats bolt to the floor, but other than that you can cover the entire floor. Once done get the mat back in place and then replace the seats and everything else you took out.
You should notice an immediate difference once the insulation is in place in both the noise level in the truck and in the amount of heat coming up through the floor. You may think with winter on the way that heat coming in is good, but bear in mind that once you shut the engine off, the cold from the street or snow pack you’re parked on is now also coming up through the floor. Insulation not only keeps the outside out, it also helps keep the inside in.
The walls of the sleeper and the roof may be a little more difficult so again you need to judge your ability before you tackle insulating the sleeper. If you have a condo style sleeper the ceiling can be especially difficult, so you may want to talk to your dealer or service facility about getting these areas done. Either way, insulating the sleeper is the most cost effective way to lower your need for and the cost of auxiliary heating and cooling. No matter what additional options you choose, the quality of your insulation will greatly affect their effectiveness and the cost of running them.
So what are the savings? Idling the truck is running you on average a gallon an hour. So if you are on the road six nights a week and you spend 10 hours a night in your sleeper that’s $40 a night/$240 a week at $4.00/gallon. Figure that out for 50 weeks out of the year and you’ve spent $12,000 a year on heating and cooling for an area the size of a walk in closet at home. At that rate it doesn’t take long to recoup the cost of an auxiliary power system or one of the other options that are available today to reduce idling.
Next month we’ll talk a little more about some of the options that are out there, their cost and their effectiveness. Till then remember this information is provided for general information only and is not meant to be a definitive guide to installing insulation in your truck. If you have any questions on how to do this please consult a qualified service person.
Till next month, be safe.
John Ewing is a former owner/operator and the author of The Truckers Helper, business management software for truckers. If you'd like to ask questions or make comments on this article please visit the forums at www.thetruckershelper.com. He will be happy to answer any questions on trucking or managing your trucking business.