The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: ChiStache on May 21, 2013, 08:30:55 AM
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Can this possibly be for real?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-293042.html
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similar: there is some sort of redneck* subculture that never turns their damn car off. A friend of mine that used to work in the oilfields saw this with some of the big-wigs. They bought large diesel trucks, turned them on, then turned them off when they sold them. Yes -- they ran night and day for years.
The guy that did dozer work for me when I built my house did this. He brought in his dozer on a trailer with a very large diesel pickup truck, parked the truck in the corner and let it run all damn day long. He worked 2 or 3 days and did this every day. It wasn't even unbearably hot (for the excuse of running the AC).
*I don't mean that term in a derogatory way. I can be a bit of a redneck myself. It's just descriptive.
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similar: there is some sort of redneck* subculture that never turns their damn car off. A friend of mine that used to work in the oilfields saw this with some of the big-wigs. They bought large diesel trucks, turned them on, then turned them off when they sold them. Yes -- they ran night and day for years.
The guy that did dozer work for me when I built my house did this. He brought in his dozer on a trailer with a very large diesel pickup truck, parked the truck in the corner and let it run all damn day long. He worked 2 or 3 days and did this every day. It wasn't even unbearably hot (for the excuse of running the AC).
*I don't mean that term in a derogatory way. I can be a bit of a redneck myself. It's just descriptive.
To be sort of fair, you need to do this if the oil fields you are talking about are in Prudhoe Bay, because in extreme cold you won't be able to get the truck started again. Seeing such an unbelievably wasteful practice in such a beautiful natural environment was eye-opening for me. Since you mention AC, I doubt this is the case.
It is also true that some older diesel engines that have seen heavy use can be extremely fussy to get restarted once they're turned off. A few truckers I've worked with (I do diesel emissions reduction) never turn their old rigs off because they actually fear they'll never run again.
Of course, no matter their reasoning, this practice is batshit fucking insane.
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Another reason on older earth-moving equipment, is that shutting them down takes about ten minutes... you have to cool the turbos so the oil doesn't coke in the bearings. Then to start them, you use a small gasoline engine (Pony motor) to first heat the main engine, then turn it over slowly to circulate the oil... then a little faster without compression, then add compression and hope you don't stall the pony motor out. Repeat 'till the big motor fires up. Takes at least 20 minutes. Not really applicable to the jack wagons doing this in thier ford winstar, but none the less.
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similar: there is some sort of redneck* subculture that never turns their damn car off. A friend of mine that used to work in the oilfields saw this with some of the big-wigs. They bought large diesel trucks, turned them on, then turned them off when they sold them. Yes -- they ran night and day for years.
The guy that did dozer work for me when I built my house did this. He brought in his dozer on a trailer with a very large diesel pickup truck, parked the truck in the corner and let it run all damn day long. He worked 2 or 3 days and did this every day. It wasn't even unbearably hot (for the excuse of running the AC).
*I don't mean that term in a derogatory way. I can be a bit of a redneck myself. It's just descriptive.
To be sort of fair, you need to do this if the oil fields you are talking about are in Prudhoe Bay, because in extreme cold you won't be able to get the truck started again. Seeing such an unbelievably wasteful practice in such a beautiful natural environment was eye-opening for me. Since you mention AC, I doubt this is the case.
No, this is in the south where "cold" means "I might need a sweater" to Northerners.
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Gee, and I feel bad sitting there waiting for mine to warm up enough that I can get in gear! Neither car of mine will go into reverse until they've warmed up enough to drop below 1500rpms, which can take a few minutes in the Winter around here. I try to park so I can drive out forward after a shutdown, but not always possible...
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Clearly a Prudhoe Bay-esque outlier, but when I was living in Fairbanks AK I loved going to the supermarket and seeing a parking lot full of idling cars while people shopped. The exhaust was very dense looking in the cold air - many days are below the point of 'homogeneous nucleation' so any particulates in the air picks up what little moisture is there pronto, plus the inversion layer maeks the exhaust stick around too. Unless the folks are in there shopping for hours, they probably don't need to idle as it takes a while for an entire engine to cool down to the point it won't start, but they plug 'em in and leave 'em running anyways.
To be sort of fair, you need to do this if the oil fields you are talking about are in Prudhoe Bay, because in extreme cold you won't be able to get the truck started again. Seeing such an unbelievably wasteful practice in such a beautiful natural environment was eye-opening for me. Since you mention AC, I doubt this is the case.
At least up in Prudhoe Bay, all of the vehicles idling up there annually would create as much pollution as a few minutes of rush hour any given morning.
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Yeah I don't understand the logic, I know people (family included) that will leave their car on while they are filling it with gas, so that they can use the AC or the heater in winter.
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I feel bad when I realise I've been stopped at a long traffic light (30 seconds) without switching off my engine... and this in a 1 litre econobox. Can't imagine leaving it running for that long....
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similar: there is some sort of redneck* subculture that never turns their damn car off. A friend of mine that used to work in the oilfields saw this with some of the big-wigs. They bought large diesel trucks, turned them on, then turned them off when they sold them. Yes -- they ran night and day for years.
The guy that did dozer work for me when I built my house did this. He brought in his dozer on a trailer with a very large diesel pickup truck, parked the truck in the corner and let it run all damn day long. He worked 2 or 3 days and did this every day. It wasn't even unbearably hot (for the excuse of running the AC).
*I don't mean that term in a derogatory way. I can be a bit of a redneck myself. It's just descriptive.
To be sort of fair, you need to do this if the oil fields you are talking about are in Prudhoe Bay, because in extreme cold you won't be able to get the truck started again. Seeing such an unbelievably wasteful practice in such a beautiful natural environment was eye-opening for me. Since you mention AC, I doubt this is the case.
It is also true that some older diesel engines that have seen heavy use can be extremely fussy to get restarted once they're turned off. A few truckers I've worked with (I do diesel emissions reduction) never turn their old rigs off because they actually fear they'll never run again.
Of course, no matter their reasoning, this practice is batshit fucking insane.
And this is the exact reason I refuse to get a diesel truck. My gas truck will almost always start, even at -40 Celsius. However, a lot of the diesel truck drivers are getting their fuel for free, whereas gas is almost never provided for free.
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Yeah I don't understand the logic, I know people (family included) that will leave their car on while they are filling it with gas, so that they can use the AC or the heater in winter.
Is that not seriously fucking dangerous? I'm just having visions of petrol stations exploding in gigantic fireballs....
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Yeah I don't understand the logic, I know people (family included) that will leave their car on while they are filling it with gas, so that they can use the AC or the heater in winter.
Is that not seriously fucking dangerous? I'm just having visions of petrol stations exploding in gigantic fireballs....
With gasoline? Yes!
With diesel? Probably not. It takes quite a bit to get diesel going.
...but probably illegal either way.
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Is that not seriously fucking dangerous? I'm just having visions of petrol stations exploding in gigantic fireballs....
You watch too many violent movies. :-)
The risk is really pretty low. Probably similar to that of blowing up from using a cellphone while fueling (which, like fueling a running car is illegal here). Nowhere near the risk of smoking while fueling or even ignition from static electricity. Those new low rolling friction tires that zap you every time you get out of the car are more likely to blow you up than if you fuel with the car running. :-)
Even then, if you blow up your car and set the stack on fire, the whole station isn't going to immediately erupt in a fireball, there's multiple safeguards against that. Yeah, it *can* happen in theory, but I could also get struck by lightning 7 times in 10 seconds while looking out my window at a storm. :-)
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Yeah, static is the real danger. In fact, getting back in your warm car in the winter, sliding across that seat, getting back out.... That's probably the serious danger. (I always touch the body after I get out to discharge and I ALWAYS get a 'zap' in the winter.)