It's been colder than usual around here lately. My neighbor a few houses down has been idling his big truck (F-250 or similar) for over a half hour now this morning...
I was thinking about this forum last week when we let my brother's very large diesel pickup idle all night for 6 nights in a row! The first few nights it was because if temperatures dropped as expected it wouldn't start in the morning. We were out in the middle of nowhere with no plug in. After the first couple nights it warmed up and we let it idle so we could dry all the snow covered outwear hanging in the cab enough that it would keep us dry and warm the following day.
Well worth the cost since diesels burn very little while idling. What was more frustrating to my brother was having to drive 45 min each way to the nearest fuel station!
The frugal part was that we didn't spend $175 per person per night (including food) to get a room in the nearby camp. We made our own little winter camping setup instead.
Wait a sec, I thought they'd fixed the cold weather non-start issues, except for REALLY cold weather. Like -20F cold. How cold was it? I used to have a diesel, and I looked into it before I bought it.
It was -30C the first night, a little warmer the other nights
He said it would be fine down to -15C, after that it's hit or miss.
There's always been a fix, use a block heater. We used a propane block heater on the diesels growing up, no electricity required. If you park for 4 days, then want it to start, you can fire up the heater, wait a bit for everything to warm up and then start your machine. Essentially the same as what you did except you only need to start the night before you want to drive (and less fuel).
Unfortunately its not free, you have to balance how often you'll actually use it vs. the cost of installing it. Its a great deal though if you want the extra insurance that your vehicle will always start; even if the temperature drops. I think the coldest we hit was -40C (which is -40F), normally we tried to avoid working past that since fuel lines gel. The propane cuts down on run time so it extends motor life as well.
Nowadays you can just have diesel heaters as well. Sips from the fuel tank as needed but its independent of the motor so the worry about a non-start is gone.
MMM forum, where even the smallest expense can be minimized further.
