Will give you my thoughts on this subject. I run the Aerocell like LBD refered to. These two links will show you what I have.
http://www.expeditersonline.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=348&forum=DCForumID16
http://www.expeditersonline.com/dcforum/DCForumID16/519.html
Now to cover some points that have been mentioned. Number one. To get a comparably equipped Sprinter would be impossible. Sprinter is narrower so my bed system wouldn't work. Several other options on Ford/GM product not availiable on Sprinter. A Sprinter as close to my Aerocell as could be had would have cost me over $9,000.00 more. My van with diesel engine would have been $6,000.00 more. A diesel extended van would have been about the same price. An extended Ford 1 ton gas van would have been about $6,000.00 cheaper.
Would the diesel or Sprinter have saved me money. You can take the average price of diesel and gasoline on any given day and the answer will vary all over the place. I keep my fuel records on computer, putting in my mileage reading, gallons bought, and price paid, everytime I fill up. Last year for the whole year I also kept a record of the price of diesel at the time of fillup. Figuring a gain of 5 MPG with diesel and the price difference for the whole year I would have saved $.0186 per mile. Ok, for the $10,000.00 dollar difference on the Sprinter it would take me 537,423 miles to break even and start saving money. On the $6000.00 for a diesel it would have been 322,580 miles. This is not counting the extra for fuel treatment and extra maintenance expense for a diesel. Is it worth it? I'll let you decide for yourself. If I was trading today I would go back with gas. Got to worry about the price of the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel which will be required later this year unless the EPA extends the deadline again.
I won't knock someone else's product but if you search this forum real close and also other sources on the internet and also talk to owners of Sprinters you will find the Sprinter has developed a reputation. I will let you decide what that reputation is. Also when you talk to owners, I've found that if you ask them about problems they say they have had none. But then if you have some time to spend with them they get to talking and then they tell about how much money they had to spend fixing this and that or how many days they have had to wait on parts etc. Gives you a whole new perspective.
Now about the idling factor. I think everybody pretty well agrees idling a Sprinter is not recommended. Now I've had no dealings with the Espar heater but from what I've seen and heard it is a super good product and a very effecient method of heating for gas or diesel. But in my opinion it only addresses one third of the idling factor. The other two thirds are cooling in summer and keeping batteries charged all year round.
Lets take cooling in summer. Maybe I'm a wimp but I just cannot sleep good if I am sweating. If we are in our van we never let it get above 80 degrees inside. I have a Max Aire fan and two six inch fans in my van. Up to about 90 degrees outside temp they keep us comfortable. Above that it takes a/c. My idling system will start the engine at 80 degrees inside temp and run for 15 minutes cooling it back down. But above about 95 degrees outside it will start again in about five minutes so then I just turn the ignition switch to on and let the engine idle. Heat from outside plus exhaust heat from under the van even with all my insulation raises the inside temp quickly. My engine burns .7 gallons of fuel per hour idling. This year I am averaging $2.29 per gallon so it costs me $1.603 per hour to idle my engine. Lets take a worst case senario. Laredo TX last year. Unloaded on friday, got load to Charleston SC but didn't pick up until Sunday night. The daytime temp was 105. Nights got down about 90 by early am. At times I let it cycle but during the day I just let the van run.But let's just figure I ran it constantly. Last year my average price per gallon was $2.214 so for 24 hours it cost me about $53.00. Since I knew how long I was going to be there we got a motel room for one night. Again the decision is up to you and your preferences.
Now on battery charging. I have two aux batteries which runs QC,drink cooler, inverter, fans, XM radio etc. We have his and hers laptops which we keep charged off of invertor. Why two laptops? Wife loves to play cards. I don,t. She plays against the computer. I have some flight simulator programs and like to practice with them plus I use my laptop for stuff like this forum. With the QC, cooler, and laptops going I'm drawing about 15 amps out of my batteries. If fully charged they will last about 10 hrs before getting down to about 11.2 volts. If you draw them down any further than that you will shorten the life of the batteries. I have my starting system set to start the engine when the batteries get to the 11.2 volts. The engine runs 15 minutes but that doesn't fully charge the batteries but will give about 1.5 hrs of run time. It takes several hrs running to fully charge the batteries. Now maybe you won't use as much power as we do. Again it depends on your wants and needs.
Now you are probably asking why I don't get a generator. Main reason is weight. With all our creature comforts I've got this van a little heavy.(7600 lbs). I've knocked around the idea of a small engine (5 hp) with a regular automotive alternator and a 2000 watt invertor and 750 watt window a/c unit($80.00 bucks at Wallieworld). With an elec start engine I could hook my starting system to it and it would keep the batteries charged. But it would add a couple of hundred lbs and I would have to find somewhere on front or rear bumper to mount it etc. Right now I feel it's not worth the aggravation. Again it's personal preference.
I guess I've wrote a book to tell you, when considering what to buy, don't just figure you can buy a Espar heater and not have to worry about idling any more. There's more to it than that.
For someone starting in the expedite business fresh, I strongly recommend buying a gas extended van and financing it for three years max. If you can't pay it off in three years you don't need to be in this business period. If you can find a good late model used van that would be even better. I've been involved with trucks and business all my life and in expediting over eight years and starting with a Sprinter just doesn't make good business sense to me but that is my personal opinion.
Be very careful on making your decision and good luck to you whatever you decide to do.
Dieseldoctor
