ROI on insulating and generator

AMonger · Jun 6, 2010

General question: how long did it take you to make your money back on your investments of insulation, generator, and AC/heat unit? I've got to figure out the best way to pitch these to my owner.

ebsprintin · Jun 6, 2010

Since I'm the owner, the first time I used it I had full return on my investment. I don't have the numbers you're looking for, but don't forget to factor in the cost of not being able to keep a driver in the truck.

eb

danthewolf00 · Jun 6, 2010

Eb and I both have solar panels to power our stuff (espar heater). I'd say the owner needs to do stuff to make you want to be out all the time

Turtle · Jun 6, 2010

When I ran the cost analysis on an Espar heater, I did it several ways. One was if you stay out all weekends and idle 8 hours a day during the week and at least 16 hours on the weekends to keep warm. If you idle that much, which a lot of people do in the winter, some even more, then the Espar heater will pay for itself by the end of the first winter for most people. Here's a snippet of a post I made nearly 4 years ago about the cost analysis of an Espar heater. The fuel cost numbers are a little low, 'cause they're 4 years old, but the math still works. With poor or no insulation the cost numbers would be higher with and without an Espar, to the point where the cost of insulation, properly installed, will easily pay for itself in decreased fuel costs whether you idle or use an Espar.

Beyond the ROI numbers, the most important points have already been made, those being that if the driver isn't comfortable in the van they won't want to spend much time in it, and when they're in it all they can think about is how uncomfortable and miserable this friggin' job is and I need to find another job. Owners of such vehicles end up losing far, far more money in wasting time over and over again trying to fill the seat with a steering wheel holder while the vehicle sits unloaded and earning squat.

For those who idle all winter for heat, the typical (in many cases conservative) idle time is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Some as much as 12 hours a day. Teams will idle much less, of course. If you stay out over the weekends, sometimes sitting the whole time, your idle time becomes significant over the course of the colder months. Weekly idle times will be 60 or more, and if you idle 10 hours a day during the week, and then say, 24 more on the weekends, you're at 74 for some weeks. Many people will idle more than that.

But, if you idle 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 30 weeks, that's 1200 hours of idling. Assuming .8 gallon per hour burned, at $2.75 a gallon, that's $2640. That works out to $2.20 an hour.

For a 40 hour week of idling, that's $88. At that hour and fuel cost rate, the $1400 Espar costs out at 16 weeks. And that's really at a conservatively typical rate.

Each vehicle is different, of course, but most Ford and Chevy vans, for example, will burn a minimum of .8 gallon an hour, usually right at 1 gallon per. (This Sprinter burns only about a third per hour, tho.) But you see it all the time, where a van or truck (solo drivers, mainly) will run loaded for about 40 hours in a week, and the vast majority of the rest of the time they're idling. It's not uncommon at all for one of these vehicles to idle 60 hours during the week, and then another 30 or more over the weekend.

So, if you idle as much as 13 hours a day averaged over 7 days (91 hours a week), you wind up idling for 2730 hours. Even at .8 gal/hr, that's $200 a week. And at 1 gal/hr it's $250 a week.

At $200 a week, the Espar pays for itself in 7 weeks, and at $250 a week it's done in 5 1/2 weeks.

Of course, the heater will burn up .06 gal/hr, so that needs to be factored in. At the 91 hours a week it'll burn about $15 a week in fuel, and at the 40 hours it'll burn about $6.60 a week.

So, for most people, it'll pay for itself somewhere between 8 and 14 weeks. YMMV

But if you even take the most conservative numbers, say just 16 weeks of idling and idle 8 hours a day for 5 days, no idle on the weekends, then the numbers come out to 640 idle hours per winter. At $2.75 a gallon, and at .8 gal.hr, that's $1408 per year. That's the same cost as the heater. But the heater will burn about $105 in fuel during those same 640 hours.

So you'll spend $1500 for the heater and the fuel it burns for the first year, instead of spending $1408 on idling fuel. But the next year you'll only be spending the $105 or so for fuel, and the rest of it goes into your pocket.

It's a no-brainer.

bubblehead · Jun 6, 2010

I agree with the little green guy (BTW exactly what kind of turtle are you?)

Keeping comfortable in whatever type of vehicle you are driving is crucial...not just for retention but for safety also. We bought a generator when we bought our truck...using green guy's #s, and the fuel cost at the time we came in the business (about $3.70/gal) our ROI came after about 2200 hrs of running the generator which was less than a year. No hotels, no hot/cold nights in fact as I write this, it is 90+ outside and 68 inside. We are seriously looking at the espar for our next improvement but the system we have now with a dometic under bunk ac/heater has kept us very comfy.