Fuel Consumption

[Steve Frazier]

I'm watching a documentary on H2 about a truck convoy that delivered supplies to an oil field in Alaska. In it the stated the trucks had to be left idling overnight to prevent freeze up which is understandable, they probably wouldn't ave been able to restart them. They also claimed each truck burned 80 gallons of fuel idling overnight, I find this hard to believe. These were standard road haul trucks, not oversized behemoths with mega engines and took place in 1969, at time when diesel power was at modest levels. From my experience in driving and refueling those trucks, I'm having a tough time swallowing this. Anyone know different?

 

[td25c]

I had always heard about one gallon per hour idling . That's on an engine like an 855 cummins , common truck engine back then . My HD16 dozer with the cummins 855 burns between 8 to 10 gallons an hour running hard . Never did try to measure it idling but it would drop drastically .

 

[Steve Frazier]

That makes quite a bit more sense.

 

[Buckfever]

Could they of ment all the trucks in the convoy burn 80 gallons a night from idling?

 

[Steve Frazier]

That would make more sense but isn't how they stated it. They said very clearly that each truck burned 80 gallons of fuel per night idling. Inaccuracies in media, especially in documentaries are a pet peeve of mine.

 

[Buckfever]

I hear ya Steve. Like the saying goes " never let the facts get in the way of a good story".