APU advice??
- Thread starter Neuman65
- Start date
zorry
Veteran Expediter
For every person that will tell you not to buy a rigmaster you'll find people that will tell you don't buy a Carrier or Thermoking.
Why I would advise you to buy a new Rigmaster.
1) proper installation in 8 hours
2 ) warranty
3) long pm intervals with filters easily available
4) $7950 installed near Lincoln,Ne or San Antonio ,Tx
5) under bunk A/C heater takes about 1/2 the space of many others
If your team has no APU next week it may limit their load choices ? Would they have gone to Phoenix this week at 115 degrees ? The load paid great .
If you are mechanically inclined and will install it Smith Transport, Remington ,In has plenty of used Rigmasters.
When the APU is down most drivers are unhappy, there can be lots of wasted time and miles trying to get one fixed.
Easy to spend $2-3,000 dollars repairing one that's out of warranty.
Why I would advise you to buy a new Rigmaster.
1) proper installation in 8 hours
2 ) warranty
3) long pm intervals with filters easily available
4) $7950 installed near Lincoln,Ne or San Antonio ,Tx
5) under bunk A/C heater takes about 1/2 the space of many others
If your team has no APU next week it may limit their load choices ? Would they have gone to Phoenix this week at 115 degrees ? The load paid great .
If you are mechanically inclined and will install it Smith Transport, Remington ,In has plenty of used Rigmasters.
When the APU is down most drivers are unhappy, there can be lots of wasted time and miles trying to get one fixed.
Easy to spend $2-3,000 dollars repairing one that's out of warranty.
I have a Rigmaster and have been to Phoenix when it's that hot, and the Rigmaster is almost totally useless in that kind of heat. It will work hard to keep the sleeper barely under 90. My next truck won't have a Rigmaster.
zorry
Veteran Expediter
Star, how large is your sleeper ? How well insulated is it ? How good was your install ?
All that comes into play.
A Rigmaster isn't big enough to do a really large custum sleeper.
I wasn't too thrilled with mine until I modifed the air venting. No APU will do the job with out proper air managment.
The choice is also based on the market. What else is there to choose from ?
I don't think an Onan at over $10,000 installed was on his list. Onan service is 150 hours. Rigmaster is 500 or 1000 hours.
Cafee's last truck had a Rigmaster and it just kept running and running.
The new owners of Rigmaster fixed the problem areas: sanden a/c again, improved radiator,improved exhaust.
Dollar for dollar I don't see a better buy.
They are probably the oldest APU out there.
AND they have a generator: not just an inverter.
All that comes into play.
A Rigmaster isn't big enough to do a really large custum sleeper.
I wasn't too thrilled with mine until I modifed the air venting. No APU will do the job with out proper air managment.
The choice is also based on the market. What else is there to choose from ?
I don't think an Onan at over $10,000 installed was on his list. Onan service is 150 hours. Rigmaster is 500 or 1000 hours.
Cafee's last truck had a Rigmaster and it just kept running and running.
The new owners of Rigmaster fixed the problem areas: sanden a/c again, improved radiator,improved exhaust.
Dollar for dollar I don't see a better buy.
They are probably the oldest APU out there.
AND they have a generator: not just an inverter.
If you have a rigmaster and it isn't keeping up in the heat because of a large or poorly insulated sleeper, you can disassemble the ac unit. Take lines and compressor out. Add a roof top unit with a breaker and connect it directly to the unit. At 5k of output, that can run a rooftop easily.
Much cheaper than a whole unit replacement.
Much cheaper than a whole unit replacement.
I have an 84" Bentz and the Rigmaster was installed by Espar of Mich. If you're pleased with the performance of the A/C in Phoenix/Laredo type heat, you're the first I've heard of. I've just had too many expensive repairs with it. While the Onan setup may cost more up front, it's the total cost of ownership that counts.
The Caffees did speak well of their Rigmaster, then didn't put one on their new truck. I haven't spoke well of my Rigmaster, although I guess it's been better than not having one at all, and I won't put one on my next truck.
The Caffees did speak well of their Rigmaster, then didn't put one on their new truck. I haven't spoke well of my Rigmaster, although I guess it's been better than not having one at all, and I won't put one on my next truck.
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
I dont use a apu , but if i were you, I'd check with the OOIDA and see if they still have any discounts for members and if they can still get you the info on credits from the fed gov for the purchase of a CARB compliant APU...
zorry
Veteran Expediter
Three questions:
1) Aside from an Onan/ Rooftop does anyone have an APU that can handle 115 degree heat ?
2) Dave, the Rigmaster is a 100% stand alone unit. Is there any reason to disconnect anything ? Why not just add the roof air and wire it in ?
3) Does anyone know where the op can get a used apu ?
1) Aside from an Onan/ Rooftop does anyone have an APU that can handle 115 degree heat ?
2) Dave, the Rigmaster is a 100% stand alone unit. Is there any reason to disconnect anything ? Why not just add the roof air and wire it in ?
3) Does anyone know where the op can get a used apu ?
hurricanezoo
Active Expediter
Hey! And i doubted you. lol
We had a RigMaster in one of the fleet owner trucks we drove. Based on our experience with it, we would avoid that brand.. Reason: LOUD, LOUD, LOUD. It was also unreliable and worthless in summer desert heat but that may be installation and maintenance related. It was used when we got in the used truck so know nothing about its installation and prior maintenance. But we do know about its noise. It was terribly loud.
zorry
Veteran Expediter
My Rigmaster 3 years /3300 hours. I1major repair. Changed out the cheap chineese a/c comp that is no longer used. 2 times had a loose wire on a switch. That's it.
Had a friend put 16,000 hours on one and replaced it with another Rigmaster.
They are loud. The new owner improved the exhaust. Do not know if they are still as loud.
Loud is ok in a truckstop. Masks other noises. If your by the lake then buy an onan. Just hope it works more than 50% of the time like Dbluzman's.(that must be dealer issues I would think.)
Maybe we had better luck than other's by having chosen one of Rigmaster's better dealer's.
Had a friend put 16,000 hours on one and replaced it with another Rigmaster.
They are loud. The new owner improved the exhaust. Do not know if they are still as loud.
Loud is ok in a truckstop. Masks other noises. If your by the lake then buy an onan. Just hope it works more than 50% of the time like Dbluzman's.(that must be dealer issues I would think.)
Maybe we had better luck than other's by having chosen one of Rigmaster's better dealer's.
Slacktide
Seasoned Expediter
Zorry is also the first I have heard singing the praises of Rigmaster. You hit the nail right on the head Highway with what I bolded in the above quote. We currently have an Onan 7.5 with 7,600 hrs, the ONLY repairs in all that time have totaled under $300 in parts (I performed the repair so no labor cost). Temp sending unit, thermostat and a starter. Making the repair cost/hr .03, if you figure in routine maint @ $ .33 /hr that is only $.36 /hr . The .33/hr is figured at 150 hr oil change interval @ $50 avg cost and would be lower if one decided to stretch the service interval once the warranty is up.
What was the cost of those repairs? The hrs on your unit seem low per year, by my math you only run your APU 3hrs a day. Why is that? Down time, having to idle because it won't keep up with your needs?
The bluzman's troubles are some of the very few complaints I have ever heard about an Onan. He himself admitted to being unfamilliar with the system he now has and that it may well be something simple, ie. a setting or a reset of some kind. We have yet to hear from him what the remedy was. Was it operator error due to being unfamilliar with the new system or something more involved? Only he can tell us. All machines have the potential to come through with little gremlins like loose wires (like you had on yours) or defective parts of one kind or another that will cause headaches. New parts can be defective right out of the box.
As someone that has had all the major brands, Tripack (TK), Proheat (now Carrier), Rigmaster and Onan, here is the order I would put them in.
Onan gets top billing as the most reliable. While we now have the 7.5 we have also had the 5k Onan and both were trouble free. I beleive the 5k is still out here on the road and it was an '06. Just recently with our current set up it was 97 out with the t-stat set at 63 and our A/C was cycling (100" sleeper).
Tripack comes in 2nd. It was on an 84" sleeper and had no trouble keeping it comfy inside while it was in the high 90's outside. The unit was trouble free, while we had it the only repair was a water pump and belt.
Proheat gets third. With this unit there were multiple updates that needed to be done to get it to do what it was intended to do. Even after all the updates/repairs it was mediocre at best. Quirky right out of the gate.
Rigmaster= boat anchor. Constantly had to fiddle with this or that to keep it running. Parts were hard to find and service locations were far and few between. To be fair I will add that when we had the Rigmaster APU's were "new" and nowhere near as common as today. They were concidered a luxury back then, there were no idle laws in place that now make it all but the necessity that APU's are today.
At 3300 hours I was not too unhappy with mine. Since you don't use it much that may help you to keep the major repairs down. Let us know how you're doing at 10,000+ hours.
I have A comfort pro it has A shore power tie in and 120 V outlets. it will be 106 today in glendale KY this should be a good test for this unit it has service intervals at 500 hrs I plan on doing them at 250 I'm A fir believer in oil changes. The engine is a 2 cyl kubota I really like the kubata diesels When I drove entertainer coaches they had 4cyl kubota generators that would run non stop exept to change the oil every 100 hrs it held 9 qts of oil that little engone was swimming in oil also found a filter upgrade that would hold 1 qt instead of half a qt of oil. the air units were (2) 2 ton central air units that ran off the gen set it was overkill but when in the desert at 120 degree heat it blew away the coaches that had the 5 rooftops on them. and if it needed repaired you could call any residential a.c. shop. oh and the cool thing about the gen is that it was on a trck mounted in the 1 of the cargo bays so it would slide out for servicing.
zorry
Veteran Expediter
Sold the truck. Actually just put an Onan/ roof top on last week on new truck.
Before this thread I hadn't heard much good about Onan. I wanted a Rigmaster but had trouble scheduling myself into one of the two shops I trust. They were five days out and being in Texas and Neb we're seldom more than a day and a half away.
Went home for a wedding and ARI got me in the next day.
The rigmaster was going to require an exhaust re- route on a 2012 which I really didn't want to deal with.
The Onan is quiet. The 50 hour oil change was done on day six. The roof air is probably noisier than the Rigmaster was INSIDE.
Reasons my hours were low, had Pro-Heat heater so in cooler months the rigmaster ran very little. We prefer to run so we don't lounge around truckstops for days on end. If we see an extended layover we not opposed to getting a hotel.
I looked at the Carrier and Pro- Heat prior to getting the Rigmaster.
If the op were to buy a $2,500-$3000 used APU and spend $1000 having it installed I would say he may regret it.
$4000 more for a new rigmaster w/warranty would still be my first choice.
Rigmaster was bought a few years ago by a large company that serviced the airline industry.
Thry immediately upgraded the cooling,a/c,and exhaust system. They are probably selling a good product now.
I would not reccomend ANY APU that has not been mentioned hete. You don't know if they'll be in business in a month.
I hope I love my Onan in three years.
Cheri,the Dometic rooftop was $882 plus three hrs labor. Roof was already set up for a roof air unit.
Before this thread I hadn't heard much good about Onan. I wanted a Rigmaster but had trouble scheduling myself into one of the two shops I trust. They were five days out and being in Texas and Neb we're seldom more than a day and a half away.
Went home for a wedding and ARI got me in the next day.
The rigmaster was going to require an exhaust re- route on a 2012 which I really didn't want to deal with.
The Onan is quiet. The 50 hour oil change was done on day six. The roof air is probably noisier than the Rigmaster was INSIDE.
Reasons my hours were low, had Pro-Heat heater so in cooler months the rigmaster ran very little. We prefer to run so we don't lounge around truckstops for days on end. If we see an extended layover we not opposed to getting a hotel.
I looked at the Carrier and Pro- Heat prior to getting the Rigmaster.
If the op were to buy a $2,500-$3000 used APU and spend $1000 having it installed I would say he may regret it.
$4000 more for a new rigmaster w/warranty would still be my first choice.
Rigmaster was bought a few years ago by a large company that serviced the airline industry.
Thry immediately upgraded the cooling,a/c,and exhaust system. They are probably selling a good product now.
I would not reccomend ANY APU that has not been mentioned hete. You don't know if they'll be in business in a month.
I hope I love my Onan in three years.
Cheri,the Dometic rooftop was $882 plus three hrs labor. Roof was already set up for a roof air unit.
I have a 132 inch ARI sleeper and the onan is serviced about every two weeks or so. I do my own oil changes so they only cost about 35 bucks as compared to the truck stops and speedco's who average 70 or so. And the oill filter last about 6 months . My current onan has over 12,000 hours in it without a major repair..never got that kind of service from a rig or TK.
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