CIHTECH Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 Question for you guys, I take care of the rolling apparatus (14) units at our local volunteer fire / rescue dept. We have a 2019 Dodge Ambulance (diesel) and have ran it hard since purchase. Purpose for this was get it thru initial warranty period, making sure we had no problems with the unit in general. Now we are looking at moth balling it and running out our 2008 Dodge as "first out unit". To date we have had "0" problems with the 2019, it has 30k miles. I think we should put the 2019 in a rotation, example....run it first out, 1 week per month....?? Other suggestions....?? Does anybody have advice on, known problems from setting? Will we create problems from DEF crystalizing, dosing valves sticking an etc....? Around here the tractors and so forth are used on a regular bases so I don't have too much case history of what happens when you park something with DEF for an extended time. The powers that be want to leave it out of a rotation an only run it on "second out calls" which doesn't happen that often. What problems will we create if any? Any and all advise greatly appreciated..... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtanker Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 My oldest is a Paramedic. He's been talking to some of the guys who work in maintenance. See If I can pass anything onto you. Rick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirt_Floor_Poor Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 There are combines around here that sit for 8 to 10 months a year with no DEF specific problems that I have heard of. I think your idea sounds better though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtfireman85 Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 Personally, with some experience with apparatus that is seldom used, I would put it in the rotation, even if it were 2 weeks off and one week on or every other weekend or whatever, they always always always seem to develop issues when they sit, and that is a too important and too expensive piece of equipment to become undependable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mader656 Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 I run it 2 days a week...say tuesday and friday or something... keep everything going and lubed... gremlins creep in when they set. As far as def. Keep full so minimal air gets at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandhiller Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 Personally I think it is harder on equipment to let sit. I called a paramedic locally, they have 3 units. I asked about a rotation. She said two are 4wd so that may determine which goes out. They are outfitted slightly differently so that is a determination. (MVA vs house call for instance) One is for standby one is for transfers. They do rotate their duties to not let any one sit too long. They have 600 calls so far this year so sitting is generally not an issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pt756 Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 i also am on our local fire district board, and one of the emts is a paramedic for a larger group, they are only buying gas models from now on as our disrtict the last 2 have been gas models, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtfireman85 Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 53 minutes ago, pt756 said: i also am on our local fire district board, and one of the emts is a paramedic for a larger group, they are only buying gas models from now on as our disrtict the last 2 have been gas models, Been seeing a lot of this going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandhiller Posted November 23, 2022 Share Posted November 23, 2022 1 hour ago, pt756 said: i also am on our local fire district board, and one of the emts is a paramedic for a larger group, they are only buying gas models from now on as our disrtict the last 2 have been gas models, We have made that transition with our grass rigs. Tenders (6x6's)still diesel for obvious reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtanker Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 OK here is what I got. You can leave it set about about 11 months, After that the def starts to good bad and must be drain, purged, refilled. This guy works for a private service. The other service my son works at is owned by a country hospital. They are in the process of going back to gas. Rick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtfireman85 Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 3 minutes ago, oldtanker said: OK here is what I got. You can leave it set about about 11 months, After that the def starts to good bad and must be drain, purged, refilled. This guy works for a private service. The other service my son works at is owned by a country hospital. They are in the process of going back to gas. Rick I wonder if it would be feasible to put a smaller tank on. DEF usage seems to vary among consumers. I have no personal experience with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtanker Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 11 minutes ago, vtfireman85 said: I wonder if it would be feasible to put a smaller tank on. DEF usage seems to vary among consumers. I have no personal experience with it. Don't know???? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm228 Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 I work for the Cummins distributor in Harrisburg Pa. We had a spare service truck that would sit for many months at a time with no def issues Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIHTECH Posted November 24, 2022 Author Share Posted November 24, 2022 Thanks, for the info. I have went back and checked the average mileage we run per week, working on formulating a plan to put before board first of Dec. General consensus is to run it first out, one weekend a month. That should be around 3-400 miles a month. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vtfireman85 Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 1 hour ago, CIHTECH said: Thanks, for the info. I have went back and checked the average mileage we run per week, working on formulating a plan to put before board first of Dec. General consensus is to run it first out, one weekend a month. That should be around 3-400 miles a month. Back to OT’s thoughts. I siphon the gas out of our tanker annually, it makes a big difference i think. It is a 76’ with 9k miles on it, so you do the math, just topping it up with regular use leaves quite a bit of residual stale gas in there. I would expect DEF to be similar. Personally I would try to change it out as well with a drain or siphon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Doctor Posted November 24, 2022 Share Posted November 24, 2022 Before DEF, I would be more concerned with batteries. The computers and electrical equipment can drain a battery in less than two weeks. Unless running battery tenders? These units usually have more batteries to run all the gizmos but must be able to start and go, when needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CIHTECH Posted November 24, 2022 Author Share Posted November 24, 2022 25 minutes ago, Diesel Doctor said: Before DEF, I would be more concerned with batteries. The computers and electrical equipment can drain a battery in less than two weeks. Unless running battery tenders? These units usually have more batteries to run all the gizmos but must be able to start and go, when needed. It will drain batteries in less than a day. Mobile hotspots, computers, flashlights, mobile radio's, all the medical devices and power load cot that is always float charging. Yes it will be on a shoreline. 2 grp 65's under the hood then 2 grp 31's in the box that are linked upon start up. 10 hours ago, oldtanker said: They are in the process of going back to gas. We plan to look into gas on next unit (2-3 years) down the road. Our everyday 1st out equipment we currently have is diesel, so we have diesel onsite and no gas. That could easily be changed and will in time. We are in a pretty remote area, backed up against mountains. We do have (2) serve vehicles, and (1) squad truck that is (1st response) on MVC's on mountain that are gas. Run 5 miles to town for fill up's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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