Gas Usage of a Parked Car

I ended up buying a Ford F150 two months ago and with Memorial Day fast approaching, I’m really excited to take it camping. Sleeping in a tent, however is kind of uncomfortable and cold so I was thinking of sleeping in my car while the heater is on.

If I do end up deciding to use the heater, how much gas should I expect to burn?

Why don’t you just stay in a motel?

I’d be more concerned about carbon monoxide poisoning if the exhaust is pulled into the cabin on a still night with no wind to dissipate the exhaust. Sleeping in a running car isn’t really needed, anyways. Put a cap on the back and sleep in a sleeping bag. The closed space heats up quickly with just body heat.

It obviously varies from vehicle to vehicle, but generally it’s not very much-- I’ve heard usually somewhere in the range of a half gallon an hour or so. The carbon monoxide risk is not that much on newer vehicles, but it’s still enough that I’d probably bring a CO detector in the truck. Whether your fellow campers are going to appreciate your truck running all night is another question, though it can’t be as bad as those noisy RV generators.

I know that trucks come with giant extended cabs these days, but do you really think that sleeping in the cab is going to be all that comfortable? If you really want the camping without the sleeping outside aspect, you need to invest in an inexpensive slide-in camper or at least an insulated very snug-fitting cap.

Not if it’s done right. A closed-cell foam or Thermarest-style sleeping pad to provide insulation under your body makes a world of difference. Combine that with a suitable sleeping bag and maybe a knit cap and you should be plenty warm. With sufficient padding underneath (a Thermarest pad will usually do) it’s like being on a firm mattress.

I would be scared to do this. If something just happened to go wrong with the vehicle (radiator fan failure, oil or coolant leak) while it’s not being monitored it could result in some expensive damage. Worse, there’s always a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, which could result in your not waking up.

I strongly suggest learning what you need to do to be comfortable in the tent, or in the vehicle without the engine running.

So you guys talked me out of running the car while sleeping. I did, however, just find an interesting tent that might work out.

A friend of mine owns an F150, and had a friend sleep in it with the heater one night. Said friend turned on the car and heater without permission, of course, and burned through half a tank of gas in about 3 hours.

For what it’s worth, I’ve slept in both tents and cargo vans in snowy weather, and both are doable with a good hat and plenty of layers. Those iron oxide hand and toe warmers work wonders, too. (I like to but one on each buttockular region, as well!) Of the two, in actual snow, I’d prefer a vehicle, but not running. But by Memorial Day, I’m in my tent, dude!

I’ve seen a couple of those truck tents. They’re all kinds of awesome. Beware water collecting on the sides, though. If it’s rainy, tarp that sucker and make sure the tarp extends over the sides of your truck bed. Yes, the tent has a rain fly that supposed to take care of that. Do you feel lucky?

Were you really thinking of having the car indoors? When I think of camping, I think of being near a tree, not inside a garage.

Carbon monoxide isn’t a problem in an unenclosed area, is it?

Absolutely.
There have been cases of people poisoned in moving vehicles (mostly station wagons), when exhaust gases were sucked into the car through an open back window.

No, my car would be next to the campground. We’d come back after a day of outdoor activities, sit around the fire, talk, eat then when everyone goes to their tents to sleep, I would go to my truck instead. I’d still be outdoors, my “tent” will just be made of metal.

That’s what I figured, and was very surprised when so many people started warning about CO poisoning. It seems from beowulff that (as I suspected) the main fear is when the CO will enter the sleeping area. This can happen with a backdraft (as he described) or in an enclosed garage or (as I have seen in newspaper articles) where someone connects the exhaust to the car interior as a means of suicide. But out in an open campground?

Ooops! Lawyers lurking! Glad I stopped before giving you any advice!

Depending on the size, shape, and flora around the campsite, this could actually be more dangerous to the campers in the tents. CO isn’t a terribly large molecule, and could conceivably get into the tents through the tent walls or zippers and cause problems for the sleepers inside the tent if the vehicle is too close or there are trees making an enclosed space around the truck and nearby tents.

Besides, it’s obnoxious.

Who wants to listen to a truck running all night when they are trying to sleep in the quiet wilderness.

The risk from tailpipe CO emissions these days is pretty close to nil, but if you get a leaking exhaust manifold or flex-hose under the hood, you get non-cleaned exhaust leaking right under where the cowl gets the fresh air for the HVAC system. This is where you can get problems with high CO concentrations inside during prolonged idling, enclosed space or not. It’s probably not a very likely situation, but a CO detector would be cheap insurance if you make a habit of snoozing in your car with the engine running.

Your friends will probably kick your ass for running a vehicle all night at the camp site.

Unlikely. An F150 has a fuel tank that holds in the range of 25-30 gallons, so your friend is claiming a fuel usage rate of something like 4-5 gallons per hour. As a comparison, that’s more like what the truck would use at top highway speeds. An idling engine should use more like 1/3 or 1/2 a gallon per hour.

I’m a leader in my son’s Boy Scout troop, and we have camped outside in tents every month for the last year–except January. (January was a cabin campout, which was good, because the temperature maxed out at 15 °F that weekend.) We’ve camped in snow, rain, and mud.

If you need a truck to camp out in, you’re doing it wrong.

and by the way, leaving the truck idling all night is illegal in many places.

Ok so idling the truck all night wasn’t the greatest idea. The problem I usually have when I’m camping is that I’m either too hot or too cold. When I’m too hot, I’ll shed a layer of clothing and start shivering from the cold, when it’s too cold, I add another layer and I am then too hot to sleep. Any suggestions on finding a way to balance out the temperature somehow?

I usually sleep in a sleeping tent on a mat.