Question Regarding the Need for Running an Automatic Idle On Semi's

by Jess
(Colorado)

Hi! I'm trying to get expert advice from the most knowledgable source and find out if I am being a horrible neighbor.

We have neighbors who occasionally have a trucker as a house guest. We live in a residential neighborhood with no HOA.

When this gentleman comes to visit, he parks in front of our house instead of his hosts, who live across the street. He typically stays for about 3 days, and he does not get in his truck again until he leaves for good. He has an automatic idle that turns on once an hour, every hour, and runs for about 10 minutes.

When the idle kicks on we can hear it in every room of our house, including my son's nursery. In the summer, we can smell the gas fumes from the truck coming through our windows.

I recently tried to go talk to the neighbors and ask them about this, but they weren't home so I left what I felt was a nice note on their door (we are neighbors, after all, so I'd like to have a good relationship with them) and basically said I was wondering if they might be willing to turn off the automatic idle on their truck, or even just turn it off from 7PM to 7 AM, and explained how we can hear it in every room and smell it when our windows are open in the summer. I left my number and our house address and invited them to speak with me about it if they wanted.

They never contacted me. The evening I left the note, the idle only turned on at 11 PM and 6AM but then resumed running every hour for the remaining two days. I do think during the nights there may have been an hour or two where it didn't run, but then would turn on again.

So my question is this: Did I ask for something really unfair?

I totally understand why you would run the idle to regulate the temperature of the cab if you're going to be getting in the truck in the next hour or two, but I don't understand why - if you're not going to get in the truck for 3 days - it would need to run every single hour. Is there a reason this is necessary?

We have seen the neighbors once and felt like they gave us dirty looks, which is frustrating because I was really trying to do the "neighborly" thing by talking to them directly, asking nicely, and inviting a conversation if I was asking too much. Your expertise is appreciated!