Why do long haul truckers warm up their engine for 30 minutes before leaving?
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5 year old: You don’t start sprinting without stretching first. Diesel engines (and trucks) which are expensive and go millions of miles, will last with stretching first.
10 year old: They don’t need to warm for 30 minutes. 10, especially in anything remotely newer (20 years), is plenty. In fact, many are so efficient anymore they won’t warm up much unless you start applying some throttle and ease into it. Likewise, they can set throttles on them to give them more to heat all the way. But it’s not needed unless you’re in some extreme conditions.
15 year old: They also have air break and suspension systems. Most can build full pressure (120lbs is the defacto standard of operational & reserve) in 10 minutes or less. But older trucks with weakened compressors or leaks might take longer. Depending on variant again, 60-40lbs of air is the bare minimum before brakes will automatically apply. Usually trucks have buzzers when they start until they build pressure, and most will come on at 90lbs or lower. Buzzer comes on when pressure gets lower (you apply full pressure of brakes at high speed and exhaust the braking system is an simplified/extreme example). Also many trucks have two air gauges–one for air reservoir, and another how much PSI you are applying to the system.
And trucks release air, or you hear those “hissssssssssssssssss” at a long idling truck because the reservoir has gotten so full (140-160lbs) it has to bleed some off.
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