Propane for the newbie

[Medic579]

So should I use propane and electric for the water heater or just electric to conserve propane. How long does propane last. Fridge is on auto.

[Pirate]

Depends on where you are.

If you're in an RV park and plugged into shore power...run everything on electric. Then just the furnace will use propane, if you have it turned on.

If you're dry camping, then the fridge will swap to propane and you need to turn the water heater on to propane.

We stayed in RV parks for six weeks in Feb/Mar and didn't use but about half a tank of propane.

Just sayin'

Pirat

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by Medic579

So should I use propane and electric for the water heater or just electric to conserve propane. How long does propane last. Fridge is on auto.

You can use both at the same time if you want to get the water to heat up a little faster.

Propane usage varies greatly, with just DW and myself we get anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 weeks on a tank. But things like weather and how much cooking you do on the stove and how much hot water you use will effect how long a tank will last.

Most of our camping is boondocking so the fridge and hotwater are on constantly.

[wahoonc]

In the summer months I run the water heater on LP when running the air conditioning, otherwise I risk overloading the campsite breaker. FWIW I have a 30 amp system. With 50 amp you might be able to get away with it. The furnace is the real LP hog. On my little Coleman I could go all warm season on a single 20# LP tank, mainly running the fridge while traveling and the water heater only while camping. In the colder months a tank would only last 2-3 days with the furnace running.

Aaron

[Medic579]

Well all went well I bathe maiden voyage. I forgot chicken breasts and pillows for the kids but other than that it all went very well. I only used the propane water heater right before we were starting showers to help heat water quicker. 3 kids makes 5 showers. 2 small kids took tub bath so that helped. Then turned it off and seemed to do just fine.

[hddecker]

Congratulations. Always nice to get the first one done with no hick-ups.

The hardest thing I had to do when we had our grandkids with us was, to get them to realize that they have to do things differently in the camper. They can't be opening and closing the fridge, run water while they're brushing their teeth.

We finally got them trained and they decided it wasn't cool going with them old folks on holidays anymore.

[chily3]

Originally Posted by hddecker

Congratulations. Always nice to get the first one done with no hick-ups.

The hardest thing I had to do when we had our grandkids with us was, to get them to realize that they have to do things differently in the camper. They can't be opening and closing the fridge, run water while they're brushing their teeth.

We finally got them trained and they decided it wasn't cool going with them old folks on holidays anymore.

What a shame they will miss so much.

[hddecker]

Originally Posted by chily3

What a shame they will miss so much.

You know how teenagers are they want to spread their wings. They'll eventually fly home to the nest. Just like their parents did.

[WackyDan]

I've got two 30# tanks on our new rig since last July. Had 5 outings last year and just spent two weeks on the road with it in April....Still haven't used up the first tank. We have had full hookups except for one night dry camping and generally use gas for the fridge when rolling and for cook top. I still do most of my cooking outdoors using a smaller 10# tank. That said we have used the gas for the water heater plenty to get three showers in back to back... After that I just keep the electric element on. I might pull the one tank just to see how much we used.... Either way we have another 30# in reserve.