Why can't the ACs run off propane too?

My mil had a Arkla Serval gas A/C system that was put in 1953. Ran until the house was sold in the 90's. Of course this has nothing to do with OP question, but I'm so glad the site's back I thought I throw that out!

The cheepest way to use propane is to power a generator to run the A/C.

pnichols wrote:
About where is your AZ property that's it's that far out??

We are actually not that far out. In fact, we are only 1/4 mile from power lines. But, that power company doesn't serve our area. The nearest pole for the company that does serve our area is 10 miles away. Just as well, we don't get bills or have to pay all the associated taxes and fees that they include. ;)

Do you have a dumpsite right on your property? That sure makes returning from RV trips a whole lot easier.

:M Well, we had one! The worker bees kept driving over it, so they "temporary" buried it. By the time they finished the deck, nobody could remember where it was. I think it's under the deck. It's not too bad, though, there are free dump sites nearby on each of our return routes.

LS

My next door neighbor had an absorption AC unit that used Natural Gas, when I was growing up. They replaced it when I was in high school and saved several hundred dollars a month.

I'd guess they're not used for AC on trailers because the units would be too large/heavy, too expensive, and consume too much propane. (Absorption refrigeration requires 5 times more energy than compressor refrigeration. Refrigerators are small and very well insulated... Trailers aren't.)

About where is your AZ property that's it's that far out??

We had to cut a long driveway path by hand through heavy brush into where we built our house and then trench 250 feet to our spring area for water. However we were lucky on our power ... a main regional power line crossed high above one end of our property ... so just a case of beer was required for a power crew to install a drop-line pole on our property and then go underground to our building site. I guess our situation was easier than your's. We do lose our power occasionally during heavy winter rain storms, but then we just use a generator (... could us the RV, too) to get by during the outage.

Do you have a dumpsite right on your property? That sure makes returning from RV trips a whole lot easier.

IMHO, living like you do now (and us?) is "the only way to live". But of course the whole U.S. population could not live that way, so sometimes I feel like we're the ones living in an artificial way.

pnichols wrote:
Len,

Hmmmmm ..... that propane tank does not exactly make you off of all grids, though (haha).

Much of our food has to be brought in, too. ;) We can cook with wood, if necessary, and use solar or electric to heat the water.

Great setup!! I periodically get advertisements in the mail trying to get us to consider a setup like that here in the mountains. However, the payback barring no end-of-life-as-we-know-it event would be longer than we'll live. On the other hand, should an end-of-life-as-we-know-it event occur, I guess the payback would be pretty much instantaneous. :)

We had no choice. It would have cost us $100,000 to bring power lines in plus another $250,000 for a bond or deposit for some reason.

LS

Deleted. Double post.

LS

Len,

Hmmmmm ..... that propane tank does not exactly make you off of all grids, though (haha).

Great setup!! I periodically get advertisements in the mail trying to get us to consider a setup like that here in the mountains. However, the payback barring no end-of-life-as-we-know-it event would be longer than we'll live. On the other hand, should an end-of-life-as-we-know-it event occur, I guess the payback would be pretty much instantaneous. :)

Francesca Knowles wrote:
Nice setup there, Len!

Does look a little bulky for the average RV, though...;)

Especially for the Casita! BTW, it stays in the garage bay on the right of the first pic.

LS

Nice setup there, Len!

Does look a little bulky for the average RV, though...;)