Propane

wa8yxm wrote:
There are many people who for one reason or another are scared of propane.
...
I have lived with Propane. or natural gas (Same dangers) most of my life. and It's been a long life.

I find some people's irrational fear of propane and NG kind of frustrating. Educate yourself and respect it and you're fine. I have a 1000 gallon propane tank and natural gas in my sticks-n-bricks house. Oh the possibilities...

I'll join the dogpile of people that say "it depends on how you camp". I use the propane in my rig for the fridge and hot water mostly while boondocking. I may use it this coming weekend if it gets a little chilly at the Promised Land. Personally I wouldn't leave home without it (propane that is).

turbojimmy wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
There are many people who for one reason or another are scared of propane.
...
I have lived with Propane. or natural gas (Same dangers) most of my life. and It's been a long life.

I find some people's irrational fear of propane and NG kind of frustrating. Educate yourself and respect it and you're fine. I have a 1000 gallon propane tank and natural gas in my sticks-n-bricks house. Oh the possibilities...

I'll join the dogpile of people that say "it depends on how you camp". I use the propane in my rig for the fridge and hot water mostly while boondocking. I may use it this coming weekend if it gets a little chilly at the Promised Land. Personally I wouldn't leave home without it (propane that is).

I WILL point out that I have NO, ZERO, NADA, NOTHING "fear" of Propane or NG. In fact, in my Sticks and bricks I have a NG Furnace, NG water heater, NG stove, for further insult, I have a NG furnace in my 3 1/2 stall garage. The only single appliance I have that is not NG is the dryer.

It isn't "fear" that causes me to not use propane appliances much in my TT, it is the mere fact that using PROPANE FOR ANYTHING IS EXPENSIVE!! You pay twice as much as NG and get LESS BTUs, even paying for electric is cheaper than Propane.

On top of that is the mere fact with a propane fridge, you USE MUCH MORE ENERGY, takes 275W-325W worth of electric or propane. My home fridge conversion sips at a mere 90W of electricity and it only does that for about 20 minutes per hr..

We don't bother to take showers in our RV, why?

Campground showers tend to have more space, easier to get in and out of and don't have to ration the water (try telling a "teen" to cut back on the 20 minute showers at full force)..

So, our water heater spends most of it's life idling with just a pilot light and the burner only really runs when we draw hot water for cleaning dishes..

Cooking inside, well, lets put it this way, when camping in the deep south in early June with scorching 99-105 temps during the day, using a propane stove inside is just not happening.. and at those temps no need for the furnace..

Yep, that is why I have used a mere 30 lbs of propane in 11 yrs..

We're full-time RV'ers, not part-time campers, and yes, we do like our two propane furnaces in colder weather, such as the mid-40's nights we're seeing right now in a NY State Park, or the 10-20 deg.F we'll often see on our way south in January. And we use our propane stove and oven year round too, so of course we like having a good supply on hand. Our propane costs are a very small part of our overall budget. We do have a residential fridge though...

I have been traveling for 2 months. I had electrical hookups 3 times. A great many campgrounds, especially National Park and Forest Service campgrounds do not offer electric hookups. I am currently staying near Bryce NP. The Red Canyon campground does not have any hookups. In past years I did stay in one of the Bryce NP campgrounds. No hookups there either. In 2 days I will be moving on. My original plan was to stay in another FS campground (no hookups) and then go to Capitol Reef (no hookups). It looks like there will be snow and ice on the road over Boulder Mtn so I am considering going to Kanab and staying at another FS campground. Where are all of these electrical hookups I am supposed to be using when the temps drop into the 30s or 40s at night?

This "RV" has no propane on board and no generator - it is all electric, with a bunch of rooftop solar, a large battery bank, a large engine alternator, a 12 volt compressor refrigerator, and battery powered air conditioning:
https://earthroamer.com/xv-lt/

turbojimmy wrote:

I find some people's irrational fear of propane and NG kind of frustrating. Educate yourself and respect it and you're fine. I have a 1000 gallon propane tank and natural gas in my sticks-n-bricks house. Oh the possibilities...

I could not agree more.

I remember when Wife and I got married and moved into our first house. (Last one too as it turns out when we moved out we moved into this class A they she "moved out" (To a cemetery, I've recovered).

IT came with a Natural Gas Range/oven.. She wanted me to scrap it and get an electric.. I said NO.

Some years later her mother died. and we were cleaning out her house. She went to make lunch using her mother's electric range.... It was funny. She'd forgotten how to cook on an electric. Gas is SO MUCH easier to use.. I use both.. I often use Electric cause I have to pay for gas. but for serious cooking. NOTHING BEATS GAS. I learned to cook on propane. And yes. I learned to cook.

By the way Cooking is a great skill.. Many of my classmates in high school turned 18 graduated and their dad says "Have a good life son.. Don't' let the door... " Well they had to get married cause eating out every day... EXPENSIVE.. and by the time they were 21 Divorced and paying child support. (Also expensive).

I got married at 27.. never did get around to the divorce. Having been trained by my mother I could easily out cook my wife.

Oh well.

We rarely have a 50 amp “current bush” where we do most of our camping, and often the temps are near or below O F, so on an extended boondocking trip, we do use propane....lots of propane! :B

Old-Biscuit wrote:

aftermath wrote:
If you are camping you need it. If you are parking and plugging in, you won't.

There it is in a nut shell....

Yes.

I get it that one can use MINIMAL propane, but yeah- need it for the fridge from time to time...

AND, most stoves and ovens are propane and fairly convenient to use (without being a big consumer)

And we sometimes like to "dry camp".

(And we have an old camper without electric hot water).

Yeah, we will use a space heater when we can, and sometimes cook out on the picnic table with a portable stove, and an electric water heater sounds neat, but I struggle to say eliminate it totally 100% all together.

One COULD do that...not sure we WANT to.

(By the way, if you limit your propane use, you don't have to fill the tanks up as often :-) )

"Has anyone ever stopped using propane completely ?"

You could, but what is the point of not using one of the primary systems/conveniences of a RV?

Gdetrailer wrote:
I WILL point out that I have NO, ZERO, NADA, NOTHING "fear" of Propane or NG. In fact, in my Sticks and bricks I have a NG Furnace, NG water heater, NG stove, for further insult, I have a NG furnace in my 3 1/2 stall garage. The only single appliance I have that is not NG is the dryer.

It isn't "fear" that causes me to not use propane appliances much in my TT, it is the mere fact that using PROPANE FOR ANYTHING IS EXPENSIVE!! You pay twice as much as NG and get LESS BTUs, even paying for electric is cheaper than Propane.

On top of that is the mere fact with a propane fridge, you USE MUCH MORE ENERGY, takes 275W-325W worth of electric or propane. My home fridge conversion sips at a mere 90W of electricity and it only does that for about 20 minutes per hr..

We don't bother to take showers in our RV, why?

Campground showers tend to have more space, easier to get in and out of and don't have to ration the water (try telling a "teen" to cut back on the 20 minute showers at full force)..

So, our water heater spends most of it's life idling with just a pilot light and the burner only really runs when we draw hot water for cleaning dishes..

Cooking inside, well, lets put it this way, when camping in the deep south in early June with scorching 99-105 temps during the day, using a propane stove inside is just not happening.. and at those temps no need for the furnace..

Yep, that is why I have used a mere 30 lbs of propane in 11 yrs..

My post wasn't necessarily directed at you, but since we're here...

Propane has more than twice the BTU of NG per cubic foot but at this point in time it's ridiculously expensive. When I first bought my house at the very end (December 30) of 2015 it was fueled with propane. By February I had burned through around 400 gallons - the previous owner (a couple) said they were paying $500/month for propane. I'm a family of 5 and knew that wasn't going to fly. I had NG brought to the house which cost around $4k (it's a 500-foot run, I did the appliance conversions myself). It's already paid for itself. I use the 1,000 gallon tank for grilling now and as a backup fuel source for my generator (NG is primary).

I don't know where you get a 90W fridge. The fridge in my house has a 1400-watt startup and over 700W while running. It's a run-of-the-mill GE double-door. Nothing elaborate. The RV fridge is 300-watts. On a per-cubic-foot basis the gas absorbtion fridges are much less efficient than, say, the Samsung residential-type fridges that run at 100-200 watts but the trade-off is in the flexibility of using propane. Costs aside, the energy used in generating the 300-watts electricity is horribly inefficient compared to using propane.

And, again, it depends on how you camp. I need the propane for my fridge. I'm not going to run my generator 24x7 nor install a huge battery bank and solar array in my ancient rig. I also need heat a couple of times a year. Hot water? Heck yeah I need that. My hot water heater does not have a standing pilot and doesn't run much. Last, cooking with gas is easier, better and more efficient than any electric-based means. Yeah charcoal is best but I ain't got time for that. I have an extend-a-stay hooked up to my on-board propane tank for outdoor cooking.