Cost of propane vs gas generator.

Ive never encountered "stable" weather but the moonsoons usually bring temperatures in the high eighties or low nineties with R/H in the 70% range.

But AC by itself is a loser...

I nick-named what you experienced CLAMMY HELL. Over eighty degrees. Almost intolerable without a fan. So the fan blows and the skin gets chilled and teeth get gnashed. The answer is a dehumidifier. Most folks decide on a way-too-small capacity unit. And to make things even more of a PITA, there should be good air circulation to bring moist air to the unit. Otherwise it is spinning it's wheels eating kWh.

My God. 110F with humidity over say 40% would kill people right and left. Certain areas of the world, like the Becca Valley in Iraq suffer this killer clime seasonally and somehow the Bedouins endure it. It has killed fit US armed forces personnel.

In tropical savanna country I learned a lot. First: When first turned on, A/C does zero to lower temperature. All of the energy is being used to precipitate water vapor. When R/H approaches 60% the temperature starts to drop. But then clammy hell sets in.

I can easily tolerate 85F. I love it as a matter of fact, when the R/H is below 40%

But the A/C cannot walk and chew gum. The dehumidifier if large enough extracts that magic 20% band of humidity. My 15' x 20' room dehumidifier extracts about 32 pints in a 24 hour period worst case humidity (intense rainstorm, fast clearing skies, hot sun). That's four gallons and it is transported to the hen house. The new casita will be sealed a lot better. The girls pile through the front door, conspiratorially spaced 5 seconds apart and all that work for nothing. Sigh. I need a mud room entrance.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Arizona. Been there during the monsoon season. Is not the 110F season the one with extremely low humidity? As in swamp cooler season? I am not asking this for the fun of it.

David ... I'm not sure what you question/comment above means ... BUT, doesn't low-altitude Arizona have BOTH 110F temperatures PLUS high humidity during it's summer monsoon season? If so ... this is of course the worst of both worlds, and means A/C all the way, baby!

We experienced this once in a Deep South RV trip we went on in July-August (I'll never do that again). We once on this trip had only 85F outside but with probably ~100% humidity. We had to set their controls just right and then run BOTH an electric heater and the air conditioner to create a not-to-cold and not-to-hot, but dry, 72F inside the RV.

I called that an "energy intensive emergency dehumidifier".

pnichols wrote:

discovery4us wrote:
Also the LPG generator doesn't seem to be effected by elevation or weather like my other gas Onan.

Hmmmm ... I've never heard anyone mention elevation or weather affecting their gas Onan. What vintage was your gas Onan generator?

It was in a 2005 Raptor TH. It had the elevation slide but it was rather temperamental. 5 foot elevation at the coast it would run smooth. High desert it would stumble and barely run. Tune it to run for the high desert and then it would stumble at the coast. Down around freezing it would barely start and running it in the high 90 - to 100+ degrees and it would shut off every 30 - 40 minutes and need a 15 minute cool down before it would restart. My Onan authorized service was great to deal with but it was never quite right. I thought I got a lemon but every time I dropped mine off there would be two or three others in there with similar problems. Nature of the beast I guess.

One + thing + leads + to + another, moment...

Arizona. Been there during the monsoon season. Is not the 110F season the one with extremely low humidity? As in swamp cooler season? I am not asking this for the fun of it.

I have a Champion dual fuel rated 9000/8000 gas, 7000/6300 LPG. My intent was to never put crappy corn laced gas in it unless I had to. This is for home backup power. I recently has to use it for camping when my Onan failed. I wasn't concerned about the noise because most folks were running open frame generators but it sure is loud. Normally for camping I use a smaller inverter generator because my 5500 Onan is simply more than I need unless I need both AC's. Since my new Champion 3500/3100 has remote electric start, it is just as convenient as starting my Onan. My TH has a 30 gallon gen tank and a 30 gallon fuel station so I can go 3-4 days if I run the Onan 24/7. I only do this once /year when we go to the lake and it is 110+. LPG is 1.50/gallon where I live.

discovery4us wrote:
Also the LPG generator doesn't seem to be effected by elevation or weather like my other gas Onan.

Hmmmm ... I've never heard anyone mention elevation or weather affecting their gas Onan. What vintage was your gas Onan generator?

Our 2005 RV's Onan has a real convenient altitude adjustment knob just behind it's removable side cover ... which is light years ahead of having to mess with changing jets like has to be done with portable generators. I've never had to adjust this, though, as it has always started right up at any altitude we've used it at (so far not above around 8500 ft.).

We haven't camped yet in weather under 35 degrees, but our Onan has always started up in a second or two. I use only synthetic oil in it and the last few years I have used an E3 spark plug in it - so maybe these two things have helped it to start under all conditions (knock on wood!). I do exercise it about once a month while in storage between trips.

My MH has the 6.5 LPG generator and I was worried but it has been a mute point. I have a 40 gal. tank just for the generator and depending on load I get 70 - 90 hours of run time. Low, low maintenance and to my ears it seems quieter than the gas generators. Finding LP has yet to be an issue. Also the LPG generator doesn't seem to be effected by elevation or weather like my other gas Onan.

In the long run I think cost will be about the same. While I pay more for the LPG I make up for it in maintenance. Longer service intervals and I have yet to buy a fuel pump, carb or fuel additive as I had to do with my previous gas generator.

There is a lot to say for a small remote start LPG generator. Start it up, flip on the microwave oven, get out the powerful vacuum cleaner, push down the toaster lever, push the make coffee button and 5 minutes later, shut it all down. Forget about maintenance and gasoline going bad, oil turning dirty.

Like most other things in life it is two lists. A compromise. Positive and negative points. It's up to the owner to decide which outweighs which. Inform the person asking. It's foolish to try to decide for them.

In any given geographic area the price of gasoline is fairly consistent, while the price of propane can be "all over the place". Within 20 miles of my house, propane can be found anywhere from about $1 to $3 per gallon, making it less or more expensive than gasoline. I have a dual fuel eu2000i. For backup power at home I run it on propane, mainly because I have a 500 gallon tank anyway. When I take it camping it runs on gasoline. With what I pay for propane at home, it's cheaper to run it on propane, but that had little to do with the decision. It was all about having the big tank already there.

Salti
I said nothing about your neighborhood

and you say the rental outlets where you fill your bottles have generators
meaning they have power for the lp pump

all of which has nothing to do with RV use,
so why are commenting about it.

everybody agrees LP stores longer with out going bad

has nothing to do with RV inconvenience