Anyone convert a TT to all electric?

Hate those BUGS? Bought our 3rd Bug tent last fall, a Coleman 10x12. Took care of the bug problem. Even works for "No See Ems" in Florida. Fits over picnic table, works great.

YES.. You can do it. I did it to a Travco MH back in 1982 it worked great except I could "brown out" the campground if I turned on heat, stove & oven at the same time. We have had 14 RVs since 1973. We have not used the gas oven/stove or heat in the last 10. Our current TT is a ViewFinder. We use gas for the Refer when traveling. For baking we have a Convection/Microwave (optional on this TT), a large electric skillet for frying (outside, we never fry in our RV) we cook most anything in the skillet. From time to time we may take a small Toaster oven. As for heat, there are a lot of small electric heaters that work great. My last TT I took the Oven/cooktop out and installed a full sized Convection/Microwave. Be sure to plug the gas line and TEST FOR LEAK! Put a shut off valve in the furnace gas line and TEST FOR LEAK. We spend 3 to 6 months a year in our TT and no gas inside.

Here in the South...with all the gnats...we can't stand being outside much! You will literally be hitting your head constantly to kill them! :S

YamaDooed wrote:
Only the oven/cooktop? As nothing else uses combustion air or exhausts gas directly into the RV. This can be replaced by a electric skillet or hot plate and small electric oven.

That is correct.
As for cooking, I use a 3 burner LP stove outside which shouldn't affect folks because it isn't burning in a contained area. I highly suggest looking at outdoor cooking. Besides, it is more fun. We rarely cook indoors anymore.

Yes. I have decided that we will just deal with the stove and oven. We will get a convection-microwave and an electric cooktop. I should be fine with everything else.

I have come to discover that many of the newer rigs do not have as strong as some of the others. When we find "the one," we will sit in it for a couple of hours.

So, I would say that this case is dismissed. :)

You might not have to go all electric, and only replace those things that have an open flame inside the trailer. That would be the stove, and oven. Everything else that uses propane is vented to the outside and will most likely not affect you.

You might be better off looking for a slightly and gently used trailer where much of the fumes have had a chance to dissipate. But that being said, my 2005 will still sometimes have that formaldehyde smell after it sits all summer in storage. But once I open it up the smell goes away and doesn't really come back.

I would say find a trailer you like and can sit in for a few hours without feeling ill. Then buy it and use a hotplate while you find out if anything else bothers you. In the end, remember that almost all the manufacturers install the same appliances so from an appliance standpoint the trailers are the same.

Nvr2loud wrote:
That really sucks that you have a sensitivity to propane / natural gas. It would seem that you might actually have a sensitivity to the mercaptan that is added to propane and natural gas to give it an odour. When the mercaptan is burned with the fuel, you are sensitive to the fumes created. I would bet that if you found an odorless supply of propane you would indeed be fine around it... but that really isn't the question you posed here.

I run my fridge, microwave, and water heater on electricity when I have a hookup. I skip the propane, since it costs me extra to run it. Can you cook outside on a propane burner without issue? I would hope that there is enough ventilation outdoors that your sensitivity would not be an issue.

Sorry about the delay....I had jumped forums so did not see this last post. Yes, I think so. We have tent camped and used the coleman stoves and I was never bothered.

That really sucks that you have a sensitivity to propane / natural gas. It would seem that you might actually have a sensitivity to the mercaptan that is added to propane and natural gas to give it an odour. When the mercaptan is burned with the fuel, you are sensitive to the fumes created. I would bet that if you found an odorless supply of propane you would indeed be fine around it... but that really isn't the question you posed here.

I run my fridge, microwave, and water heater on electricity when I have a hookup. I skip the propane, since it costs me extra to run it. Can you cook outside on a propane burner without issue? I would hope that there is enough ventilation outdoors that your sensitivity would not be an issue.

Hi MookieKat,

I tend to run 100% electric in my rv.

Here is what would need to be changed:

water heater
stove top
oven
furnace
fridge

Water heater:

many rv's come with dual powered gas/electric water heaters, so this is a non issue. There are also small 120 volt ten to fifteen gallon water heaters.

stove top:

Switch to an inductive stove top. A good clean pure sine wave inverter would need to be added for any boondocking use

oven:

replace the oem with a microwave convection oven. Some RV's already come this way

furnace:

There are two or three ways to go. You could use stand alone oil filled heaters (as I do), or add baseboard heaters or you might look into a product called "Cheap Heat".

fridge:

replace the absorption fridge with either a residential model or a 12 volt unit with a Danfoss compressor. While the standard RV fridge can be run on 120 volts, it uses about 6 kilowatt hours per day. That would require an enormous solar installation and battery bank.

What will be needed for boondocking is a large solar system with a good size battery bank. A Yamaha 4500 watt iSEB inverter generator would be a good addition to the above--but fuel prices make it far cheaper to go to a "powered" RV site.

I'd plan on looking at units that come with a 50 amp-service. It is a good idea to have an energy management system when running a 50 amp service. The best of these come from Progressive Industries, and have a life time warranty.

MookieKat wrote:
Anyone convert a TT to all electric? Although we are excited about buying one, I have problems when cooking with gas. The fumes make me feel ill, so am wondering if I can just take an electric hot plate along, or buy a small electric stove/oven combo, if there is such a thing....

Also wondering about the gas water heater...whether it would emit any fumes. I feel ill around gas log fireplaces, too, so I am quite sensitive to the after-burn.

I wonder how we could get around the gas water heater....?

I misspoke when I said it was the AQMD. In fact it's the California Air Resources Board.

Sorry about that.

WoodGlue