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Propane furnace battery usage

AndyW
Explorer
Explorer
I'm in the process of planning our second weekend trip in our new-to-us motorhome (2004 Forest River Sunseeker 2900). This time we will be without hookups of any kind for 3 days and 2 nights. This park also does not allow any generator use in the campground.

Given that it's supposed to be getting down to around 40 degrees each night, I'm concerned about running the furnace for 2 nights on battery power alone. I have two brand new 12v house batteries, and will only need to run the furnace for 8 hours or so each night while sleeping. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Also, and this is more of a campground etiquette question, but would it be inappropriate to ask the site next to us - which does have electrical hookups - if we could run an extension cord over to their box for a couple hours to recharge our batteries? I'm not trying to skip out on the extra cost of an electric site, there simply were not available.
33 REPLIES 33

Tvov
Explorer II
Explorer II
AndyW wrote:
...
Nice to know I can make it through a long weekend without hookups without any inconvenience now. Honestly unless we need to run the AC, I'm not even sure I'll bother paying extra for an electrical site anymore.


That's kinda where wife and I are right now. Kids rarely camp with us anymore, so we go to all the parks and woods that don't have hookups. Usually enjoy larger campsites and less commotion!
_________________________________________________________
2021 F150 2.7
2004 21' Forest River Surveyor

micd1111
Explorer
Explorer
We use something like this. Also got ours from Harbor Freight. If we think we might run low we put it on the roof or in the window to top off the batteries.
15W 12V solar panel

To make sure we don't drive off with it on the roof we tie a brightly colored sign to our steering wheel whenever it gets deployed. At $70 it doesn't break the bank.
http://1994brave29rqrv.blogspot.com/

pianotuna
Nomad III
Nomad III
Hi,

Solar panels are not really on the toy list especially if camping "off the grid". Mine have paid for themselves in saved campground fees, and battery replacement fees. Cost for 256 watts was $1700.00 plus $600.00 for installation.

One set of four batteries is now ten years old, the others are five years old. They still meet my needs.
Regards, Don
My ride is a 28 foot Class C, 256 watts solar, 556 amp-hours of Telcom jars, 3000 watt Magnum hybrid inverter, Sola Basic Autoformer, Microair Easy Start.

AndyW
Explorer
Explorer
smkettner wrote:
AndyW wrote:
Just a quick update - everything was fine. Running on battery power was a complete non-issue, they were still showing > 50% charge when we left on Sunday. I wasn't even all that careful about power after making it through the first night without the indicator lights even changing.

Nice to know I can make it through a long weekend without hookups without any inconvenience now. Honestly unless we need to run the AC, I'm not even sure I'll bother paying extra for an electrical site anymore.
Some RVs perform better than others. Sounds like your systems are working well and probably some conservation mixed in.

I still recommend 100 to 200 watts of solar and LED lights if you are thinking more often to be off grid.


I agree, and they're on the list, but the toy budget for this year has been spent (and then some...).

time2roll
Nomad
Nomad
AndyW wrote:
Just a quick update - everything was fine. Running on battery power was a complete non-issue, they were still showing > 50% charge when we left on Sunday. I wasn't even all that careful about power after making it through the first night without the indicator lights even changing.

Nice to know I can make it through a long weekend without hookups without any inconvenience now. Honestly unless we need to run the AC, I'm not even sure I'll bother paying extra for an electrical site anymore.
Some RVs perform better than others. Sounds like your systems are working well and probably some conservation mixed in.

I still recommend 100 to 200 watts of solar and LED lights if you are thinking more often to be off grid.

Harvey51
Explorer
Explorer
Interesting. We also find our batteries are okay for four days in summer and two when freezing overnight. We pushed our luck one trip and ruined the batteries in a week with only engine charging while traveling. Some calculations suggest our usage is about 10 amp hrs a day. It takes a few hours of engine charging to recover that. But our new 100 watt solar panel may well provide more than enough, particularly in eliminating battery draw during the day.

Just wondering how much electricity it would take to charge up the batteries.
Say 100 amp-hours = 100x14Vx1hr = 1400 watt hours = 1.4 KWH
That would cost the campground less than 50 cents.
2004 E350 Adventurer (Canadian) 20 footer - Alberta, Canada
No TV + 100W solar = no generator needed

JiminDenver
Explorer II
Explorer II
Andy, that is great and it makes a lot of dry campgrounds usable for you. The next step is boondocking and not even paying for the site. 🙂
2011 GulfStream Amerilite 25BH
2003 Ford Expedition with 435w tilting portable/ TS-MPPT-45
750w solar , TS-MPPT-60 on the trailer
675 Ah bank, Trip-lite 1250fc inverter
Sportsman 2200w inverter generator

AndyW
Explorer
Explorer
Just a quick update - everything was fine. Running on battery power was a complete non-issue, they were still showing > 50% charge when we left on Sunday. I wasn't even all that careful about power after making it through the first night without the indicator lights even changing.

Nice to know I can make it through a long weekend without hookups without any inconvenience now. Honestly unless we need to run the AC, I'm not even sure I'll bother paying extra for an electrical site anymore.

tpi
Explorer
Explorer
Its hard to say because the furnaces are not all the same in their electrical consumption. 6 or 8 amps is often given as a number but mine is rated at about 3 amps. Also they cycle and are generally not running continuously.

Here's a few tips:

Blankets are great, use plenty and set the heat as far down from 70 degrees as you're comfortable with.

Always be sure you start with fully charged batteries. Don't start a parked RV and assume they're still charged from last time, or that the drive will charge them up.

Read through your furnace instructions/spec and try to determine how much power it uses. Learn you battery amp hour capacity and how to figure run time for various loads.

Convert to LED lighting if practical or necessary.

Oh and the question about plugging in at the pedestal in another site... Prearrange it in the office-request permission-pay for it. Don't do it without discussion with management.

micd1111
Explorer
Explorer
I'm really surprised at the responses. We do this all the time with night time temps in the 40s and the thermostat set at 67 or 70. We also don't have any LED lights yet but they are on the list. The only time we had a problem was when our 7 and 8 yr old batteries were going bad. We replaced them with Walmart group 29 batteries and have been going good ever since. We do have hook ups for solar panels from Harbor Freight so we can throw a panel in the front window at the storage lot or on the roof in a camp ground but don't always do it. We easily go 3 nights of full furnace usage.

We also have the foil insulation that we have cut to cover all the windows, exterior roof vents, shower dome etc. We mount these with friction fit or velcro. They are great for keeping heat in at night or keeping heat out and the cool in when the weather is hot.

Our propane tank routinely lasts an entire summer and covers all our trips. Most require heat all night long because we go to the mountains alot. We have never run out with only needing to fill it once per year.

Here is my blog post covering when we replaced our batteries and the decisions we made vs. the common wisdom on the forums.
A battery replacing we will go.
http://1994brave29rqrv.blogspot.com/

liaft
Explorer
Explorer
I dry camped in a 200 sq ft camper in a brutal winter. Temps were single digits to low 20's with high winds and lots of snow. I bought a programmable thermostat from Wally World for $20. I set it to 42F (the lowest setting) during the day while I was gone beginning at 830AM. An hour before I got back, it was set for 72F. It would then drop to 55F at 11PM and back up to 72F at 6AM about 30 minutes before my alarm went off.

My battery is a $69 Wally World special (100ah) trolling motor battery. The battery would last me three days before it needed to be charged. That included powering the lights (incandescent, not LED) and charging my cell phone on an inverter.

Propane, on the other hand, was a different story. 10 pounds a day even with this low usage schedule. Propane furnaces are not very efficient. I recommend that you use a catalytic propane heater to augment your furnace. You can even refill the 1 pound bottles yourself.

You can go on YouTube to see people who dry camp in winter in North Dakota and how they survive. Also, same source you can see how people refill the little 1lb propane bottles.

ddrueckh
Explorer
Explorer
As somebody else pointed out, the heater will not we running the entire 8 hours. It will only run about 15 min/hour. From my experience in my trailer, I use up about 20% per night doing the same. This includes using my water pump and LED lights. If you have group 27 batteries, I think you will be fine. Have fun and don't worry too much.
2011 Chevy Silverado 2500 Crew Cab 4X4 DMax
2000 Jayco QWEST 244B

JaxDad
Explorer III
Explorer III
Bobbo wrote:
A few years ago, we spent a week in Yellowstone in September, when temps got down to or below freezing at night. We have 2 group 27 batteries. We learned the first night that we couldn't keep the thermostat set at 69 degrees all night. The furnace's fan ran the battery down about halfway through the night.

When we started turning the thermostat down to 45 degrees at night, we could get 2, maybe 3 nights on a charge.


Check your batteries if that's the case, I routinely get 3 nights with the stat set to 65 on 2 group 27 batteries.

Bobbo
Explorer II
Explorer II
A few years ago, we spent a week in Yellowstone in September, when temps got down to or below freezing at night. We have 2 group 27 batteries. We learned the first night that we couldn't keep the thermostat set at 69 degrees all night. The furnace's fan ran the battery down about halfway through the night.

When we started turning the thermostat down to 45 degrees at night, we could get 2, maybe 3 nights on a charge.
Bobbo and Lin
2017 F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCab w/Max Tow Package 3.5l EcoBoost V6
2017 Airstream Flying Cloud 23FB