Questions about RV

[green1]

I have some questions about living in RV. I'm hoping you guys could answers me, Thanks.

1. How often do you have to fill propane in RV? I know it depends on the usage, but I want to know how often you guys do it.

2. How many times can we take a shower and use the bathroom?

3. I also want to know if we can live in RV in Illinois. Maybe some of you are from Illinois, and where is the dump stations.

[doxiemom11]

You did get a couple of good answers, but the size of the tanks will also help determine how long it takes to fill them. The size of the water heater and how many people want to shower as well as how big the propane tank is you want to use and refill. If you will be in a cold weather area, you will want a small electric heater or ceramic heater to use to take the chill off and save running the furnace for really cold weather.

[bsinmich]

The size of your tanks makes a big difference in how long they last. We can get a week of showers, bathroom, cooking for DW & myself when there are no water or sewer hookups. We filled our propane tank last year. All of our tanks are fairly large. We have a small electric heater that keeps the bedroom very warm. Southern IL. would be a lot easier to keep warm in winter than North. Not all RVs are created equal. Some have great insulation and some have none. That is the reason your questions can't be answered accurately

[tatest]

Just thinking about some of the answers. Reading your question tells me you are coming from the "I know nothing about it" level, and while I am not sure what you want to do, I can give you information that will help direct your next questions.

This comes from fifty years of always teaching somebody, at some level, something that I know at least a little better than they do. Toddlers to adults, across cultural and language barriers.

Not everybody here has that experience, or the patience that comes from it. Don't let the harder responses scare you off or get you into arguments. Bear with us, learn, and you'll soon be asking questions more people can answer, and then getting more opinions than information.

[Crowe]

These questions are way too vague for me to want to answer them.

Nothing vague about them. OP is speaking in generalities, not specifics and understands that answers will vary. Obviously he's trying to extrapolate data to use for his own baseline perhaps on where to start looking.

1. As most have stated, it depends on your unit, how much cooking, heating, etc. Using my Endura as an example, we had one very large propane tank. Can't remember how big and can't seem to find the spec, but we camped from spring to fall and filled up once to twice a season, depending on weather.
2. We'd shower as often as we wanted to. We left gray tank valve open as we always used FHU site. Black tank would stay closed and would last 3-4 days, depending on how much we were actually in the campground. This will vary greatly depending on how many people, adults vs. kids, etc. Never boondocked so I can't give that comparison.
3. If you have a 4-season unit, then yes, you can probably us it year-round in Illinois assuming you can find dump stations and a place to park it.

[tenbear]

I think most RV parks in Illinois would be closed in the winter and if open may have the water shut off for fear off freezing. RVs can have water tanks anywhere from less than 20 gallons to about 100 gallons. Same goes for the grey and black tanks. If taking navy showers you could probably take from 6 to 30 showers.

I think I filled my propane tank twice this year, camped about 50 days, rarely used it for heat.

I wouldn't want to live in the winter in an RV in Illinois but I'm sure some do.

[MarkTwain]

Given the generalities of your questions, I would answer in a general sense to your questions:
1. If the temps. where you are located are in the 40 to 50 degrees range at night you will use about 7 gallons of propane every 10 days. More if the temp is lower. Buy a good electrical floor heater from Wall Mart to help save on propane. Get a $50 to $70 dollar heater not a little cheap $29.00 heater. You want the heater to at least heat up your whole front room so you are comfortable without wearing a snow suit:)
2. Black water - if two people are normally showering daily you will fill your tanks with in 8 days to be on the safe side. If you both do a "navy shower" then figure 10 to 12 days assuming you have at least 50 to 60 gallon tanks.
3. My first choice is to always stay in Rv parks that have full hook ups or at least a dump station within the park.
4. Illinois would not be my first choice to RV at in the winter. I would do Ariz. in the winter and then Illionis in the summer.

[skipnchar]

Kind of like asking "how many rooms" are there in a house. Rvs are uniquely built with different size holding and storage tanks not to mention there are many differences in the people who use them and lots of different weather conditions where people camp. All of those will result in greatly different answers.

[clikrf8]

You will want to start simple at first. Propane in our camper doesn't get filled often because we have a compressor fridge which only uses shore power and battery power from solar. We also eat lots of raw foods like fruit, nuts, sandwiches, etc. We do use the propane for heating the camper. Although we have a pop up with insulated soft top, we have warm and cozy sleeping bags and wool blankets on top and bottom. Snuggle. You may want to, as suggested, to find warmer locations. If you are to move, that would save you costs of propane. If you are handy with tools, you can find a used camper and remodel it to serve your purposes. Compressor fridges are not cheap but pay off in the long run. Good luck, you are young so have lots of time to figure it all out. Look at Truck Camper Magazine on line about buying a camper. They talk about new ones, I think, but there may be some ideas for you. The one thing to remember is to not have more camper than your truck can handle.

[green1]

Hi Mr. Camper! I didn't know it's an obvious questions because I'm new here. If you didn't understand my questions you didn't have to answer, thank you anyway. You have a great day!

Mr. Camper wrote:
Other than repeating the obvious I don't understand what you are trying to find out and why. If 50 people respond you'll likely get 50 different responses depending on their personal preference, location, time of year, time of day, how much they eat out vs cook in.

[green1]

Thank you everyone for all your helpful responses.

[green1]

Thank you

rvten wrote:
Fill propane tank about 2 times a year.
Use heat pump or small cube heater as much as possable.
Use induction cook top a lot.

Use full hook ups. Than can use bath room as much as you would at home.
Most IL. RV parks close in late fall and winter.

[green1]

Thank you very much for taking your time to answer all my questions. I will have my husband read this too, thank you. You're very helpful

tatest wrote:
I fill the propane (top it off, at least) at least once every two years. But one time when traveling during winter in Texas, I was having to buy more LPG, about 6-8 gallons, every 2-3 days.

I can use my shower as often as I want to. When the waste tanks fill up, I dump them. Sometimes I have a sewer hookup at my parking site, more often I've had to unhook and drive to the dump station. There is also the option of dumping into a portable waste tank (often called a Tote, that is one brand) and hauling that to a dump station.

Two people might fill my black waste tank in 3-4 days, six people might fill it in one day. My gray tank will fill with 4-5 showers, combined with a couple days washing dishes. But this depends on patterns of use and waste tank size, there are tanks smaller than mine, and tanks much bigger than mine.

You can live in a RV in Illinois, but in the winter you might be cold no matter how much LPG you burn in the furnace, and you might have to be creative about getting a water supply and keeping it from freezing. Not all RVs are the same, some are much more usable in winter than others. The great majority of what is sold is designed for two or three season living, and that is to keep weight down for mobility, and keep costs down to meet low price points. But there are RVs that are as livable as mobile homes.

The issue with winter in Illinois will be where to live in it. Not all RV parks provide full utility services in the winter, many are not even open. But people do live in RVs in the far North, converted for winter use on a permanent site, i.e. the RV becomes a smaller equivalent of a mobile home, no longer moves like a RV.

You will find dump stations at RV parks, some travel centers, and at public campgrounds intended for RV use. Some states have dump stations at rest areas, haven't paid attention to that in Illinois, but I think I've seen this at least at one rest area on I-57 between US-24 and Urbana.

Not all dump stations will be open in winter.

If you are thinking about buying some kind of RV, parking it in a driveway somewhere to use as a permanent home, then you need to be thinking about converting the RV into a small permanent home. That's not really difficult to do, but you need the kind of winter-protected utility hookups found at mobile home parks, not RV parks. And once converted to use these, the RV becomes less useful as a RV.

[green1]

Wishbone51 wrote:
1) If you're just cooking, the propane will last a very long time. Months? If running the furnace, it might last a week or two depending on how cold it is, and how big your propane tanks are.

2) If you have full hook-ups, you can shower and use the toilet as long as you want. You can leave the grey water (sink/shower) valve open, but leave the black (toilet) valve closed until at least 2/3 full. If boondocking (no hookups) the gray tank will fill up fast if you take normal leisurely showers.

3) Google

Thank you. Have a great day!

[tatest]

I fill the propane (top it off, at least) at least once every two years. But one time when traveling during winter in Texas, I was having to buy more LPG, about 6-8 gallons, every 2-3 days.

I can use my shower as often as I want to. When the waste tanks fill up, I dump them. Sometimes I have a sewer hookup at my parking site, more often I've had to unhook and drive to the dump station. There is also the option of dumping into a portable waste tank (often called a Tote, that is one brand) and hauling that to a dump station.

Two people might fill my black waste tank in 3-4 days, six people might fill it in one day. My gray tank will fill with 4-5 showers, combined with a couple days washing dishes. But this depends on patterns of use and waste tank size, there are tanks smaller than mine, and tanks much bigger than mine.

You can live in a RV in Illinois, but in the winter you might be cold no matter how much LPG you burn in the furnace, and you might have to be creative about getting a water supply and keeping it from freezing. Not all RVs are the same, some are much more usable in winter than others. The great majority of what is sold is designed for two or three season living, and that is to keep weight down for mobility, and keep costs down to meet low price points. But there are RVs that are as livable as mobile homes.

The issue with winter in Illinois will be where to live in it. Not all RV parks provide full utility services in the winter, many are not even open. But people do live in RVs in the far North, converted for winter use on a permanent site, i.e. the RV becomes a smaller equivalent of a mobile home, no longer moves like a RV.

You will find dump stations at RV parks, some travel centers, and at public campgrounds intended for RV use. Some states have dump stations at rest areas, haven't paid attention to that in Illinois, but I think I've seen this at least at one rest area on I-57 between US-24 and Urbana.

Not all dump stations will be open in winter.

If you are thinking about buying some kind of RV, parking it in a driveway somewhere to use as a permanent home, then you need to be thinking about converting the RV into a small permanent home. That's not really difficult to do, but you need the kind of winter-protected utility hookups found at mobile home parks, not RV parks. And once converted to use these, the RV becomes less useful as a RV.