electric RV appliances

[Mayor30]

I just watched a video from a large RV dealer. Not sure what all the brands are they carry,but he said he's noticing a trend for 2024 units that some manufacturers are not offering propane appliances. The units have 120/12 volt refridgerators and electric range tops and water heaters. I guess that's ok if you always have electric hookups and the electric never goes out. I love the freedom my propane appliances give me. I don't boondock a lot,but when I do I can go 4 or 5 days with my dual batteries and propane. Occassionally we may stop at a rest area and use the stove to heat up a meal and in colder weather,run the furnace to keep the camper warm. I know there's a big push to eliminate fossil fuels,but it seems that propane and camping have done the job for a long time and I don't see this changing in my lifetime. But I'm 71 so that may not be that long.

[free_radical]

I dont have propane,and never will,since acident with litle Coleman cooker.

Use Espar diesel heater. Very eficient and dry heat.

All electric RV is nice if you have enough batteries and solar. Pricey and I got no room for many panels.

Love natural gas heat in my house tho,cheap and can run even without electric power.

[free_radical]

Birdnst wrote:
Yall keep putting all your money into all these EV's and solar.
China really appreciates all your support and backing.

Im sure they do :B
Btw
Where is your Iphone made ?

[ppine]

I boondock most of the time and use propane. We use no electric appliances.

[wa8yxm]

This is a 2 part post the first part is in response to the quoted text.

Birdnst wrote:
Yall keep putting all your money into all these EV's and solar.
China really appreciates all your support and backing.

That is changing.. First they have found major Lithium deposits in the USA if I'm not mistaken plus working on more and more different types.

And we now have a battery plant under construction here in MICHIGAN and another I read about in another state. and those are just the ones I know of.
===================================================

Now to the reason I'm posting in this thread.

For Some time I've been reading fear filled posts about Propane appliances... Some folks just flat do not trust them and want "All Electric" Because they think it's somehow safer.. They seem to think for example that the Fridge Fires only happen on Propane (not true) or they are worried about Leaks or some such.. Well leaks are rare (Valves left open are more common).. If you smell propane. Take care (Get out do not turn on lights or flick your bic) But I grew up with propane.. and had natural gas (Same hazards) in the house for over a quarter century (long enough my wife forgot how to cook on electric).

That's the big "Draw" of the all electric.. And it's 99% myth (or more)... Propane properly respected is safe.. I might add electric NOT properly respected is dangerous as well (I have electronics certificates) I can tell you that 500 VDC is very ...er.. Shocking.

(I also have expierence).

Now we get to today.. Folks claim that Gas Stoves are worse for the environment. Convinced I'm not.. But I remain open to evidence.

I mean let's talk about your electric burner
You burn some fuel. Coal, Oil, Gasoline, Nuclear or in a few cases solar/wind/water (There is a major solar field just east of me. alas not my power company). Usually they boil water (ICE generators crank the coils direct) to produce steam which then turns a turbine that turns the generator coils.... Be it an ICE powered generator or steam powered the conversion from fuel to rotational energy is not 100%.
The conversion from Rotational to electricity is also not 100%.

Now we run it down miles of wires and through multiple transformers (Line loss in the wires and other losses in the transformer) and finally it arrives at your house where the only 100% efficient device in the chain... The heat element... Heats your teapot.

Now let's recount the propane range.. You burn propane to heat the teapot.

WOW was that easier to type.

[JRscooby]

Over the years I have been eliminating propane from our camper. Nothing political about it, just why haul what don't use? 20 lb tank, use 3-4 lbs a year, camping 1 weekend a month? First to go was stove. Camping, I prefer to cook fire and charcoal. (real hot days this summer, 3AM, Dutch Oven in back yard fixing supper. Use microwave to reheat)
Burn bans have forced me to pack electric skillet and crock pot.
Still carry Coleman lantern, good for light and heat. Fridge runs on 12V traveling, and 120 campground. I have rigged it up so if we are going to stop for very long I can level camper, screw on 1 lb bottle and light it.

[RLS7201]

I guess we all have our needs. We're still old school. We snowbird in the BLM desert. Have to dump about every 10 days. Fill propane about every 45 days. 600 watts of solar keeps the batteries up.
If we don't like our neighbors, we move a mile or 2.
It's cheaper than living in our sticks and bricks.

Richard

[LouLawrence]

It's all about what you do, where you go, how you travel, etc. We are all electric including 240V cooktop and 240V dryer. We can only cook (except convection/microwave oven) when connected to 50 amp or running the generator and we are OK with that. We love to dry camp and we run the genset when necessary. We carry 6-4D batteries which handle most of our daily needs but we run the genset in the morning for a few hours and in the evening for a few more. We also have no propane as our residential fridge runs off the inverter without issue or additional genset runs required. We are not solar and never plan to be. The genset uses fuel from our 200 gallon diesel tank so we can sit in the desert for weeks if we wanted to, but why would we want to? We run through fresh water (145 gallons) in less than a week so we are going to have to move somewhere anyway. We generally use that requirement as how long we plan to stay at any one location. This might not work for you, but it's perfect for us.

[valhalla360]

First I've heard of a push for electric stoves but 12v fridges seem to have become standard around 2021 (it's a transition not a hard stop).

As part of this, you are seeing units come with solar from the manufacturer.

Our current trailer has a 10cft 12v fridge in the cabinet for an 8cft propane fridge along with a 50w panel (with newer units are stating around 200w). Plus it cools much faster when you start it up or add warm food.

Over the summer doing Alaska we did a fair number of off grid overnights and typically, the next morning our basic pair of 12v batteries were around 12.5-12.6v. Figure we could do 2-3 days with that system if we had to and it would be easy to upgrade the solar for near unlimited time.

Very few people spend several days not moving, not running the generator, in a heavily shaded campsite. As a result for 99% of buyers, the move to a 12v fridge is an advantage not a loss. I expect within 3-4yrs, you will have to special order a propane fridge with many manufacturers not interested in doing it even as a special order.

I expect propane stoves will be around longer as you still need propane for the furnace and feeding the drastically higher power consumption is more of an issue.

[Birdnst]

Yall keep putting all your money into all these EV's and solar.
China really appreciates all your support and backing.

[Boomerweps]

JimBollman wrote:
I'm thinking of adding more battery power, not sure of the solar because of the shape of my roof.

Do a YouTube search on “CIGS solar panels”. Actually rollable solar panels, can be had in self stick versions, very efficient but long. I’m using two of the compact 100watt units with a couple so called flex panels to augment. They might work for you.

I’ve never used my propane burners to cook on or the furnace or run the refrigerator. I did use the propane for the water heater when I had electrical issues. I plan on using more propane if I can get SWMBO into more travel. The solar/lithium upgrades were also for that.

[JoeH]

Our 2013 Newmar was offered as all electric only when we ordered and bought it new in 2013. I was concerend about not having propane after having Class A's for 20 years prior and having propane refer/furnace/bbq grill/griddle,etc.
Now, 10 years later, I have no concerns. Everything has worked OK, I did have to buy an electric grill, and now I have and electric griddle, air fryer, slow cooker and other odds and ends. Refer is huge and works great. Now, we pretty much always are at a FHU site in out travels, which are typically 8-9 months a year.

[QCMan]

If you like the propane for its practical reasons, Lance still makes units with traditional appliances. Always nice to have the luxury of dual fuels.

[JimBollman]

My current B is all electric. I was skeptical when we bought it but it is a fairly minimal B to begin with and it has worked out well. I wish I had more battery and some solar but we only are in no power camping situations once sometimes twice a year. We bought a small butane/propane 1 burner to cook on when we are off the grid and use a cooler. We enjoy a refrigerator that doesn't have to be perfectly level and works well and gets cold fast.

I'm thinking of adding more battery power, not sure of the solar because of the shape of my roof. I never use the generator just too noisy. If I can find a shop that does fabrication work I may have the generator removed an a large storage/battery box installed.

[pianotuna]

I rarely use propane except for the fridge while travelling.

[midnightsadie]

don,t buy what YOU don,t want and tell them so.