Is it cheaper to heat my RV on propane or electric?

[Sea_Six]

I'm paying for both the propane and electricity.

43' fifth wheel with four slides- around 400 sf or so. 2013 Dutchmen. Winters here in NW FL are mild. We get 40-50° temperatures at night typically. Occasionally it will get into the 30's and we will have a few days of subfreezing weather per year.

I have a heat pump in the main ac but the reversing valve has failed so it's just an ac for now.

I have two 1500W electric fireplaces and they seem to do a good job of keeping the place warm enough for me and my Golden Retreiver.

But would I save money if I use the propane furnace instead?

[wa8yxm]

The answer depends on how much you pay per KWH and how much per gallon.. There is a formula plastered on several web sites as to how to compare them..

USUALLY propane is cheaper.. USUALLY.. not always.. Especially if you are paying park prices for propane.

[larry_cad]

Cost difference is small, but convenience factor makes a difference. I use both, but because of convenience, I use electric more during times when it is above freezing. However, when the temp goes down below freezing, I use propane more in order to keep the basement warm, to prevent pipes there from freezing. Electric heaters don't heat the basement.

By using a combination of both, it makes my propane last longer.

[prichardson]

It really depends on the cost of each in your area. The combined draw of the space heaters is 3 KW per hour of running. Your furnace will draw its rated BTU per hour of running. A gallon of propane contains apx. 90,000 BTU.

[TenOC]

guidry wrote:
Propane is probably cheaper but you’d have to refill whereas electric you don’t.

I am not sure that propane is cheaper because the RV furnace is not very efficient. If you have a unvented Mr Heater propane heater that is APPROVED for use in a close RV or other type catalytic heater. That is no problem with CO, the propane is cheaper. However, with an unvented heater water vapor can be a problem.

[RJsfishin]

Don't know how propane could be cheaper when 25% of the heat is going out the exhaust. But nothing is cheaper than my 2 Olycats on propane

[guidry]

Propane is probably cheaper but you’d have to refill whereas electric you don’t.

[DustyR]

I paid apx .21 per KWH in the RGV and heated with electric or propane. Mild winters cost per month was pretty much equal electric or propane. Apx $48 per month.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Prove it to yourself.

Even if electricity was dirt cheap at ten cents a kilowatt hour just your two heaters would mean thirty cents per hour -- ten hours three dollars -- ninety dollars per month.

But ten cents per kWh is like the days of the buck and a quarter breakfast special and grocery store Ten For A Dollar chicken pot pies.

The actual cost is more like three times that. I remember my aunt in Seattle hooting "We pay three cents per kWh for power!" That was sixty years ago.

Your propane furnace probably has 500% more heating power available.

[valhalla360]

If you pay per KWH, propane is cheaper.

If electric is included in the sit, electric is cheaper.

[HadEnough]

Propane is cheaper.