I got my new gas light.

jaycocreek wrote:

time2roll wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Where a gravity furnace could work in a RV, not use electricity it would burn more propane, unless it was below floor level. A wall mounted unit would put heat high in the room, to pool at ceiling. With nothing to circulate it would take a lot of heat to get that pool down to knees. The fan blower reverses the natural flow in the furnace, so the natural flow in the room helps to heat it.

Plenty of apartments use a vented convection heater on the wall and nobody is getting cold knees for it.

Exactly,we had one in a house when we first bought it..Worked okay just like the gravity furnace did in several truck campers and travel trailers..Those of us that have actually used them in cold temps,actually liked them and the lack of electricity needed...

I will not say a gravity furnace will not work. The coal or wood fired gravity furnace was much better than the pot-belly stove, which was better than the fireplace. But as technology evolved, forced air has proven to be more efficient. Maybe a gravity furnace in RV would heat well enough without the need for electricity. But I would be surprised if propane consumption did not increase. Is it easier to carry extra propane instead of extra battery? I can't say. But IMHO, a better idea would be try to make the air handling part of the furnace more efficient. (In homes, the combustion/heat extraction has improved to the point need to use electricity to remove combustion waste gasses, can't use the natural lift of heat to remove. But save enough in fuel to pay for extra electricity.
Gas lights where a great improvement over oil lamps. And in a application where any time you need light you also need heat, and you had ventilation a gas light would likely be the way to go. And like the OP, want for the nostalgia, then it is the right tool for the job. For off-grid living, solar/battery/LED is state of art. But when a local propane supplier will set the tank just to be sure you buy from them, somebody building on a tight budget might install gas lights, to avoid the up-front costs of a solar set-up. As price of solar drops, less likely.

Even more off topic;
In the early '60s the local natural gas company had a "deal". They would install a pole with gaslight where it would light the sidewalk from drive to stoop. About 1 in 4 houses on the block had them. How much gas did they sell with all those lamps burning 24/7/365?