? On dry camping for 2 nights propane use?

[Motard112]

Well we are goin to do some dry camping tomorrow for the end of the season last camp before storage. So I have 2 20 gal propane tanks .right now 1 tank is about a quarter filled and the other i under half filled. I have done some dry camping but never payed attention to propane use since they were pretty much full when dry camping.so my question is: it's goin to be in the hi 30's - low 40's at night , will my remaining propane last 2 nights using the furnace set at 68 degrees?we will only have 1 bed opened . The other will stay closed . But I will be using the hot water heater sparingly and the fridge will be running.i kno the battery will make it do to experience with dry camping ..so what does everyone think?

[Motard112]

smkettner wrote:
Do you have an automatic regulator? This would prevent two partially filled bottles.

Just get them both filled and enjoy some heat. You probably have enough but why worry.

Thanks for the comment but please read the post above that I reported this morning about the propane tanks.1 is full and the other is half empty/full .thanks for comment and concerns .so the propane I have no worries.

[time2roll]

Do you have an automatic regulator? This would prevent two partially filled bottles.

Just get them both filled and enjoy some heat. You probably have enough but why worry.

[Motard112]

Padlin wrote:
I agree with Chuck, you're more likely to run out of battery then fuel. I'd get 1 tank filled if you don't want to do both, 1 will last. If it's cold a battery can last less then 1 night. I can do a 3 day weekend with my 2 85 amp batteries when it gets into the 30's if we're somewhat carefully. I weigh my tanks when I'm curious.

Like I said we dry camped for 1 night last week it was in the 30's .furnace was used and when I left the campground the next day at noon my batter showed 2/3 so how can u tell me a battery can last less than 1 night using the furnace? I just dry camped last week for one nite and ran the furnace all night plus in the morning took a hot shower and washed the dishes and listened to the radio while packing up!!!and ur gonna tell me the battery will last less than one night? Did u not read my previous posting ?I ALREADY DRY CAMPED FOR 1 NIGHT IN the 30's WHILE RUNNING THE FURNACE ALL NIGHT and still had plenty of battery the next day.sheesh

I rather learn by my own experience.thanks for the comment tho I will take it all into consideration.

[PAThwacker]

Furnace eats up a battery in one night during cold conditions. I have gizmos and a 2k Yamaha, (4) 7 gallon aquatainers, 25 gallon tote, 12 volt hd tv/dvd, unlimited data plan, micro hdmi netflix to tv, and other goodies for boondocking!

[Motard112]

Well.just to get a better handle on things I went out and weighed my propane tanks this morning.i was way off by guesstimating by picking up the tanks as to real time weight. A 20pd lp tank full is @ 38 pds so with that in mind I weighed both tanks 1 tank was at @ 27pds +-2pds. Which would give me 27pds-18pds(propane tank weight)=@9 pds of lp left.tank 2 is still at @38pds .so apparently I still have 1 full tank and the other tank is 1/2 full. As for propane I have plenty.i will weight the tanks everytime instead of estimating by lifting method.lol.i know I have plenty of lp because I figured what I used last week for one night of dry camping last week before we went to a full hook up site.temp were the same as they forecast it will be the days we dry camp coming up.as for everyone worried about the battery.read my earlier post .besides the furnace use at night which starts at @ 9:30 pm to 8am the next morning .dry camping is conserving everything is limited use .battery operated lanterns powers the light most of the time.and the water heater is only used for dishes and a shower or two more showers=cg shower facilities.so like I said I was still at 2/3 battery the next day by noon.i should have no problems for 2 days dry camping.but we will see.definatley good for one night.might I ad that I only have a 17ft hybrid not a 24+ ft or 5th wheel!

[Padlin]

I agree with Chuck, you're more likely to run out of battery then fuel. I'd get 1 tank filled if you don't want to do both, 1 will last. If it's cold a battery can last less then 1 night. I can do a 3 day weekend with my 2 85 amp batteries when it gets into the 30's if we're somewhat carefully. I weigh my tanks when I'm curious.

[Chuck_S]

You need more fuel and a bigger battery (or two):

The furnace burns one pound of fuel for every hour of flame time. Don't measure this to the minute but it's a good planning number! If you have 15 pounds of LP you get 15 hours of heat. When the fuel runs out your stove, water heater and refrigerator stop working too.

A bigger problem is the furnace draws 4 amps so those same 15 hours of flame time will consume 60 amp-hours of power from your battery. Problem here is the typical "80 amp-hour" Group 24 battery only has about 55 useful amp-hours before the voltage drops too low to run more than a dim light or two.

Two full 20 pound LP cylinders is recommended but without enough battery power you'll not be able to run the furnace very long.

To handle this event I have a pair of full 20 pound LP cylinders and a pair of Trojan T125 batteries on the trailer with at least 200 useful amp-hours of power.

-- Chuck

[jspence1]

I'd bet you'd be OK for propane, personally I would just fill them both and not have to worry about it. But I'm a little crazy like that I fill my tanks if they are below 3/4 and yes I actually do weight them so I know how much is in them.

[Motard112]

Yeah we'll it's funny cuz not only this forum but others as well. Someone will ask a simple question looking for a simple answer and never gets a direct answer .just a big circle of what people think about how u worded the question or maybee misspelled something when they all kno what ur talking about.but I guess that's why they call it learning for the experience when doin it urself.just tryin not to make it a learning experience for my family to run out of heat while camping.so what the heck I figured I would ask fellow campers their opinion from their experience but I guess I was wrong.weird tho .everytime I have gone camping if I have a question everyone at the campground is very nice .and respectful helpful and honest which is a part of camping I like.but I guess that is not so all the time .almost makes me feel like I am still in the city which is one of the reasons I like to camp. To get away from some of the city people.for the people on here that have been straight and honest .thank u.for the others hhhmm they can figure it out!

[path1]

Maybe this will help. I want to see just how long propane would last.
I got a 1 pounder and put a burner on it. The burner was the type you thaw ice with, just the household type. Flame is bigger than my RV frig for sure. It lasted 8 hours 15 min wide open. I couldn't believe it lasted that long.

[PAThwacker]

haha, all types on here. You should see the fool on the towing forum looking for a travel trailer to full time in and tow it with a ford escape (oxymoron 30 plus pages). My htt burns less than a tank all season. Post recovery hurricane sandy and we blew through 2 tanks in a weeklong of power outage. Full electric house requirements put the htt into full use as a refuge center. I bought a 6250 B/S unit to power the house's well pump/sump pump, and septic pump. The htt was powered by a Yamaha 2000w for supplemental heat, battery charging, and the propane was burned up by the furnace, and water heater.

[Motard112]

Let me rephrase that. Lets be realistic , they are 20lb tanks not 20 gallon .my bad on that one .but c'mon I believe some of u would have alittle common sense thinking that I actually had 20 gallon tanks.sheesh.i am asking for a little advise as to if my tanks would make it two days with what I feel was left in the tanks..I wasn't looking for fellow campers to gang up on another camper asking for their opinion.maybee I should just learn through experience instead of askin on a campers forum for opinion and get some wise a-- comments .thanks for making a fellow camper feel welcome!!!!!!

[Golden_HVAC]

20 gallon propane tanks are pretty large, - big enough it would take two large men to pick it up. Maybe a crane if itis full.

You probably have 20 pound propane tanks that hold about 4.4 gallons when full. So lets say both tanks have a total of 5 gallons, or about 500,000 Btu's of propane. This is still enough to run a 10,000 Btu water heater for more than 10 hours (using about 100,000 Btu's) and a 40,000 Btu furnace for 10 hours. The 2,200 Btu refrigerator is a nominal amount of fuel, the refrigerator can run 50 hours on one gallon, but will not run the burner that many hours on a cool weekend.

You should be good to go camping.

I had a 11 gallon propane tank on my class C motorhome. It would run the refrigerator and water heater about 3 weeks in the summer, before needing to fill it.

My class C has a 18 - 19 gallon propane tank, and will last a little over 6 weeks before refilling. Winter can use a lot more fuel, and as little as weeks sometimes.

Fred.

[Motard112]

I have dry camped over night a few times .ex. for one night we dry camped was :the overnight was about 37 degrees. I used the furnace all night set at 70 degrees ,fridge on ,turned the hot water on for 1 shower the next mornin and to wash dishes plus played the radio almost all night and had a 1 light on for about a total of 1.5 hrs use .when we were leaving at noon the next day my battery was still at 2/3 .

[Oasisbob]

You should have more than enough. I personally run one tank empty then open the second closing the first. Then I can fill tank one at my convience and never worry about running out. Also cut an access hole behind my tank cover so can switch over while bed is folded out. Learned that one the43 hard way.