Forum Discussion
StirCrazy
Nov 06, 2021Moderator
Gjac wrote:StirCrazy wrote:If you use the buddy heater correctly you won't have a problem. I use it to warm up the bathroom so wife can take a shower at night, and use it to take the chill of the MH in the morning I don't run it at night when we sleep even though it has a CO safety shut off. My 2 6vGC batteries last easily for a week and are at 50% SOC but generally out of water. What do you do for water after a week or more? My limiting factor has always been water never battery power?Gjac wrote:CavemanCharlie wrote:Since 2004 I only used the furnace maybe 6 times. In the fall I use a Buddy Heater and it uses no 12v power. I camp in the woods so solar would do little good, I have never needed to recharge with my genset in 7 days of dry camping and have never understood any of the solar or Li battery recommendations for week end campers. I understand many on here full time and others have much more electrical requirements than I do, but for people that just like to dry camp for a week without electronic devices 2 6VGC batteries are fine. I always run out of water before battery power.Gjac wrote:
If you boondock 30% of the time I would stick to the el/propane refer forget the solar for now and get 2 6v GC batteries. You will have more than enough power for 3-5 days dry camping if you just camp in the NP's. If you have don't have to watch TV our play video games or use electric devices while dry camping. As a data point I dry camp only and in 7 days my 2 Sams club batteries are down to 50% SOC without solar or genset usage. .
I am just a weekend camper but, with my 2 6V GC batteries and Propane fridge I can go 4 days, easy! And have power left over. I changed all my lighting to LED's and I use the television for about 1 hour a day in the morning to watch the local news and weather. The furnace is the big power hog ! I just rarely use it. Sometimes I turn it on in the morning to take the chill off.
most of us would never use a buddy heater in an enclosed space, not the safest thing to do. when they are working properly and you have a window cracked there ok, but as soon as somthing changes in them as they age they can throw a lot of co2.
so ya I camp a lot in the spring and fall when you need the heater, I also camp a lot in the forest and I still get enough light for the solar panels. I used to weekend camp ost of the time, and ya I still do.. in my old trailer I didnt have solar and I could go over night with the batteries that came from the rv place. as in one car type battery. so I went out and bought four 6V batteries and found in the summer I could go for over a week if I was carfull and winter I could do a long weekend, so when I got the 5th wheel I kept the same batteries and added a substantial amount of solar. now there is no limit in the summer and the same in the winter if it is sunny and depending on how cold and how much the furnace is running but generaly if its real coold I can go for a long weekend anyways. I find the older I get I do fewer but longer trips.
Steve
ya water used to be an issue, and when I had 4 to 6 of us (kids are moved out now) water was a limiting factor. I had a old rv water tank that I built a bracket to sit in the back of the truck and a 12V transfer pump. so my trailer only had 32 gal of water and I could do a trip and almost fill it. other times we wouldent be in one spot for 2 weeks but we would move to a different site every 3 to 5 days and fill up and dump doring the moves. then I bought the 5th wheel which doubled my water and the two kids moved out or went to school, so the wife and I can easily go a week with out worring about water and two weeks if we conserve. I also take 5 gal jugs and bottled water for drinking on extended trips to conserve the tank water for dishes, cooking and bathroom stuff.
Steve
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