Propane Usage

[Headstart]

Anyone have approximate time frames for 30 lb propane tanks during 50 degree temperatures? Just purchased a Cherokee 39 Q and we blew through one tank in about three days. Tanks were new but not sure how full they were.
At this rate spend will be about $60 per week in propane.
Thanks

[arpipeliner]

Depends on the desired inside temp and the in and out of the door.

Water heater uses propane when electric can handle it. If u have shore power and that is an option on your camper.

My experience when DW is here in cooler weather every time she opens the door the heater comes on. Then she gets warm and wants to be outside. One day I will need to say get in or out.


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[BBBlue]

Been here in Charleston, SC 10 going on 11 days with temps 50-mid 60s during the day and as low as 28 degrees at night with an average of 30 degrees and have not yet depleted one 30 lb propane tank yet. We do use the electric fireplace and a small electric heater in the bedroom, water heater on electric only. I set the furnace at 57 during the night and it does periodically come on during extreme lows at night.

[rracer5]

The trick is using alternative power sources wherever/whenever possible. If you're at a campground with electric;

1-Run water heater on electric only (you can use BOTH electric & propane if there is high demand for hot water.... like showers back to back).
2-Use electric heaters (we have the fireplace and a Lasco pedestal heater)
3-Run fridge on electric once you get to your destination (Auto setting)

The furnace and hot water heater (on propane) really suck up propane and can deplete a 30 lb tank in a matter of days.

We have been full timing in PA, NC, SC, VA, & GA since June and am still on the first tank. DW does do a fair amount of cooking on the stove & oven (when it's not a BBQ grill type thing). I do run the fridge on propane during trips between destinations (usually 4-6 hour trips). I've only used the furnace once this year just as a precaution when the overnight temps dipped to the mid 25's one night.....probably didn't need to as it didn't stay that low for very long. The fireplace and pedestal heater keep it mid to high 60's inside even down near freezing outside.

[ykdave]

i get about 2 weeks out of a 30lb once she starts dipping around freezing.

Thats with the fridge on elec, hot water on propane/elec and keeping it south of 70 inside (i hate heat LOL). I dont cook a whole lot though, and the oven/stove will eat up its fair share of propane.

currently im running a 400LB(80gal) pig as a more reasonable solution for the winter over swapping 30LB bottles frequently and dealing with poor vaporization in the extreme cold. Our weather has been all over the place, everything from -25f for a week to ~30f. over the course of a month (mid nov - mid dec) i burnt 75L (20gal) or appx 84lbs of propane. this is also running a 600w space heater in the living room and the garage is only heated by the factory elec fireplace

[Kuba]

Electric is the key, if you can "plug it in"

[jbrostek]

If you are solely heating on propane, 3 days for around 7 gallons of propane is about right. At the minimum you can cut your use down aith 1 1500 watt exectric heater and making sure your Water Heater and Fridge are using electric.

For me due to the design of the heat in the RV I don't try to avoid having the furnace turn on when its near or below freezing, but I do try to heat with as much electric as I can that it only cycles once or twice per hour.

The only time it ran more then that was last year when it was 9F with a wind chill below 0 when my truck broke down in NC on my way south for vacation. Then it took 2.5 days to deplete one completely full bottle.

[MeepMeep]

Originally Posted by arpipeliner

Depends on the desired inside temp and the in and out of the door.

Water heater uses propane when electric can handle it. If u have shore power and that is an option on your camper.

My experience when DW is here in cooler weather every time she opens the door the heater comes on. Then she gets warm and wants to be outside. One day I will need to say get in or out.


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Love to be there when you tell her that.....

[rracer5]

Update; 12/18/14, Used up the first tank on the first leg of out Holiday trip. Checked the tank guage on our first "pit" stop and found it in the red. Swiched to the second tank and re-fired the fridge for the rest of the trip.

[Oaklevel]

We did not camp as much this year. Used less than 2 30lb bottles for a 10 days in July, a 10 days in Sept, two cold weeks plus a couple in Nov. each time we had 4 to 6 people in the camper.

For us a bottle at 50 degrees would last a month......

Consumption will be different for everyone & the furnace uses the most.....

[techntrek]

The more people you pile into the camper, the more free heat you get. Each one is good for 100 watts.

[donanddona]

You mention 50 degree mark. Is that noon or midnight. Early mornings (4-7am) are much cooler. We keep the inside temp around at 62 at night and 66 day. And use snuggies and slippers while watching TV. When temps are 40-50 outside and using a ceremic heater our propane is only used to cook and heat water. The furnance seldomly comes on (a 30lb bottle last 3-4wks). If we Just use the furnance then a bottle can last 6-8 days.

[arpipeliner]

Originally Posted by MeepMeep

Love to be there when you tell her that.....

This morning in moundsville WV. Told her to make a snowman with the boy in the field and not to be in and out.

Weird thing. Heard something like chicken quacking or ducks quacking. Did notice a weird hand cramp that affected all her fingers on her hand except one.

Traded my lunch with a guy at work to be safe. All the weird sounds and cramps or spasms in the hand. Figured to be smart and see if was a sign of affection or something. Check on him in the morning to see.


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[Cookies & Chips]

We just switched from a 32' towable trailer to a 42' Salem Park model this year at our seasonal site. We aren't full time, and generally use it for weekends and the odd week of vacation time.
We were used to going almost a full season on 2 x 30 lbs tanks, used for space heating, water heating, stove/oven cooking, and at times the frig.
On our new unit, the propane is only for the stove and space heating, and somewhat surprised that we just blew thru one of the 30 lbs over 3 days on a weekend just used for space heating with temps in the 60/70 range.
We replaced the dual stage regulator, main hose, and both tank hoses this summer, and I have sprayed them down with soapy water to ensure there are no leaks, but this rate of consumption seems excessive.
Should I be checking the black iron piping under the trailer too for leaks, or is this to be expected?

Thanks

[gasman6674]

There are 91,500 btu per gallon on propane and approx 7.5 to 8 gallons in a 30# cylinder, Add up you BTU load for the furnace (30,000 I think) water heater, fridge (9,000 I think) and range (burners are 9,000 ea I think) you can get this info from the manuals or off of the tags on the units. Then you can get a rough idea of consumption. When the furnace is blowing heat its usually at full flame same with water heater when its on its at full output.

Hope this helps.

[Cookies & Chips]

The Suburban P-40 Furnace is 40,000 BTU, and nothing else was run off the propane during this time, as the 20 gallon water heater is only electric, and my wife hasn't used the stove.

So can I assume that the furnance 40,000 BTU consumption would be over an hour if it was allowed to run that long continuously?

If this is the case, and (91,500 x 8 = 732,000 BTU's available) then divide by 40,000 ... when the furnace has run approximately 18.3 hours, the tank should be empty. This of course is assuming nothing is lost during the cycling.

We did notice that the AC unit cycled a lot during hot periods, which really is showing us how much difference insulation makes if this is the case.

Our last trailer has 2" walls of rigid foam and 3" thick rigid ceilings with fiberglass sides (instead of the stick frame and aluminum siding we have now) and the furnace hardly had to run to keep it warm.

[Oaklevel]

Are you sure that the bottles were full / filled totally?? ......... we have a 36 ft alum sided wood frame & can go on two 30 lb bottles including 32 degree temps at times.... for the whole season / year. We also run the water heater on gas as well....


Also aren't your calculations assuming that it ran continously without cycling ?????

[Cookies & Chips]

Yes as I had both tanks refilled the weekend before at Costco, and the gas was turned off when we left for the week, and turned back on this past weekend on Friday evening. The tanks are less than a year old.

At this point I am suspecting a slow gas leak somewhere as the consumption just doesn't make sense to me, given it is only the furnace consuming it.

We have not smelled propane at all, and as mentioned before, the Regulator (Marshall) tank hoses, and main regulator to steel pipe hoses were all replaced in the last two months and soap tested. This was done due to the cheap regulator failing the diaphragm inside.

The black iron piping under the trailer is the only place not soap tested yet, but all looked good when I was under there blocked the trailer and leveled when we parked it in July.

[Cookies & Chips]

While this weekend was somewhat warmer, I think I may have discovered one possible cause.

When we bought this new to us trailer, we had to replace the regulator, which I also decided to replace the tank lines as well given they looked rather dried out.

The new tank lines have plastic thread on tank connectors, which I discovered this weekend, will still turn almost a full turn after the point you normally would stop given the feel.

They are a different brand than I normally use, and my guess is that the seals are compressing until they physically bottom out and haven't taken a "form" yet.

I've replaced a number of propane lines and regulators over the years, but haven't seen this before ... time will tell if this is it.