LP Capacity

[grotto69]

New RV'er and FR3 owner. Trying to understand many days and nights of camping in cold 20-30 degree temps can I go before I need to refill my lp tank?


We have camped about 12 days running it at 70 with water heater too. It's on 1/4 tank remaining. Does that sound right? The reason I ask is it was on 3/4. For most of the trip and next time I checked it the gauge read 1/4! I was thinking wow thats quite a drop

What do u guys think?

Grotto

[Rolling Magic]

Originally Posted by grotto69

New RV'er and FR3 owner. Trying to understand many days and nights of camping in cold 20-30 degree temps can I go before I need to refill my lp tank?


We have camped about 12 days running it at 70 with water heater too. It's on 1/4 tank remaining. Does that sound right? The reason I ask is it was on 3/4. For most of the trip and next time I checked it the gauge read 1/4! I was thinking wow thats quite a drop

What do u guys think?

Grotto

I would suggest to look at your tank's gauge for a more accurate reading. The control panel light may not always be correct...

[grotto69]

That is the gauge I was looking at. The one on the tank itself.

[Rolling Magic]

Originally Posted by grotto69

That is the gauge I was looking at. The one on the tank itself.

Oh...

[grotto69]

After the trip. I could have sworn it read 3/4. That was thanksgiving week. We park in storage facility. I went there this weekend and it read 1/4. I was thinking its leaking or something

[Rolling Magic]

Originally Posted by grotto69

After the trip. I could have sworn it read 3/4. That was thanksgiving week. We park in storage facility. I went there this weekend and it read 1/4. I was thinking its leaking or something

Interesting. Did you refill the tank and monitor or are you going to take to dealer to check your gas lines? It could have been just a lot of consumption during your stay. I live in SoCal and I rally run the furnace. Good luck on your project...

[BarbaraG]

Speaking of propane usage... does anyone know what the BTUs are on the FR3 furnace? Or where I can find that information? I'm trying to figure out what my expected propane use is for running the furnace. Looking on the web, I found the following info:

1 gal propane = 4.7 lbs (beware the answer on ask.com where it says one gallon of propane weighs 40 lbs! I saw that and said, 'I don't believe it.' Found a better number.)

Saw a site where people were talking about a furnace using 1.5 lbs/hour. Then another that said propane has 90,000 BTUs per gallon. So, the 1.5 lbs/hour would be about .3 gallon or 30,000 BTUs.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out if I should be using electric or propane for heating. I'm at a park on a monthly basis, so I have to pay for the electricity.

Thanks.

Barbara

[caper]

What is your cost for hydro per KWH. What is the cost of propane. When we were camping in BC for the winter the hydro was 10cent/KWH and propane was $1.00/lb. If I heated with propane I would use 30lb in 5 days or $180/month. Heating with propane my hydro cost were $50 per month. Using 2 electric heaters and a dehumidifier my total hydro bill was $150 per month. I heated my HW with propane. One tank of propane lasted 1 1/2 months. So i was saving about $50 per month by heating with electric heaters.

[BarbaraG]

Good question. I'll have to check at the park office what the KWH cost is. I don't have enough data on my LP usage to know what that will be. Have only been running the furnace for a week.

Thanks.

Barbara

[PhotoMaster]

I just happened upon this thread. We had 2/3 of a tank (on the tank gauge) when we spent one very cold night (19°F) and had heat set at 70°F. By the next morning we were down to 1/3 of a tank. I know the heat ran a lot, but that sounds way excessive. This is on a 2014 FR3 30DS.

[Ford Idaho]

Originally Posted by PhotoMaster

I just happened upon this thread. We had 2/3 of a tank (on the tank gauge) when we spent one very cold night (19°F) and had heat set at 70°F. By the next morning we were down to 1/3 of a tank. I know the heat ran a lot, but that sounds way excessive. This is on a 2014 FR3 30DS.

What if anything was the water heater and fridge running on?
If gas this would all add up quick.

[grotto69]

Thank you sir for asking! :-)

I am a new RV'er and wanted to know how far would my LP would last in temps below 32 degrees.

Running heat in lp and water tank on lp

Everything else on electric

How many weeks would lp last?

[18CrewDually]

My father was a full timer for one winter in his Montana 5er. In freezing cold weather he would go through one tank every other day. He kept the thermostat high around 70. If you want it to last longer, turn it down to about 65 at night.

[BarbaraG]

That does sound like a lot. I've been running my furnace every night and sometimes during the day for 10 days since I last got it filled and it' still showing 2/3 (true it's on the control panel... I'll have to check the gauge). Still 1/3 of a tank in one night, even a cold one, sounds excessive. According to typical numbers I've seen (from my post above), even if it ran steady for 8 hours that should be less than 3 gallons. Of course, I don't know exactly how good those numbers are. Someone else might have a better idea.

Barbara

[Rolling Magic]

For one week I had my set at 64 and it took about 1/4 of a tank. Outside evening temps at the time were 32 degrees. Go figure...

[BarbaraG]

I just checked my LP gauge... I'm at 1/3 tank even though the inside monitor shows 2/3. It must be right on the edge of tripping down to the next level. I've been running the furnace at between 68 and 70 at night, higher in the morning and evening when I'm still up, for 11 nights since filling up. The night temperatures have been mostly in the high 40's; a few in the 30's, a few in the 50's. I paid $4.15 a gallon; 2/3 of 24 is 16 (is it 2/3 or 24 or of 20, not sure about that?). Probably should start using the electric heater a little more since the last eleven nights have cost me ~$65. Hmmm...

[18CrewDually]

Unless your gauge works off of a scale that monitors the weight of the bottle, it's not accurate. Don't rely on them or it could be a cold night. Even chassis mounted LP tanks the gauge is not entirely accurate.

[BarbaraG]

I'm confused. I thought the whole point of the gauge on the bottle was to give a more accurate measure of the amount of propane remaining. Sounds like you're saying these gauges aren't accurate. How, then, are we supposed to know how much propane we have?

B

[cucamelsmd15]

We went through about 1/4 of a tank with the heat on 68 a few weeks ago. Granted, it was 20* outside.

The gauge is based off of pressure IIRC, so dont rely on it. It will read less when cold, more when warm.

For reference, the furnace in a friends toter is also a 35k btu, and it will burn 1/2 gallon of propane per hour running constantly. Most wont run constantly, but cycle on and off. When we camped a few weeks ago when it was 20*, Id say it was running about 40 minutes out of every hour or so.

The other mitigating factor is whether your Dometic t-stat is set to D1 or D2, because that has a major impact on how long the furnace will run.

The fridge and water heater use very minimal propane. The fridge would run something like a few months on the propane supply, water heater probably about the same. A gallon of propane should last the fridge about 5 days, probably about the same for the WH.

[PhotoMaster]

Originally Posted by Ford Idaho

What if anything was the water heater and fridge running on?
If gas this would all add up quick.

The fridge was on shore power and the water heater was off. (RV was winterized)