Propane at high elevation

Many people say that altitude doesn’t effect propane devices. Really? Heating systems don’t modulate propane delivery? Hmmm. If you were at 18,000 feet where there’s half the partial pressure of oxygen, a propane heater wouldn’t be effected. Oh? It would light as normal where there’s 1/2 the partial pressure of oxygen? In burning, a given proportion of the propane will burn with the available oxygen, but the rest delivered…? Does it disappear? Is it not burned, and just enters your trailer to eventually either explode or suffocate you?

Furnaces have devices that measure the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, just as every internal combustion or turbine engine have today: fuel is metered accordingly.

I would ask a physicist. There are far too many people that believe cloth masks prevent you from exhaling carbon dioxide. As Jon Stewart said, “Irrational thinking will never be overcome by empirical evidence.”
 
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My primary residence and where I keep my Wildcat 5th Wheel is just south of Breckenridge, Colorado at an altitude of 10,604 feet (as measured at the top of my well casing). I have friends/family stay in it when needed and use the furnace, fridge, stove, and bar-b-q with no problems.
The main problem you may face is the onset of the cold. Nights here are already in the mid 40's and I had a heavy frost(had to scrape the windshield in the morning) last week.
Have fun and enjoy the trip.

Thanks for the info. The forecast is for nights in the mid 20's while we're there, days in the low 60's. Sounds perfect to me and we'll be prepared!
 
Mike, as you know, we live in Colorado and camp at >9,000' quite often. But we bought our used MH in Huntsville, Alabama 2 years ago and immediately drove it back home. A few weeks later, we took it to a USFS cg. at Turquoise Lake, elevation 10,056', near Leadville. We also have a 12v fridge, but did not adjust any of the propane appliances--cooktop, furnace, tankless water heater, or generator. We were dry camping, so we used those propane appliances almost exclusively (we did turn on the inverter to run the microwave as we have no propane oven). We also used the generator without a problem when the shaded solar panels couldn't keep up with the Li battery drawdown by our third day of camping. So, to answer your question, we have never had to adjust any of the propane appliances even when we were at sea level on the Oregon coast last fall.

We also never adjusted any propane appliance in our former travel trailer and fifth wheel, both of which were purchased in Chicago. We towed those trailers from high elevations to sea level all over the West, including Canada and Alaska. Maybe they didn't work as efficiently as they might have with some adjustments, but they always worked, including the propane-120vac fridges.

Incidentally, we were camped in another USFS cg. near Grand Lake 10 days ago. Although only at 8,200', the nighttime temps were mid-40s. So, fall is not too far off!

Thanks, that's all great to hear! I'll be starting the trek out there in a little over a week. Spending the last night in 'civilization' at Cayton Campground off Highway 145 in Rico before heading higher up the mountain. Just came back from a week in the adirondacks, everything worked great there, elevation was only around 2500'.
I don't plan to change anything before heading up to 10,000+, will be equipped to deal with any potential problems. I'll let you know how it goes!
 
Many people say that altitude doesn’t effect propane devices. Really? Heating systems don’t modulate propane delivery? Hmmm. If you were at 18,000 feet where there’s half the partial pressure of oxygen, a propane heater wouldn’t be effected. Oh? It would light as normal where there’s 1/2 the partial pressure of oxygen? In burning, a given proportion of the propane will burn with the available oxygen, but the rest delivered…? Does it disappear? Is it not burned, and just enters your trailer to eventually either explode or suffocate you? ”

Good info to think about when camping at 18,000'.
 
I'm in Colorado. We are often at or above 8000'. Never gave it a thought. 10,000 is quite a bit more, but things will just burn a bit richer...
The hot water heater probably has an adjustable air shutter, so you can easily adjust the air intake to correct for altitude. The range will very likely be unphased. I can't speak for the furnace, because adjusting the air/fuel mix isn't easy like the hot water heater. I've had mine out to fix it, but I never messed with the fuel/air mix.

How about your generator? It's gonna run VERY rich. Bring a few spare spark plugs. I bought mine from Amazon, so I have a "sea level" jet in the carb. Sooner or later, it will foul the plug, and if you have ever opened up an inverter generator, it's like opening a watch...everything wants to fly apart, and stuffing it all back in there is a real chore...thus no high altitude jet.

Depending on when you're here - hunting season? - it may be quite cold. You'll likely see snow at 10K in October. ****, I've been snowed on over Memorial Day Weekend. You should be considering whether or not your rig is ready for sub-freezing weather...or you may need to winterize your water system. As of yesterday, there is still snow visible on the relatively low peaks (just above tree line) from where we camp. It may be 75 to 80 degrees at lake level, but it's still quite brisk up there.

Hey Jim,
Thanks for all of the info. We'll be up there starting Sept 8th for black powder elk season. My rig is equipped with the arctic package, heated tanks etc., so we should be ok, expecting mid 20's overnight and 60's daytime.

My generator does have an easy altitude adjustment that I haven't tried yet. Good advice on the spare plugs, I'll definitely bring a couple.

The water heater, range and coach heater will be an experiment. Hopefully everything works but if not we'll be fine, been doing this in a small two man tent every other year!
 
Many people say that altitude doesn’t effect propane devices. Really? Heating systems don’t modulate propane delivery? Hmmm. If you were at 18,000 feet where there’s half the partial pressure of oxygen, a propane heater wouldn’t be effected. Oh? It would light as normal where there’s 1/2 the partial pressure of oxygen? In burning, a given proportion of the propane will burn with the available oxygen, but the rest delivered…? Does it disappear? Is it not burned, and just enters your trailer to eventually either explode or suffocate you?

Furnaces have devices that measure the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, just as every internal combustion or turbine engine have today: fuel is metered accordingly.

I would ask a physicist. There are far too many people that believe cloth masks prevent you from exhaling carbon dioxide. As Jon Stewart said, “Irrational thinking will never be overcome by empirical evidence.”
I don't think anyone says they won't be effected just not to the point of not operating usually . Also any un-burnt fuel does not enter the unit and explode or suffocate you . Don't know of any device on RV furnaces or water heaters that regulated gas to air mixtures for Altitude except many the air shutter on a water heater . there are to many people that think cloth masks protect them .
 
Many people say that altitude doesn’t effect propane devices. Really? Heating systems don’t modulate propane delivery? Hmmm. If you were at 18,000 feet where there’s half the partial pressure of oxygen, a propane heater wouldn’t be effected. Oh? It would light as normal where there’s 1/2 the partial pressure of oxygen? In burning, a given proportion of the propane will burn with the available oxygen, but the rest delivered…? Does it disappear? Is it not burned, and just enters your trailer to eventually either explode or suffocate you?

Furnaces have devices that measure the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, just as every internal combustion or turbine engine have today: fuel is metered accordingly.

I would ask a physicist. There are far too many people that believe cloth masks prevent you from exhaling carbon dioxide. As Jon Stewart said, “Irrational thinking will never be overcome by empirical evidence.”

So, nobody on this forum is towing an RV to 18,000 feet or anything close.

As for unburned combustion byproducts resultant from sea-level "jetting":
1) On a gasoline/propane engine, they come out the exhaust as unburned hydrocarbons. On the exhaust side of my running genny, one can detect the faint odor of eau-de-'63-Chevy...but only very faint.
2) On a propane burner with a sea-level orifice, the fuel will burn rich, but your fears that unburned, yet explosive, propane will fill the cabin are unfounded. They do, after all, pass through the open flame on the burner. :eek:

I LIVE at 8000 feet, and my genny, from Amazon, has sea-level jetting on the carb. My only challenge is having to replace the spark plug about once a year due to the over-rich mixture. I'd change the carb jet, but if you've ever opened up an inverter generator, you already know that it's like opening a spring-wound watch, and putting it back together in its case is more a matter of luck and magic than skill.

As for my rig, I have no idea if the propane orifices were setup for the dealer's altitude...about 5280'. What I do know is that all the propane systems work as expected at 8000 feet (every weekend during the summer), and I have no irrational fears of a propane buildup in the cabin from unburned propane...and my propane detector agrees with me. I confess that I didn't consult a physicist before writing this response. I'm simply relying on about 14 years of experience camping at high altitude in the Rockies.

SMH. :facepalm:
 
So, nobody on this forum is towing an RV to 18,000 feet or anything close.

As for unburned combustion byproducts resultant from sea-level "jetting":
1) On a gasoline/propane engine, they come out the exhaust as unburned hydrocarbons. On the exhaust side of my running genny, one can detect the faint odor of eau-de-'63-Chevy...but only very faint.
2) On a propane burner with a sea-level orifice, the fuel will burn rich, but your fears that unburned, yet explosive, propane will fill the cabin are unfounded. They do, after all, pass through the open flame on the burner. :eek:

I LIVE at 8000 feet, and my genny, from Amazon, has sea-level jetting on the carb. My only challenge is having to replace the spark plug about once a year due to the over-rich mixture. I'd change the carb jet, but if you've ever opened up an inverter generator, you already know that it's like opening a spring-wound watch, and putting it back together in its case is more a matter of luck and magic than skill.

As for my rig, I have no idea if the propane orifices were setup for the dealer's altitude...about 5280'. What I do know is that all the propane systems work as expected at 8000 feet (every weekend during the summer), and I have no irrational fears of a propane buildup in the cabin from unburned propane...and my propane detector agrees with me. I confess that I didn't consult a physicist before writing this response. I'm simply relying on about 14 years of experience camping at high altitude in the Rockies.

SMH. :facepalm:
Jim, thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience. I have no idea why someone bumped this up to 18,000', won't be going anywhere near that. We will be at about 10,000' as previously stated.
 

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