Propane Usage

Dave,

If you will be living in your RV in sustained temps below freezing, you will need to pump some heat into the basement in order to heat the tanks. This is done with the RV furnace. Just be careful using only electric heat is all I am saying.

As an aside, Dometic does make AC units with a Heat Pump in them. I have one as my main AC unit. I heat exclusively with that unless I am in temps below about 40*F as the Heat Pump cannot extract any heat from the air at temps below that. Then I use the RV furnace.

If you ever contemplated putting an AC unit in the garage, you could move your existing unit there and put an AC with a Heat Pump in the main area. Then you can get nice heated air through all the AC vents. Easy for me to spend your money

Jim

This is one reason I REALLY like my fireplace...we use it to warm up the lower level, and small ceramic heater sitting on the bedroom floor for the upper level...really helps in conserving propane, and keeps us very comfortable! Usually keeps the temps between 68 and 71...very cozy, even when it's in the teens outside!

Also, like Jim Gratz said, keep the shades completely closed...this keeps a insulating air barrier between the windows and the interior and really helps to keep the cold out. Works for us...

DW_Gray said:

Well I'm glad I found this thread. It just confirmed my discovery tonight in Oregon. Yep, my filled 30# lasted about 3 days here. So I will go out and get an electric heater. Interestingly, I commented to Amy a few days ago wondering why the RVs aren't electric heat anyway. Seems that since we get electric hook-ups, we could save on propane cost. But maybe the reasons is it would draw more than maximum 50 amps.

Click to expand...

Because most parks have a limited number of 50 amp spots. And, the most of those are being used by their long term people. There still are a lot of parks that do not have 50 amp service, period. If a 30# bottle only lasted 3 days, you must have had the thermostat turned up, way, way up.

And, a lot of parks charge for the electricity for people staying more than a couple of weeks. And, some of those electricity rates that make the cost of propane pretty competitive.

leftyf said:

Because most parks have a limited number of 50 amp spots. And, the most of those are being used by their long term people. There still are a lot of parks that do not have 50 amp service, period. If a 30# bottle only lasted 3 days, you must have had the thermostat turned up, way, way up.

And, a lot of parks charge for the electricity for people staying more than a couple of weeks. And, some of those electricity rates that make the cost of propane pretty competitive.

Click to expand...

Actually, Leftyf, we are keeping the thermostat down lower than I like and I'm wearing my jacket. I'm not heating the garage for now. And we are turning it down during the day when we are touring the area. You're right about electric service. We are in a 30 amp spot now and we already learned the limits here.

We are making one more stop going north into Washington, then we're heading southeast to the warmer states.

Oh, here is a question for you all. After about 90 seconds of the furnace coming on, there is popping sound, like the sound of metal expanding, coming from the it; is this normal?

Sometimes these LP tanks do not get purged properly and therefore they will not get filled properly. Check this out.

Mark

Here in the South Sound of WA, we have used less than half of a 40# cylinder in the last 5 days and over night temps have been in the mid 30's. we keep the t-stat set at 64 at night and 68 in the day. Dual-pane windows and the extra insulation of the LM are nice. We only use the electric heaters
when the temps get down in the teens and 20's.

I purchased a Lasko Cyclonic Ceramic Heater from Wal-Mart. I couldn't find the other recommend brand locally. So far I haven't had to use the furnace at all. The Lasko is bigger than the other model but it fits nicely out of the way up against the kitchen cabinet wall on the living room side.

are there any issues with the pelonis 4 disc heaters throwing breakers in the 30 amp sundance ? thanks

charliehorse, I am running a Pelonis four disc heater right now on a 20 amp circuit and it has been going for a week now. No problems.

Peace
Dave

The only time I trip a breaker is when I start the coffee pot or toaster oven and have a heater on the same circuit. 15A circuit can't handle them both.

We have used 2 Polonis 4 disc heaters at the same time without problems. Just run the water heater and fridge on Propane on 30 A

Low Gas & Low 12 Volts after removing from Storage

Gang:
I learned a new "watch out for" last week. I got the rig out of storage and noticed that one tank was depleted and 12 volts was low - all after being in inside storage for just a week. You guessed it - the thermostat was switched to "furnace" instead of "off" before the rig was stored. Another item for the closing up list!!!