# Heat- Lp Gas Guzzler?



## fgump23 (Nov 4, 2007)

I have 2-32KG Lp gas containers. Both were full to my knowledge. My trailer is plugged in at my house. I ran the heat in my TT the 1st night and left the Thermostat at about 70. The next day the trailer is cold. I thought the heat might run on electric, but heard the igniter trying to start, so realized it is gas. I went out changed over my tank to the other tank, and turned the thermostat down to 62, just to keep it from freezing in TT as we had a semi cool night. The next day it is cold again, I go out and check my tank and it is dry. 2-32Kg Tanks of LP in 2 days, what is wrong? I have not had any loss of LP until I fired up my heater which I just did about a week ago, before that it has sat at the dealer getting repaired for about 6 weeks. I have used off 1 tank the stove, the outside grill and had only used maybe 1/2 tank since I 'v e owned it. I am going out this weekend and I need to know how I can fix it before I go out. ANy suggestions. Thanks.


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

I used the heat for a week when the inlaws stayed in the TT and had run the fridg,oven/stove and water heater for two weeks camping and I'm still on the first tank. Did you weigh the tanks to determine how full they were? James


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## jgheesling (Sep 28, 2004)

Here is the best calculation of run time. I think we have 30,000 Btu Furnaces and 30 pound cylinder which when full is approx 7 gallons. A single gallon of propane can generate 91,690 BTU (British Thermal Units) of energy, There is typically a 80% efficiency rating on a furnace so we can get approx 73,352 BTU out of a gallon of propane. Divide that by the 30,000 btu furnace and you get roughly 2.4 hours per gallon. 2.4 hours multiplied by the 7 gallons in a tank and you got about 17 hours of burn time in a 30 # tank. Notice that is burn time.


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## fgump23 (Nov 4, 2007)

GarethsDad said:


> I used the heat for a week when the inlaws stayed in the TT and had run the fridg,oven/stove and water heater for two weeks camping and I'm still on the first tank. Did you weigh the tanks to determine how full they were? James


I did not weigh either tank. They where both to my "stupid" knowledge full when I bought the trailer which was 3 months ago







. But I thought that running the heat was what others have told me to do if it gets cold out to keep the lines from freezing if they are not going to winterize. I only ran it at a low temp to keep from having to heat the TT from real cold status.


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

The dealers are great at letting tanks go out 1/2 full or if you bought it used it may go out the way it came in Empty. Ask me how I know. James


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## fgump23 (Nov 4, 2007)

jgheesling said:


> Here is the best calculation of run time. I think we have 30,000 Btu Furnaces and 30 pound cylinder which when full is approx 7 gallons. A single gallon of propane can generate 91,690 BTU (British Thermal Units) of energy, There is typically a 80% efficiency rating on a furnace so we can get approx 73,352 BTU out of a gallon of propane. Divide that by the 30,000 btu furnace and you get roughly 2.4 hours per gallon. 2.4 hours multiplied by the 7 gallons in a tank and you got about 17 hours of burn time in a 30 # tank. Notice that is burn time.


So by your calculations I should have 34 hours of straight burn time if I am running it at say 70 and it is having to compete with 10-20 degree temps. So either my tanks where not full or I have a leak? What do you think? I did fill one tank since brand new and used it a partial weekend. But where can that LP gas go? This weekend I used the heat Thursday-Saturday night about 70 degrees all on one tank I thought. My system has the automatic switch over, but could I have burned through 2 tanks since this weekend?


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

A little clarification on the consumption.

There is no declared efficiency on the furnace and it would not factor into the calculation even if it was there. The furnaces consume 30,000 BTU per hour of operation, not produce that amount of heat. Just one more way to confuse the consumer. Propane on average is 21,000 BTU per pound. So it burns right at 1.5 pounds per hour. For an operation per tank of right at 20 hours of operation. Matters not what temp you run it at, it burns 1.5 pounds per hour, the only difference is it may run a bit shorter amount of time per day when set at 62 as compared to 70.

Also if you will not be in the trailer and since you are in VA there is not much chance of a hard freeze yet I would not even worry about heating the trailer. If you must and have shore power use an electric oil heater.

Last but not least, yes you can burn a tank and a half in a weekend.


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## fgump23 (Nov 4, 2007)

CamperAndy said:


> A little clarification on the consumption.
> 
> There is no declared efficiency on the furnace and it would not factor into the calculation even if it was there. The furnaces consume 30,000 BTU per hour of operation, not produce that amount of heat. Just one more way to confuse the consumer. Propane on average is 21,000 BTU per pound. So it burns right at 1.5 pounds per hour. For an operation per tank of right at 20 hours of operation. Matters not what temp you run it at, it burns 1.5 pounds per hour, the only difference is it may run a bit shorter amount of time per day when set at 62 as compared to 70.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I did not know and figured like a fool that I could run my heat all the time as long as it is plugged in and use it as my little Batchler pad out front. But I need to get used to only plugging in to keep the Fridge runnin. I appreciate the input and knowledge.


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## jgheesling (Sep 28, 2004)

Here is the AFUE effiency explanation, if you will notice there is alot of hot air going out the vent on the outside so if you use 30000 btu and 5000 btus lets say go Outside then only 25000 btu went in the dear old outback.

Straight from the Department of Energy

The AFUE is the most widely used measure of a furnace's heating efficiency. It measures the amount of heat actually delivered to your house compared to the amount of fuel that you must supply to the furnace. Thus, a furnace that has an 80% AFUE rating converts 80% of the fuel that you supply to heat -- the other 20% is lost out of the chimney.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) determined that all furnaces sold in the US must have a minimum AFUE of 78%, beginning January 1, 1992. Mobile home furnaces are required to have a minimum AFUE of 75%


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

They had to be almost empty. I have used a tank for over a year. That includes the fridge on gas, the furnace for a few nights, a lot of cooking and the HW heater for showers. I still have 1 full tank and the other is almost out. You must have had near empty tanks for the start.

I guess if it was very cold and it ran a lot you could use a tank and a half in a weekend but it would have to be VERY cold. I was in high 30's for 3 nights and mine never ran more then 15 min to an hour ( probally less ) I also have a small catalist heater to help "stabilize " the temp inside.


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## fgump23 (Nov 4, 2007)

GarethsDad said:


> The dealers are great at letting tanks go out 1/2 full or if you bought it used it may go out the way it came in Empty. Ask me how I know. James


You where not one of those Scheisty RV dealers where you? Is that how you know? The mark up in those things is ridiculous. My buddy got ROBBED when he bought his. He bought a 26' and paid 2K more than I negotiated my 30' for. They start atleast 10K high on sales (msrp) price of these, it is nuts!


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## beachbum (Nov 27, 2006)

Hey ForestGump,
Welcome. I live just a little ways from you, in Currituck. I don't think it is really going to freeze enough to damage water lines... But, I did empty my freshwater, opened all the faucets and low point drains, drained the W/W heater and blew out the water lines.
Last Easter at the Spring Rally in VA Beach, we went through a full LP tank and then some during the weekend. (Snowed the Sat before Easter)
david


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## fgump23 (Nov 4, 2007)

beachbum said:


> Hey ForestGump,
> Welcome. I live just a little ways from you, in Currituck. I don't think it is really going to freeze enough to damage water lines... But, I did empty my freshwater, opened all the faucets and low point drains, drained the W/W heater and blew out the water lines.
> Last Easter at the Spring Rally in VA Beach, we went through a full LP tank and then some during the weekend. (Snowed the Sat before Easter)
> david


Thanks for the input. We may winterize after this trip or hold out and go to New Years with the Prevish gang and my friends to the Travel-L We are going to one of those supersites this weekend at the Travel-L VB if you wantta come up and eat some Fried Oysters we brought back from Urbanna Oyster Festival, me and another group are going.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

jgheesling said:


> Here is the AFUE effiency explanation, if you will notice there is alot of hot air going out the vent on the outside so if you use 30000 btu and 5000 btus lets say go Outside then only 25000 btu went in the dear old outback.
> 
> Straight from the Department of Energy
> 
> ...


That is part of the problem with your calculation. RV furnaces are not residential (house) furnaces and do not have the same rating system. RV furnaces are rated by the consumption rate of fuel and not the usable heat produced. Other wise you would see them advertise how efficient they are but you will be very hard pressed to find any that do advertise this number as they are all so bad.


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## jgheesling (Sep 28, 2004)

You are correct I'm thinking of the calculation I have to do for a heat loss in the house to match the furnace I need (got that stuck in my head for some reason) Such as a house has 100000 btu per hour heat loss if I put a 100000 btu furnace in I will come up short with 80 % AFUE due to the heater will only produce a bonnet btu (in the house) of 80000. I would hate to see the rating or heat ratio on the RV heater. Also I would hate to calc the heat loss on one too, no wonder we burn so much propane to keep warm when it is cold.

So 30000 btu in (not sure what comes out) but you only get roughly 3 per gallon burn time.



CamperAndy said:


> Here is the AFUE effiency explanation, if you will notice there is alot of hot air going out the vent on the outside so if you use 30000 btu and 5000 btus lets say go Outside then only 25000 btu went in the dear old outback.
> 
> Straight from the Department of Energy
> 
> ...


That is part of the problem with your calculation. RV furnaces are not residential (house) furnaces and do not have the same rating system. RV furnaces are rated by the consumption rate of fuel and not the usable heat produced. Other wise you would see them advertise how efficient they are but you will be very hard pressed to find any that do advertise this number as they are all so bad.
[/quote]


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## GarethsDad (Apr 4, 2007)

No I'm not a rv dealer but when we bough our TT the dealer said that the tanks were full. After driveway camping the first weekend we ran out of lp but as part of our contract we had the dealer fill the lp tanks for free. James


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## prevish gang (Mar 19, 2006)

Jamie,
You need to get a space heater for normal use when camping and keep your trailer furnace on it's lowest setting. It does burn a lot of propane. When we are in the campground, we use the space heater and eat up their electricity instead of our gas. I really think like the others that your tanks were not full. Dixie Trailer sales didn't strike me as quite honest for some reason. I am not surprised by Bobby's experience.

Darlene


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## FZ1dave (Jul 10, 2007)

Don't know if this helps but it took us 7 days to burn through one 30lb tank with the furnace at 65 degrees. This was with the camper parked in the driveway and nothing else (propane related) running.

Two tanks in two days is definitely not normal. I'm with the thinking that they weren't full to begin with. If you had a leak, at least one inside the camper, the detector should have gone off. Of course I guess if you weren't in there to hear it it wouldn't matter...


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## battalionchief3 (Jun 27, 2006)

I have a headache now.....


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