One coooooold night!

[jensworks]

Originally Posted by MyronL

Costco sells 20 pounders that come with a gauge--- a lot easier to tell quickly how much is in there than pouring hot water on a tank.

Found one with a gauge at U-Haul also
Judy

[arniesea]

Originally Posted by yardsale

I don't understand why folks don't just leave both tanks open and let the regulator switch automatically from one to the other. I monitor casually and when the gage indicates the switchover to the second tank, it's time to think about replacing the first. Never have a 2 am wake up for that problem.

That is the method we use as well. Also, I built a little removable shelf that rests on top of the tanks in our 5.0. It is where I store the 6x6 blocks I use under the landing gear. It is an easy habit to check the empty tank indicator each time we break camp and put the blocks away.

If a tank is empty, filling it becomes part of that day’s travel itinerary.

By the way, Tractors Supply is all over the US and generally has good prices on Propane.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

One of the reasons I use electric radiator heaters.

How do you connect that to your propane tank?

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

I don't understand why it is difficult to check propane when we check battery condition several times a day ( it appears ).

And, I have a spare 10lb in any event.

Apparently your Alzheimers is not as bad as mine.

We also only have one tank running at a time for the same reasons as others here. Has been working for us at least 15 years now.

We carry a 13 lb tank. It is the same height as a 20 lb tank so in a pinch can fit the LP area and go down the road without banging around.

Enjoy,

Perry

[75thRanger]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

I would never do this, much easier to keep track of when a tank empties than to have one run out in the middle of a cold night.

I gave up keeping track of the tanks. Never seemed to do it. No problem with cold nights around here tho

[jennykatz]

We are in Manteno Illinois and its way to cold for this Florida man . 30s in the nighttime and 50 during the day .we will leave Monday for sunny Florida and home .How long will a propane tank last? Using it just for heat ? Thanks Jim

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by hotfishtacos

..... The visual gauge showed a red ring (low or empty propane tank) ...:

those crossover valve gauges aren't very reliable. They *should* show red when the tank the lever is pointed at is empty, and its using the other tank. on two different trailers I've had issues with them not indicating even tho the valve has flipped.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

....How long will a propane tank last? Using it just for heat ? Thanks Jim

a '20 lb' tank has 430,270 BTU's in it. The furnace on a current E21 is 12,000 BTU, so I'd expect about 35 hours of the furnace being on. I usually set mine in the lower 60s at night, and it runs maybe 20-25% of the time when its really really cold out, so if on 25%, thats 140 hours...

[Jim Bennett]

I find it interesting to see what is cold to others, it seems very independent of where you are from. Up north here you would not go camping much if you did not allow for a lot of nights near freezing.

I used to do a lot of ski touring for up to 10 days in the backcountry. The last trip was about 6 years ago and a fellow Escape owner came along. We never even checked the weather forecasts before heading out, and this resulted in a few very cold nights. I had warm gear and we often made snow shelters when quite cold as they were nice inside, usually above freezing when we were active. The coldest I was out it hit -40° (either C or F ) and it certainly was chilly. I had some rum in a wide mouth plastic bottle and we had to scoop it out. Cheddar cheese was like steel, even a machete would not do much more than put a mark on it. You could barely feel the blazing fire when just about upon it, wood spit super easy, and boy was it nice to tuck into the quinsy to sleep. We had to put our stoves under the engines to get them going, but my car would not circulate the antifreeze and no heat inside, so 6 of us rode in a single seat pickup home. Oh, I forgot to mention, we still had a lot of great fun.

[jennykatz]

We have lived in cold weather states before but as I get older I like the Florida winters I was domiciled in Chicago 11 years ago and I do remember the 20 below nights Thanks for the propane tank info I have the furnace set at 70 degrees but also have a ceramic elec heater set around the same Sometimes they both turn on and get the trailer nice and toasty Jim

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

We have lived in cold weather states before but as I get older I like the Florida winters I was domiciled in Chicago 11 years ago and I do remember the 20 below nights Thanks for the propane tank info I have the furnace set at 70 degrees but also have a ceramic elec heater set around the same Sometimes they both turn on and get the trailer nice and toasty Jim

I too am good with the southern US in winter, the only time I could likely survive there. Our thermostat is never set as high as 70° F, the warmest might be near that at room temperature (20° C or 68° F), but we drop it a bunch at night or when active as it would be too warm for us and we are too old to be nudists.

I do have a few women friends that would crank the heat up lots if it did not bother others so much.

[John in Santa Cruz]

i like sleeping under a reasonably heavy quilt, if it was 70 all night, i'd be sweating like a pig, hence my preference for lower 60s at night.

but, I live on the mid-left coast (Santa Cruz, California), where 'cold' is rarely below 50, and a typical sunny day is mid 80s. we get a few frosty mornings, and a few 100F days a year, thankfully a dry heat, and a few miles inland it can be 10-20 degrees warmer in the summer, and 10-20 degrees colder in the winter.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by jennykatz

We are in Manteno Illinois and its way to cold for this Florida man . 30s in the nighttime and 50 during the day .we will leave Monday for sunny Florida and home .How long will a propane tank last? Using it just for heat ? Thanks Jim

We are experiencing the same type of weather - Highs in the 40’s / lows in the 30’s .
This is my favorite time of the year , especially for working / enjoying the outdoors ,
Haven’t had a need to turn the heat on yet but it’s coming , next week , temps in the 20’s
We’ve been to the southern US during all different times of the year and have yet to find weather that matched our comfort level . I prefer my humidity in the frozen form !

[Perry Butler]

In the first 100 nights camping our sail switch crapped out on us four times. The first time I didn't know what to do (about 15 degrees that next morning) and stayed up running the stove top to keep warm. The second was almost morning so it was just colder inside the camper until I could clean out the switch (about 25 degrees). The third time it was just before midnight when the furnace quit working (woke up at less than 20 degrees). I was out in under 20 degree weather, at night, cleaning the sail switch.

There was a fourth time, but the furnace quit working at 7 am, with us parked in front of my son's home, about 15 degrees, on the last night of our maiden voyage, but the 5.0 was already winterized, so we traveled home, and I cleaned the sail switch a few days later when it was warmer.

After having these experiences with the sail switch, and reading other's similar sail switch experiences, we realized, "Something has to be done!"

We purchased a Portable Buddy Heater. It can quickly heat up the camper. It's a heater, not a temperature regulated furnace, so after about 15 minutes the camper is warm, but will be too hot to leave on all night, so it gets turned off. If the furnace craps out at night again that Buddy will help keep us warm until the sail switch can be cleaned.

Of course the sail switch has been running perfectly for the last 100 nights camping - Murphy's Law.

We like to camp in the shoulder seasons, so a heater is imperative. We're also looking at installing a Wave-3 catalytic heater that can run all night (lower btu output) eliminating the large amp battery draw of the furnace motor.

Oh, the Buddy is also great to take to those cold shower rooms so you can get out of the shower and be toasty warm.

We'll never have a cold night again!

Perry

[AKCamper]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

One of the reasons I use electric radiator heaters.

Actually with 480 amp hours of battery power you probably could run an electric heater on low (700 watts) for three hours and I think it would only use 210 amp hours. You could turn your fridge off since I think it is a compressor style (put the food outside at those temperatures. I’m glad you didn’t have any damage.

[Perry Butler]

Originally Posted by Roger C H

One of the reasons I use electric radiator heaters.

They're nice as long as you have AC.

All our heatless nights occurred when we had no hookups. That's the reason for the Buddy and the future Wave-3. And yes, we do carry a Honeywell 750/1500 watt heater for those rare occasions we have AC at our site.

Enjoy,

Perry

[John in Santa Cruz]

yea, if we have shore power, we use a smal fan heater, which is way quieter

but overlall so far, weve had shore power way less than half the nights we've camped.

[cpaharley2008]

I always have power when camping in the winter with below freezing temperatures for the on board auxiliary electric heat. Just a margin of safety and comfort. With heated campground bathrooms and campfires it is really enjoyable. In Pennsylvania there are state parks that are open year around.

[TexanAviator]

Those tiny alcohol stoves are compact and convenient, you can use run of the mill rubbing alcohol and as long as it's burning blue, you are good. Throw a little stovetop heater and you'll be set in emergencies.

[h2owmn]

In a pinch I have boiled water in my largest pot, put the lid on, and let that heat seep into the trailer. not the best but helped some.