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Old 01-09-2014, 10:30 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Donna D. View Post
One of the members on FiberglassRV has a 13' Scamp and boondocks most of the time. He and the wife are currently in New Mexico, running the furnace about 24 hours a day and he has said on his blog, he just ran out of propane. Seems pretty efficient to me. Three weeks running almost non-stop on the furnace and cooking inside on one full 20# tank. For what it's worth...
I'm not questioning the honesty of this member, but the blog post is not accurate, unless the furnace is tiny compared to the one in any Escape. With less than 500,000 BTU of energy in a 20-pound tank, hundreds of hours of operation of a 12,000 BTU furnace is clearly not physically possible. Cooking for an hour a day and the furnace being turned on all the time but running for only a couple of hours a day... sure.
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Old 01-09-2014, 11:46 PM   #22
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What can I say? It's not me, it's someone else. 13' Scamp... don't have a clue how warm they keep the trailer and under what outside temps. I don't know anyone that "cooks" running the stove top for an hour a day inside a 13' trailer either...

Whatever they're doing... it's working for them.
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Old 01-10-2014, 06:33 AM   #23
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Keeping the furnace on 24 hrs a day, most definitely does not mean it runs all the time, not unless you are operating a sweat lodge. With the heat down at a moderate level, and without bothering to do the math to try to prove my point, I see no reason that 3 weeks would not be doable.
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Old 01-10-2014, 06:34 AM   #24
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I actually went smaller with my propane tanks. I left the factory with twin 10lb. bottles. For me, the smaller size is easy to handle, reduces weight, and gives me extra storage space on my 5.0. I seldom use propane to cook or heat with.
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Old 01-10-2014, 07:51 AM   #25
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Originally Posted by Donna D. View Post
What can I say? It's not me, it's someone else.
You could provide a link, so we know what they actually said...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Donna D. View Post
I don't know anyone that "cooks" running the stove top for an hour a day inside a 13' trailer either...
Donna, I think you missed my point. Even an hour a day of cooking would be a hundred times less propane than the furnace running for 24 hours. The point is that cooking and heating are very different demands.

Just as with electrical energy consumption, you need to discuss actual use (in amount of propane or burning time of appliances) to mean anything, just as you talk about amp-hours of battery charge use. I ran my motorhome on no gasoline at all last month; does it seem relevant that the engine was started for only one minute and that it never drove anywhere?

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Whatever they're doing... it's working for them.
That's the problem: we have no idea what they're doing, except that they're not running a furnace about 24 hours a day. If it is warm enough during the day that the thermostat wouldn't turn the furnace on, it really doesn't matter if the switch is on or not.

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Keeping the furnace on 24 hrs a day, most definitely does not mean it runs all the time, not unless you are operating a sweat lodge. With the heat down at a moderate level, and without bothering to do the math to try to prove my point, I see no reason that 3 weeks would not be doable.
Sure, but the quote was "running the furnace about 24 hours a day". If that doesn't mean operating hours, then it is pointless. I can run my furnace all of July on zero fuel, but I that just meant the switch is on and it never fires that's pretty useless information about fuel consumption.

Doing the math very roughly, the furnace was burning (other than perhaps a pilot) no more than about an hour a day. Three weeks would be doable, but three days might not be and three months is entirely reasonable... since we don't know how it is being used.


A lot of people report that they go a very long time on a tank of propane, because they use it only (or almost only) for cooking and running the refrigerator. That's helpful experience to share, but no one should be led to believe that they can run a furnace any meaningful amount for so little propane.
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Old 01-10-2014, 11:05 AM   #26
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While I can't provide exact usage figures, this example might be useful...

Before I purchased my electric ceramic disk heater I ran my 17B with dual pane windows & extra insulation on propane only. Most of my cooking was done on an outdoor camp stove. The furnace was set at 65°F and only run when stopped. I left Chilliwack on April 25, drove the coast of Washington & Oregon, down 395 to the Bodie Ghost Town & Mono Lake, Death Valley, Zion, Page, AZ, Monument Valley, and arrived at the Grand Canyon on May 18th where I discovered both tanks were empty.

While I didn't keep track of the exact temperatures during the trip, it was cool to cold with the furnace running most nights. You can read more about the conditions at my journal of the trip.
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Old 01-10-2014, 02:06 PM   #27
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Just did a few calculations to try to support my claim of using 1 tank per week during a 3 week span last summer. Had to make a few assumptions, but here are my results:


Some of the devices (like the furnace) were used for only 1 or 2 nights and others were used only once every couple of days. I tried to take that into account in my estimates of daily usage. Looks like with our estimated usage, about 1 tank per week was about right.
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Old 01-10-2014, 02:37 PM   #28
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Am I reading it right where you used the fire bowl for 15 minute a day? I used mine more like an hour or so.
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Old 01-10-2014, 02:41 PM   #29
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Am I reading it right where you used the fire bowl for 15 minute a day? I used mine more like an hour or so.
We used it about every 3 days for about an hour, maybe a little more frequently. I have assumed that the full 58000 BTU was utilized. If we had the gas throttled back (and we likely did), then the consumption would have been a little less, which would have been more consistent with a slightly longer/more frequent usage.

Thinking about it, some of the other devices were also used at less than maximum capacities at times (stove and BBQ), and so the actual durations of use for those devices may have been slightly greater than those shown in the above spreadsheet.
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Old 02-01-2014, 03:32 PM   #30
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I pulled up at WalMart about to exchange my empty 20 pounder for a full one when I read the fine print at their exchange cage. The exchange cost is $18.

But, then I saw their propane tanks are listed as 15 pounders. What is up with that? I always thought the next smallest standard propane tank is the kind you attach a lantern to.
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Old 02-01-2014, 03:38 PM   #31
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possibly because they are only filled to 80% ??
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Old 02-01-2014, 03:45 PM   #32
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I have four 20 lb. one 10 lb. and used to have a 5 lb. until it aged out.
I found the 10 lb. is the perfect balance of longevity and ease of transport. I use it for my Weber Q.
Only problem with the smaller tanks is some staff at gas stations are poorly trained and don't know how to fill them. They've only been told what to do with 20 lb. tanks. And, you can't use an exchange program.
I fill tanks at my Husky / Mowhawk station where they charge by the pound, not per fill ( and I get CAA points ).
I'd guess that Walmart's exchange program is designed to lock you into returning to Walmart.
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Old 02-01-2014, 03:49 PM   #33
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possibly because they are only filled to 80% ??
20 lbs. of propane is the max. in a 20 lb. tank ( which actually weighs about 37 lbs, full ).
20 lb. tank is descriptive of capacity, not the actual weight.
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Old 02-01-2014, 04:41 PM   #34
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Here is an example of a gotcha in the propane industry. The tanks sold through an exchange program are typically not filled. If you do a search on fill vs exchange you will see that exchange tanks are filled with 15 lbs, that is not weight lbs but propane capacity. So on a 20 pound tank you are only getting 3/4ths of a tank.

If you do the math you will see that you are also paying a substantially higher cost per pound than a refill. It always pay to refill.
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Old 02-01-2014, 04:42 PM   #35
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When refilling my old 20 pounders at a station I think the guy either set the thing on a scale and stopped filling when it reached 20 pounds, or he stopped the fill when a pressure indicator indicated full. Don't recall exactly.

So I don't like it when I see WalMart, or Home Depot, or any exchange your tanks system is giving 15 pounds instead of the true tank capacity. If it's a fifteen pound tank then fine, don't give me 10 pounds of gas, give me fifteen!

Bleepin' mugger-ruggers!
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Old 02-01-2014, 10:06 PM   #36
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The 15-pounds in a 20-pound tank situation has already been well-explained.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MyronL View Post
When refilling my old 20 pounders at a station I think the guy either set the thing on a scale and stopped filling when it reached 20 pounds, or he stopped the fill when a pressure indicator indicated full. Don't recall exactly.
The amount of fill can be determined by
  • weight (using a scale)... which should of course be 20 pounds plus that specific tank's empty weight (and most operators assume all tanks weigh the same so they really just look for that 37 pound total that Baglo mentioned)
  • liquid appearing at the open 80% level bleed valve (if so equipped and used)
  • the flow stopping because the Overfill Prevention Device (OPD - a safety valve in the tank) closed due to its float reaching the maximium fill level... only if the operator is incompetent or negligent.
There is no way to use pressure, except for the pressure spiking really high because the OPD slammed shut; that is, it's not like charging a battery and stopping according to voltage.
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Old 02-01-2014, 10:12 PM   #37
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In previous discussions in other forums, I first learned about this deliberate underfilling. Although they previously used a bogus claim regarding OPD valves to excuse their underfilling practice, Blue Rhino now says right upfront (okay, buried in the FAQ...) that they do this: How much propane does Blue Rhino put in its tanks?. The practice is apparently common. Local exchange tank distributors here do the same thing... and yes, the amount of propane is marked on the label.

Edit:
I just checked another Blue Rhino FAQ, and they still report a completely false and fraudulent statement in their section regarding the effect of temperature on pressure. Just another reason not to give these people any money, in my opinion.
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Old 02-01-2014, 10:53 PM   #38
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I just checked another Blue Rhino FAQ, and they still report a completely false and fraudulent statement in their section regarding the effect of temperature on pressure. Just another reason not to give these people any money, in my opinion.
Which part of that section is false? The sentence "It is worth noting..."?
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Old 02-02-2014, 09:25 AM   #39
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At the U-Haul where I get mine refilled - they used to do it by weight, but now charge by the gallon, with on inline meter - (the same method the LP truck that delivers to our 500 gallon tank uses.)

Side note, here in Wisconsin, bulk LP price has gone up by as much as 3-4x due to supply problems. I'm glad I won't have to fill this winter.
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Old 02-02-2014, 10:15 AM   #40
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As in all things, the price is the price. If you need the gas you pay the price. The galling thing is this: would anybody start out on a big trip with a gasoline tank that's not topped off?
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