Furnace and Propane Use ???

[rideandslidejim]

I now this is an unfair questions,with so many factors envoled. I have tested the heat for short period of time to make sure it worked in our 2000 26' Springdale but the temps dropped into the 30's last night andi set the heat on 60. Any comments on how much propane it uses heating, i know a lot of variables here ??

Jim

[JRTJH]

Let's "guess" that you have a 30,000 BTU furnace. That is the INPUT BTU, not the actual heat capacity BTU, a large part of that heat goes out the side of the RV as furnace exhaust. LP gas has about 91,600 BTU in each gallon, so you "should" be able to run your furnace for 3 hours on a gallon of LP. That means you "should" get about 21 to 24 hours of "CONTINUOUS" furnace operation from a 7.5 gallon LP tank.

Realize that your furnace does not operate 100% of the time and that when it is operating, during a part of that run time you won't be getting "hot air" into the RV (when the furnace is heating up it blows cold air).

There really is no way to determine (best guess) how long you can stay comfortable inside your RV before you use all the propane in your tanks. The outside temp, wind, where you're parked (sun or shade), direction the wind is blowing, how warm you like the inside, air leakage from roof vents/windows, how much "other propane you use" with the stove, oven, refrigerator, hot water heater, etc.

Best guess would be that most of us can get anywhere from 2 to 7 days from each 7.5 gallon tank depending on the above factors.

[GaryWT]

I am not sure what size a 7.5 gallon tank is, we have 20 or 30 pound tanks on our rv's and that is how we buy. Depending on so many things including temps, wind, insulation etc etc I would go with the same 2-7 days. Until you run it and check it you will not know. Are you in the trailer? If not lower the heat some.

[Andymon]

Originally Posted by GaryWT

I am not sure what size a 7.5 gallon tank is, we have 20 or 30 pound tanks on our rv's and that is how we buy. Depending on so many things including temps, wind, insulation etc etc I would go with the same 2-7 days. Until you run it and check it you will not know. Are you in the trailer? If not lower the heat some.

I think a 20 lb tank is 5 gallon and a 30 is 7 gal.

[rideandslidejim]

Yep ! I know a 20# tank is about 5 Gal, so doing the math, a 30 has to be 7.5.

[FullTimer]

What we do, is run a small ceramic heater on low, and have the furnace set on like 68-69. That way, as the temp drops from the electric not keeping up, the furnace will kick in, catch it up and not run as much.
As we approach 0 degrees, we add a second electric heater to help buffer the colder weather, on an external cord, but still leave the furnace set at that level.

[floatflyer]

It's been around 30 here overnight for the 10 days or so - and about 50 as the high. I started checking the tanks more frequently and determined I'm using about 5 pounds per day. I set the thermostat to 72 daytime and 64 at night.