How much propane do I need?

[Doug1968]

Fellows,

I have a 40' MCI 102a3 that is fairly well insulated, not foam sprayed, with half of the windows peninsula insulated. I have a 42k BTU Suburban furnace, a 12 gallon propane water heater and a propane cook top.

I would like some feedback regarding how much propane I should carry to last 30 days with two of us living in the bus? Maybe figure the two of us showering every other day and using the cook top for one meal per day.

Assume outside temperatures at 60 degrees during the day and down to 32 degrees at night.

I know there are many variables but I am just looking for some estimated usage to help me size the tank.

Thanks,

Doug

[luvrbus]

A 20 gal frame mounted will serve you well Doug they are about 32 inches long and 22 inches around then you can remote the fill any place you like some here like bottles I don't a frame mounted you never re test every 10 years they are good for life

good luck

[artvonne]

  A gallon of Propane has about 95K BTU. Your suburban is about 60% efficient. If you did a heat loss on the rig you might be able to come up with a number. I have a 33 foot Bounder, so so insulated, not much around the cockpit though. Have a 35K (input) BTU Suburban, in temps like your talking I would empty the tank in less than a week. The tanks about 20 gal but they wont put in more than about 15. If you can plug in you can burn electric lots easier and cheaper.

  I once had a 1947 GMC 3751 conversion, guy up in Pembina built it back in the late 60's. It had two 50 gallon tanks lol.

[luvrbus]

We don't use any where close to that much propane Paul in the wife's Safari Trek and it has a propane generator her tank may be larger than a 20 gal but not much the most I ever bought was 19 gals and it was empty,hers maybe a 25 gal 80% is the fill point   

good luck

[TomC]

I have a 20 gal frame mounted, but only have the stove and furnace as propane.  I fill once a year.  Course-I try not to be in cold weather either.  On average, I travel about 30 days a year in the bus.  Good Luck, TomC

[oldmansax]

I have 65 gallon frame mount in my '72 MC7, factory insulation & windows, propane hot water & range. We stayed all winter in Maryland & had to fill it every month. The most I ever put in it was 52 gallons which means it was just about empty.

TOM

[bevans6]

I use bottles, and I would budget a 30 pound bottle a week, with the main use being the furnace and  how warm you like it.  If you are plugged in, you can cut that significantly by using the small electric heaters, and the electric option on your water heater if you have one.

Briaan

[skihor]

Our MC 5A isn't insulated very well at all. Winters in Denver we go thru 40 Gallons, (not LBS), every two weeks, and that's with an electric heater runnin' 24/7. 30's daytime. and, teens nite time. Without furnace use... 40 Gal. lasts around 6 months. I would go minmium 30 Gallons.

Don & Sheila

[Lin]

We have about 45 gallons in a permanent tank, but have a valve for switching to a portable 9 gallon tank.  That way, if need be, we can pull the small tank and fill it without moving the bus.

[skihor]

We have about 45 gallons in a permanent tank, but have a valve for switching to a portable 9 gallon tank.  That way, if need be, we can pull the small tank and fill it without moving the bus.

Good point. We have a 7 Gal/30# plumbed in. We keep it shut off so when the main runs out you have backup and a couple three days to get the main filled. It has worked out in bad weather... we can wait for clearing weather, or fill another small one to get by.

Don & Sheila

[PP]

We run 3 Cat. heaters and a 400W elect. basebd in the hall. We have a 35Gal built in tank that we simply use for backup and a 10gal portable that we take out and fill weekly when the temps run freezing at night with highs in the 40-50's. Cooking uses almost negligable amount of gas--we cook and bake a lot and use maybe 3-4gals/month.
When we had the fiver, with a Suburban furnace we used a lot more gas, but it was so long ago I don't recall exactly what our consumption was except that we took 2 - 7gal bottles in way too often, LOL.
Good luck with your project, HTH, Will

[technomadia]

Speaking of propane, our bus has a big 50 gallon tank that we would be happy to get rid of now that we've ripped out the furnace (we plan to avoiding needing propane heat until we can get a Webasto installed...)

We'd love to exchange our big tank for two 20lb or 30lb portable cylinders and an auto-switching regulator.

Right now we are in St. George, UT - and we will soon be working our way eastward. 

Anyone interested in a trade??? 

   - Chris

[luvrbus]

Why would you give up propane for a diesel fired Webasto propane is a over a 1.00 a gal cheaper and will use less than a diesel unit with diesel headed for 6 bucks a gal next year I would have to think long and hard about one lol 5 or 6 gals of diesel fuel a day at 4 bucks

good luck

[technomadia]

Why would you give up propane for a diesel fired Webasto

Everyone we have met who has a Webasto absolutely loves it - quiet heat, hot water, and engine pre-heating - all in one. Fuel may be a bit more expensive, but if we are needing that much heat we are clearly too far north and should be burning the diesel to find warmer parking.

We are looking to potentially make our bus propane-free. Since we took out the dinette to make office space, there is no space remaining for old Suburban furnace.  The propane water heater we have works, but was left with water in the tank for 15 years and it is rusty and probably needs to be replaced anyway - so we might as well upgrade when we do. The fridge (usually) works on propane, but we'd love a upgrade to a Novakool that will have more space inside and can be powered efficiently off of solar panels.  For the cooktop, we are using our electric induction cooktop more than the propane range, and the oven doesn't work at all anyway.  We'll just upgrade the microwave to include convection, and turn the oven's space into a cabinet for storing cat food.

When we are done, we'll probably only keep a small canister of propane around for a small outside grill.

One nice advantage of going propane free is getting a ton of bay storage back (from the huge 50 gallon tank), and making our bus overall safer.  I haven't hardly ever seen a bus conversion with the propane tank storage chamber vented properly and safely - our tank right now is actually in the same bay as the waste tanks (ok) and fuse box (bad idea), and the venting is less than ideal. Redoing the propane system to have the tanks properly isolated would be a real chore.  Easier to get rid of propane entirely.

   - Chris

[luvrbus]

Oh well I had a Aqua Hot before lol don't let anyone tell they use a lot of fuel then if you are not on a pole or driving it is generator time to recharge the batteries we figured about 8 to 9 gals a day in cold weather for both and it was pretty darn close