"Dry" camp question

[WilliamsFamily]

New question.

Still haven

[wavery]

Yes, you can run the furnace withought hook-ups.

The furnace tends to suck up a lot of electricity and a lot of propane. A new deep cycle group 27 battery lasted me about 3 days without recharging, while running the furnace. It was only in the low 40s (at night) though. The colder it is, the longer the furnace runs and the more power it consumes.

I don't know much about the bunk warmers but I would imagine that they would use a lot of electricity.

You might want to consider getting a small generator for dry camping. If you are just using it to charge batteries and run very small appliances, you could get away with a 600w generator. If you want to run a small electric heater, microwave oven or other appliances, you might want to consider a 2000w generator. You may want to invest in an additional deep cycle battery as well. Especially if you do a lot of dry camping. 90% of our camping is dry camping at the SoCal beach state parks. Hardly any of them have hook-ups.

I have a Honda EU2000I and I highly recommend it. It is fuel efficient, light weight and extremely quiet (essential in the campgrounds).
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp

[oldmoose]

The furnace uses a lot of amps and will discharge a battery pretty quickly. I've added a second group 29 battery for dry camping. The electric bed heaters are probably 120v and won't work while dry camping. We have 20 degree sleeping bags and a comforter we use. Since I've added the second battery, we've never had a problem camping for 2-4 days, but do turn down the furnace at night so it doesn't come on often.

Moose

[ForestCreature]

New question.
 
 If we are camping at a site without electrical hook-up, will I still be able to run the furnace? I am planning on having a battery installed. How many days could one camp without charging the battery? We would be running the furnace, probably some electric bed heaters (depending on the weather), and probably the bunkend lights occasionally.
 
 Thank you all for your help, and I apologize if some of these questions seem stupid, please bear with me, someday I hope to achieve your level of expertise.

You'll be able to run the furnace on your battery, but you will need to recharge after 1 or 2 nights depending on how much the furnace runs. Get the biggest battery you can, group 27 0r 31. We run the furnace only at night while inside, and turn it down to about 55 while we sleep. Then turn it up in the morning to take the chill out. Turning it off when we go outside for the day. Watching your power usage on a warm weekend you should be able to go thru the whole weekend. No leaving lights on while not inside will make a big difference.
 When dry camping in cold weather or extended periods we took along an extra battery for insurance before we went solar.
 
 You diddn't ask, but if you get a fridge run it on propane not the battery. The fridge on battery will kill it in a matter of a couple hrs.
 
 You will not be able to run electric blanket if you are on only battery power, all the ele plugs will be useless unless you have an inverter. This would take the battery down fairly quick too.
 
 Last but not least, there are no stupid questions!
 Good luck in the hunt for your pop up.

[SpeakEasy]

The furnace uses both electricity and propane. The heat is produced by burning the propane, and the electricity drives the fan in the heater. As others have said, running the furnace will eat up your battery fairly quickly. I've been able to go through a three-day weekend with night-time temperatures in the low 40's. We don't tend to use the furnace during the day because we don't stay in the camper much.

Aside from the furnace question, generally anything that has a heating element (like the bed warmer you mentioned) will run on 120v and won't work without hookups. If you do have an appliance that has a heating element and runs off the 12v  battery, it will consume a lot of power and generally not be a very robust appliance. There are things like coffee makers and hair driers that are made for 12v. I don't have any, but I've read that they aren't the most satisfactory appliances.

Lights don't usually run your battery down very fast, but you don't want to leave them on when you aren't in there using them. Some folks have replaced the lightbulbs with LED's, and that seems like a great way to cut down some on battery draw.

I highly recommend the Cheyenne, if they haven't changed its floorplan around much since 1999. We love the front storage bin and the gaucho. It's a lot of popup for the money.

[mike4947]

There are RV type 12 volt mattress heater pads, BUT, they draw more than the furnace. The furnace fan draws 3.4 amps per hour of FAN run time and the pads IIRC are 4 amps per hour each. Figure one night using them on a group 24 at best and maybe making it to the middle of the second night with a group 27.

[tlhdoc]

You will be able to run the furnace off of the battery.  Two to three days is the most you can expect to get out of a battery and a tank of propane when dry camping in the cold.  Usually the battery power will run out before the propane, but if you plan on doing more than 2 days you should take a second battery and propane tank IF you don't have a way to recharge the battery and refill the propane tank.  During the summer we have camped over 10 days with one group 31 battery.  As some of the others have said any thing that generates heat is going to be a big power drain.  Good luck with finding the PU that fits your family.  Just for comparison my dealer in PA has the Cheyenne listed for $7,531.  That includes an awning.

[ForestCreature]

Two to three days is the most you can expect to get out of a battery and a tank of propane when dry camping in the cold.

I guess we traded space for propane! The Aliner being hard sided and insulated the propane lasts ALOT longer. Camped in 14 degree lows for 3 nights, ran the furnace day and night...kept it at 50 during the day and used just a little less than half a tank.

[WilliamsFamily]

Thanks to everyone for their help.  We are planning an early spring trip, and the National Park Campground we were planning on staying at does not have electric sites.   I think we are just going to find a private campground nearby that has a hook-up.

[wavery]

Thanks to everyone for their help.  We are planning an early spring trip, and the National Park Campground we were planning on staying at does not have electric sites.   I think we are just going to find a private campground nearby that has a hook-up.

That sounds like a good plan. Hope you have lots of fun and enjoy your new PU.

Remember to bring an extra bottle of propane .

[West Coast Canuck]

That sounds like a good plan. Hope you have lots of fun and enjoy your new PU.

Remember to bring an extra bottle of propane .

My battery lasts about 1 -2 day at most with the furnace on. I was able to make it last about a week by using the furnace sparingly by turning it on for a few minutes in the morning to take the chill off and periodically thoughout the day as needed. I now carry a 2000 watt generator that runs about 62 decibals so it runs very quiet. I use is as needed to charge the battery and carry an extra 20 lb cyl of propane. The one other thing you need to worry about is condensation, you will get lots if you are running the furnace all the time and to help reduce that, you will need to ventilate by opening a window slightly and cracking open the ceiling vent.

[zamboni]

We bought a Mr Buddy portable propane heater for dry camping in cold nights.  There is a thread in one forum here about them, some have had issues; ours was not recalled, and has been fine each time we've used it (used it about 6 trips in the last 1.5 years).  It has an oxygen sensor and is rated for indoor use.  No batteries or electricity.

One particularly chilly time, with a newborn, we kept the heater running nearly non-stop (hooked to an extra 20-lb propane tank outside via a 12' hose).  It ran for like 3 straight days on high before the tank ran out.  Then hooked it to the pup's 2nd tank for the last night.

[SpeakEasy]

That sounds like a good plan. Hope you have lots of fun and enjoy your new PU.

Remember to bring an extra bottle of propane .

Remember to bring an extra bottle of champagne!

[Camping Coxes]

We dry camped in Lake Tahoe and ran our heater at night.  By the fifth day DH put a ban on using the inside lights to save the electricity for the heater and the water pump.  On day seven, as I was rinsing our last dish, the battery was done for.  So you can dry camp for a pretty long time.  We had just bought our trailer and weren't sure how long it would go, so this was a good experiment.  In the future, we just use our battery operated lanterns in the trailer instead of the overhead lights to save on electricity.  No big deal.

BTW, we looked at hybrids recently and the dealer said they are not making the fridges to use battery power anymore because it's just too inefficient.  They offer electricity and propane.  Seems smart to me!  Keeps people from inadvertently stranding themselves by using up the battery keeping the beer cold!

[tlhdoc]

BTW, we looked at hybrids recently and the dealer said they are not making the fridges to use battery power anymore because it's just too inefficient.

That is too bad.  I run my fridge on DC 12 volt power when towing.  I would be a pain to stop at the tunnels that require you to have the propane turned off in order to go through them.  It must be safer to tow with the fridge on electric or they wouldn't have that requirement for the tunnels.
 
The 12 volt line from my TV to the trailer is off when the TV is turned off.