Electric cooktop

[Langord]

Has anyone replaced their gas cooktop with an electric one? If so, what brand and where did you purchase?

The stove is the only thing we have that uses propane. We are thinking of installing an electric cooktop and having that large propane tank removed. It seems such a waste of space, and it will take several years to use that much propane just for the stove. We have HydroHot for heating and water, which we love.

[jepeed]

If you are successful please let me know, I have had the same thought.
Jim

[Coin-Op]

A few months ago I removed the large propane tank and created a useable storage space. We installed a 7 gallon propane tank for the stove. So far this has worked very well, we are on a 5 month Alaska trip and have not refilled the tank to date. Photos were posted on iRV2. The work was done by Bobby at Kustom Coach Works, Junction City, OR 541-501-3371.

[Melorene]

The refrigerator uses propane when not connected to power, so that will take some also..a point to ponder

[JWT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melorene The refrigerator uses propane when not connected to power, so that will take some also..a point to ponder

Not if they have a residential refrigerator.

[wa8yxm]

You can get AC only refrigerators.. IN fact both Dometic and Norcold make 'em for RV use.. There are two types.

1:Standard House Types (Please do not buy LG brand) These consume between 100 and 1000 watts when running

2: Dometic/Norcold "Low power" these work as well as the standard house brands, better than LG, and draw at most a great whomping 50 watts, Usually less

I have a chest freezer, about 1 1/1 the size of the freezer in my Dometic fridge, it draws a grand 36 watts (yes, 3 amps at 12 volt) when running... Runs all night along with the furnace and assorted other stuff on my U-2200's (just 2 of those)

http://www.thetford.com/HOME/Product...7/Default.aspx

Dometic low power fridge

Now, that said: If you convert to all electric you are limited to 50 amp sites, and may find that's not enough, you may have to kill an air conditioner or two when cooking. I would keep the propane stuff in case you find yourself on a 30 amp site.

That said.. I do use electric as much as possible, I have a single burner electric in the kitchen now and a dual burner in the "Basement" for when it's needed.

I also have an electric Grill... currently in storage... but I may basement it when I get fully orginized. I like my Coleman though too much to make that a priority

The Coleman Grill I have (Also propane) runs off the house tank by means of a Marshall Brass "Extend-a-Stay"

Yes, I know the Extend-a-stay is so you can use an external tank to heat/cook the motor home. but it also has the tap for use of an external grill like the "Extend-a-flow" It does both jobs, and does them very well, it also adds a layer of safety (Excess flow cut off) to the system.

[Langord]

We have a full-electric residential refrigerator with side freezer. Nice and large, but has pros and cons on being electric only.

Am still looking for an electric cooktop that might work in the space we have for the stove-top and will get rid of the large propane tank. If unable to find electric unit, the suggestion on this forum to change over to a smaller propane tank will be the way we go. Thanks all....

[Ted III]

Sailor Sam's has a number of electric cooktops for RV & Marine use. I am certain you can find something that will fit rather nicely although I have not checked any of the sizes. They do have a fairly decent selection.

[dgerstel]

Langord,

Have you done a search on electric cook tops? I am sure that this was covered some time ago and I think that a few units were suggested.

[OldForester]

We had a 3 burner electric cooktop in our 2004 diesel Meridian yacht to avoid having any propane (fire/explosion issue) on the boat. It was one with cast-iron burner tops, which I would not recommend. They took quite a while to heat and a long time to cool down. When 50 amp was not available we ran the generator and it worked fine. Per Ted's comments, SailorSams.com has a number of ceramic cooktops by Kenyon, Conture, and others that should work fine. They list the dimensions and power usage for each so you can calculate how big you want and how many burners. From what I've seen, these ceramic cooktops can work like residential ceramic and heat quickly as well as cool quickly, as long as you have flat pots and pans.

If we didn't have (and wanted) a residential fridge, and had a Hydro-Hot, we would put one of these electric cooktops in like you're proposing. On our boat, if we had 30 amp available, we could run the cooktop only, no other major electrical applicances, or the breaker would trip. Perhaps the ceramics will work without this issue. The key here is if you can run both air conditioners at the same time as the cooktop, with all burners on, on generator power, and I think you need to calculate the total wattage required to do that before you decide on number of and size of burners.