Traveling with generator on

[trode]

May seem a silly question, but how many of you travel with the generator on? I have had my Seabreeze 1341 since Sept so haven't traveled in hot weather till now. Usually just me and wife so dash air has been adequate in 75-80 degree weather, now going on trip with other passengers and likely 85-90, don't think the dash air will handle this. I assume there is no issue running genny and at least on roof unit while traveling. Intend to close off rear bedroom, door and vents, and just run front unit. I have an Onan 5500 watt generator which PO said will run both if needed.

Does anyone know the fuel burn per hour on that size generator?

Appreciate the help.

Also, by having genny on I assume the fridge will go to ac power since it is "automatic", I guess I will save on LP gas while running genny?

While at it, when cold weather comes around let's consider the same question for the heater (gas). Thanks

[Roger G]

Live in the south so always have the Oman 5500 running with the roof ACs on during the warm months. From memory, your generator should use about 3/4 gallon per hour so that translates to about 75-80 miles per gallon. There was a discussion on here once that theorized that running the gen and roof air burned less gas than the dash air. Your gen needs running under load once a month, what better time than driving and cool air is the byproduct.

[Ernie Ekberg]

we have a 4 cylinder Yanmar powering 12,500 watts of power running anything we want- 3 airs, etc- I don't like to sweat when I drive

[Wolfpack Fan]

We've got a National also and have run down the road with generator on just to see if we could. Had no problem running ac's from generator when we were going down road. Your fuel burn rate will depend on the load. No load is about .35 gph, half load is about .60 gph, full load is aout .95 gph. That's from an Onan users guide, so it should be pretty close. For the cold you won't need to run the generator. The gas (propane) produces the heat. 12 volts runs the fan for the heater, which will come from the house batteries which should be getting charged as you're driving.

[AttilaKara72]

We run it going down the road for A/C.
We also use the heat running down the road in the colder months.

[gripper]

During the summer months, we always run the ginny, when traveling, because the DW can't stand to be hot and the dash air, can't keep up. Also, our residential refrigerator, is cold all the time and that's good. I don't care about mpg, I just fill up when my tank is about 1/2 full. For me, life is too short, to worry about how much it costs to drive the RV in comfort. Of course, the alternative is to park the RV and make a yard ornament out of it but that's not going to happen.

[wa8yxm]

Depends on two things

Once a month I run the Generator 1/2 hour under load (At least 1/2 load) makes sense to do this when I do not have shore power.. Which means when I'm rolling, rolling, rolling down the highway (Yes you can sing that line... the original last word was river).

If it's August (or even June this year) I may fire it up to run the A/C to keep cool.

[Playtime III]

Run it! Just do not let your tank get too low before re-filling. Most have short fuel lines in the tank so the genny will not run you dry. Mine is around 1/4, however if the road is really rough the genny will quit just before the 1/4 mark.

[txdutt]

Originally Posted by Playtime III

Run it! Just do not let your tank get too low before re-filling. Most have short fuel lines in the tank so the genny will not run you dry. Mine is around 1/4, however if the road is really rough the genny will quit just before the 1/4 mark.

Same here, mine will cut out around a 1/3rd of a tank---found that out the hard way about 2 yrs ago. I'll start looking for gas around the 1/2 a tank now--I usually need a quick break from driving around then so it works out!!

[pumper9x9]

I went to a roundtable discussion group with Cummins Onan folks there and they stated that running your AC units with the generator vs the engine AC gave you better fuel milage and probably cooled the coach more.

[jnp_macklin]

We run the genset, for the AC, and to make sure the kids computers, laptops, and TV's will all operate as we travel. We're a tech-savvy family, so we always have something that requires 115VAC when we travel. The dash AC just cant keep up with the "greenhouse effect" in the front of the coach, so for us its always running for the roof air, when we're on the road.

[ChallengerRN]

Just finished a 4200 mile trip out West--we stayed in campgrounds each night with full hook-ups. We put 48 hours on our generator. Had it running most of the travel time to keep coach cool. Not good to sweat while on the road. Lol

[MSHappyCampers]

When we went out west last May & June we frequently ran the genny while traveling to run both A/C's and the fridge. I was told that the Onan 7500 uses about 1/2 gallon of diesel per hour. Certainly worth that to keep us cool!

[Sugardog]

I do and am actually thinking of putting a third roof air over the drivers seats.