Onan Generato Propane Use

[Off Grid]

Hello all!! My wife and i just purchased the 21fbs Backcountry Series. It comes with the on board Cummins Onan 36k LP generator. Im curious as to how much propane this unit will go through. My wife snd i are avid skiers and are planning to overnight at Crystal Mountain, which has 30 amp service. This should be no problem because we can use the electricity to keep the heatets running. However, we are going to try Mt. baker and Stevens pass as well, but they do not have any hook ups. Dry camping only. If Im using propane to run the generator AND heat the rv, how much propane am I going to burn through in a day? We have dogs and would like to keep water use (wife refuses to camp without use of the toilet) so we would have to keep the heat going 24/7 . Any comments? Suggestions?

[avfordguy]

Just electric heat and furnace, onan book says .5 ga/hr of propane for 50% load

[Off Grid]

Holy cow! Thats a lot. Sounds like the generstor is only good in a pinch. Id be better off buying a Honda. Pretty expensive feature for not much use.

[saddlesore]

Hmm.. Might be cheaper to invest a a couple of 10 gal or 25 gal tanks to replace or better yet supplement the small ones you currently have....
The other option is try dry camping for a nite or three running the gen and heat just to establish a "Real World" base line on how much propane you will actually use.. (and have a spare tank handy..
You can buy a whole lot of propane for what it will cost for a Honda/Yamaha generator big enough to supply power needed to match the btu's of your furnace & hot water heater..

[Max1]

I can see the .5 gallon an hour as we call ours the propane pig. Bought a EU2000i for when set up, usually only use Onan on travel stops for convenience https://www.homedepot.com/p/Honda-2-...200i/304205470

[Off Road]

I don’t know what you have for batteries but my two 6volt batteries will run my furnace through the night. I then fire up the generator while I eat breakfast and get ready for my day. In the evening I turn it back on while we eat dinner and relax, then off when we go to bed. This method has it running about six hours a day and works down to about 10 degrees. Any colder and I just leave it on all night.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by saddlesore

Hmm.. Might be cheaper to invest a a couple of 10 gal or 25 gal tanks to replace or better yet supplement the small ones you currently have....
The other option is try dry camping for a nite or three running the gen and heat just to establish a "Real World" base line on how much propane you will actually use.. (and have a spare tank handy..
You can buy a whole lot of propane for what it will cost for a Honda/Yamaha generator big enough to supply power needed to match the btu's of your furnace & hot water heater..

10 or 25 gallon tanks can take up a lot of space in a 21 ft trailer.

The 10 gallon, 30 lb tank is 30" tall and weighs 70lb full.
The 25 gallon 100lb tank is 46" tall and weighs 170lbs full.

[George Schweikle]

Correct. We had one and used to run A/C in hot weather. Try to find propane on the 4th of July in Evansville Indiana...

Originally Posted by Max1

... we call ours the propane pig...

[Off Grid]

Thanks. I think the unit comes with two 30 gallon tanks. I believe you can only fill them to 80% so I'm not sure how much propane I'll really have. I'll definitely try a 'dry run' before I attempt true cold weather camping. Overnight lows at Crystal Mountain are in the single digits.

[Off Grid]

Ahhhh...Thanks for clearing this up. I have the two 30 lb tanks on the front. I was under the impression that I had 60 gallons of propane, but it looks like I have two 30 lb tanks giving me only 20 gallons of propane. Definitely a big difference.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by J and Tammy

Ahhhh...Thanks for clearing this up. I have the two 30 lb tanks on the front. I was under the impression that I had 60 gallons of propane, but it looks like I have two 30 lb tanks giving me only 20 gallons of propane. Definitely a big difference.

30 lb propane tanks hold 7 gallons of propane. That's allowing for the 20% head space.

If you get them filled, you have 14 gallons of propane on board.

[R.B]

Originally Posted by J and Tammy

Hello all!! My wife and i just purchased the 21fbs Backcountry Series. It comes with the on board Cummins Onan 36k LP generator. Im curious as to how much propane this unit will go through. My wife snd i are avid skiers and are planning to overnight at Crystal Mountain, which has 30 amp service. This should be no problem because we can use the electricity to keep the heatets running. However, we are going to try Mt. baker and Stevens pass as well, but they do not have any hook ups. Dry camping only. If Im using propane to run the generator AND heat the rv, how much propane am I going to burn through in a day? We have dogs and would like to keep water use (wife refuses to camp without use of the toilet) so we would have to keep the heat going 24/7 . Any comments? Suggestions?

If you have not upgraded to at least 200 Ah of battery capacity, you will have trouble lasting through the night with the furnace fan draw in the winter. Between that draw and the capacity drop due to cold, you might get 8 hours on the batteries a dealer usually throws on.

[Off Grid]

R.B. Still confused as to battery capacity. I have two 6 volt batteries and one 170 amp Zamp solar panel. What is the 200 Ah you refer to?

[twinboat]

If you have 2, 6 volt batteries, you have at least 200 AH of capacity.