How Long Will Propane Last?

[100acrehuphalump]

How long do you think two 10 lb propane tanks will last for one person in the field for two months with the forced air furnace, stove, and on demand hot water heater? Navy showers, dishes, and daily food being the main uses.

 

[Cayuse]

Furnace is going to be a huge variable, do you run it all night or kust in the mornings to take the edge off? What is the outside air temperature?

I don't have a water heater in my Grandby and tend to do a lot of my cooking outside on a grill with 1# cartridges. My single 20lb tank took less than half when I went to refill it in November and I had about 28 nights on it at that point but wanted to make sure it was full before going off for the Thanksgiving Weekend.

 

[PJorgen]

You could try to calculate your daily usage to get an idea of how long 20 lbs will last. You'll need to check the BTU ratings for each of the appliances you will use and then estimate the hours of use for each appliance each day.

Depending on which reference you check, you'll find that propane contains between 91,000 and 98,000 BTU/gallon, so 20 lbs (5 gallons) contains about 475,000 BTUs of energy (assuming 95,000 BTU/gal).

As an example, if you have a stove with a 30,000 BTU/hr burner and you use the burner at 50% capacity for 30 mins you would use 7500 BTUs of propane. If you do this for all your appliances you can estimate your use per day. Of course these will all be estimates but it will give you a general idea to use as a starting point.

 

[Ramblinman]

2 Months seems a little bit long to me. I did a 3 Week trip on the "Wet Coast" last year We had 2 10lb tanks using one tank for BBQ - and I made it thru the trip with some to spare. - My guess in moderate weather - being very conservative - 1 Month Maybe 5 weeks???

 

[iowahiker]

We were concerned about propane before we got our camper since we travel transcontinental routinely but not anymore.

We discovered propane is available at most travel centers (aka truck stops). We have never stopped at three travel centers in a row without at least one having propane. We carry the Michelin Road Atlas which is not our favorite atlas but it does show where travel centers are located on each map. I suppose you could just ask your Apple "smart phone" where to buy propane.

We carry the KOA Campground Directory which shows which KOA's sell propane. You can get a directory for free by staying in a KOA campground for one night. We do not stay often at KOA but they can be handy on extended road trips. Last year: We stayed at one along I-80 in Indiana after a 700 miles of driving. We were too tired to hear the I-80 noise. We stayed at another in Ely in Nevada after arriving after dark and not wanting to scout more remote sites. We stayed at the one in Klamath Falls in Oregon while our starter was repaired at the Ford dealer (I can see the smirks from Toyota owners).

We use propane for two for all our cooking, bathing, and heating but do not have the hot water heater or refrig. 10 pounds lasts 60 nights without the furnace or 40 nights with morning/evening furnace use (no furnace while sleeping). If you are concerned about running out of propane than switch to "eco" mode after the first tank empties until the tank is refilled. "Eco" mode would be not using the hot water heater and instead heating water in a pot on the stove (only if you are worried and/or are less than 2/3 done with your trip).

Your propane question made me wonder about about how you plan to navigate. If you are totally digitized then ignore the following.
We plan our trips using the National Geographic Road Atlas Adventure Edition (all our maps come from Amazon) which stays at home. We carry the spiral Michelin Road Atlas which shows the travel centers but is otherwise difficult to use. We own the entire Benchmark Road and Recreation Atlas collection for western states and take only those we need. The Gazetteer atlases show more road detail but less recreation detail. We purchase the National Forest district maps at NF district offices when we get there and ask about campground and road conditions. We purchase the Trails Illustrated trail maps for areas we plan to hike in. We carry a GPS to measure our coordinates and then look up the coordinates on a paper map to find our location (we got lost once but never again). I am not sure of your trip purpose but you have most likely already settled on your navigation system.

 

[Bill D]

Off topic, but regarding navigation, the first time I traveled to the States was solo on my motorcycle. All I had with me was a single page map of North America (absolutely no detail), a small tent and a disposable camera. I rode from Canada to the Tijuana border and back up the coast.

I just had to laugh at the contrasting differences on our trip planning and navigation the techniques.

 

[iowahiker]

Bill, We are ruining this thread but we first traveled in Mazda RX-7 (5 speed stick, rotary engine, two seats) and a large tent. Our very first trip: honeymoon in Banff, Canada (flying into Calgary). Followed by a Taurus wagon, Chevy van, pop-up trailer, and now the TC. We like to stay 1-2 weeks in one place and day hike everything and so all the maps (tired of driving). Currently planning a summer trip 2015 to K-country, Lake Louise soft-side CG, your Glacier NP, and just exploring the parkway (and yes we have all the maps).