Run time for a 3way fridge on propane?

[Beach]

Curious if anyone has ever tracked how long they can run on a 20lb bottle? Fridge will be the only thing running on propane, no stove, water heater or furnace. We are headed for central Texas for some river camping, temps will be up there, so we will probably be running the fridge at near max setting.. Do I need to plan for a propane refill?

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Curious if anyone has ever tracked how long they can run on a 20lb bottle? Fridge will be the only thing running on propane, no stove, water heater or furnace. We are headed for central Texas for some river camping, temps will be up there, so we will probably be running the fridge at near max setting.. Do I need to plan for a propane refill?

I don't have an exact length of time,but the flame on the fridge is about pilot light size so it should last a long time.
I run mine on max all the time as I use it to keep frozen things. Works pretty well except in HOT weather when during the day the temp in the fridge is about 45 ish,than at night it goes down to the mid 20s.
As extra insurance I place 2 1/2 gal bottles of frozen water to help keep the temps longer.
Good luck and have a fun trip.
Frank

 

[LuckyDan]

Closest I've tracked it to is "a long time".

 

[billharr]

Weeks!

On my trip around the USA I ran my fridge in the old 2002 Hawk for three weeks. Also the heater when needed and using the stove. After two weeks of travel I filled the 20# tank I did not trust the gauge. It was right, only 1/2 full.

 

[idahoron]

I have had over a week on mine it never ran out.

 

[fish more]

Your refer will run a long time on propane. It uses a very small amount of fuel, it's the best method on a 3way to run the refer

 

[Ramblinman]

Just got home from 10 day bear hunt. It was warm spring weather. I only used 10 lbs of propane. That was using heater, stove, hot water, and ran fridge on coldest setting. I Bet you could go a month if you were using just the fridge.

 

[camelracer]

2+ weeks on a baja beach. It is probably somewhat temperature dependent.

A problem with the propane fridge is that it doesn't maintain a set temperature. It will run a number of degrees below ambient. so as ambient goes up the interior goes up and as ambient goes down the interior goes down. I lost a load of food during a 114* week in Moab.

 

[buzzman]

Your frig will probably run a long time as mentioned above. That being said, I use my frig on propane quite often and I did run out of propane one time when I was in the boonies, due mainly to the fact that it is sometimes difficult to fine a place to fill a propane bottle. I usually carry a couple 1 lb propane bottles with me to hook up to my travel grill. To allow me to use one of those small bottles to keep my frig going in emergencies like this, I bought an adapter to hook a small bottle to the camper propane hose. I bought it at Bass Pro Shop, and probably available at other outdoor/camping stores, and Amazon.com has them too. It's called a "steak saver" adapter. It is meant to hook up to a large gas grill to finish cooking your steak if the main propane bottle suddenly goes dry.

Anyway, just another idea. Happy camping.

Buzz

 

[The Next Adventures]

You should be good for at least a month or longer. I fill my 20 lb tank every four weeks and usually it still has another weeks worth in it. That's with running the fridge continuously and cooking, coffee, etc. Whatever fridge you have will play in as a factor. my fridge is 11 years old. I keep it on a very low setting and the temp in the fridge will be at 42 degrees in 90 degree heat outside.

 

[GBW]

Again, somewhat relative... My tank was reading about 1/4 full. I had cleaned out the camper and fridge but had forgotten to turn off the fridge. I loaded it back up again to use it in 2 weeks, looked in the fridge and realized I had frozen drops of water on the cooling fins in the back. Tank was pretty much dead. Late summer so temps weren't all that hot and I park in a shaded spot.

So - approx 1/4 tank ran an empty fridge for 2 weeks in moderate temperatures.