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Originally Posted by GreyEagle
Enough.........
The motorhomes of past had 2 x 20 lb bottles.....
The last one had two 30 lb bottles.........
Just make sure you have a back up for when you do run out. It's no fun driving around in the cold or on a dark night trying to find someplace to refill.....
Always have a small reserve... above and beyond your normal tanks......
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I don't think many here (or on RV forums) realize just what a Permanent Mount LP tank typically holds. The most common size of horizontal, permanent mount LP tank is 40 LBs or roughly 9 gallons. We had filled the LP tank on the Class exactly ONCE. We tend to fulltime "differently" than a lot of full-timers. We treat our bus as a home that just happens to have wheels. We park it in one location for months at a time with out moving. By months I mean anywhere from 3 months to 2 years. Moving just to refill LP is a PITA. Too many places are not laid out for 40 ft vehicles to easily park in and you always have the yo-yo who needs to park in the middle of the area you would need to park in to get tanks refilled. We have been in places with LP delivery in campgrounds. It is much easier for us to carry two 20 LB (BBQ) tanks. We can either refill (cheapest) or do a tank swap (for those times with the LP filling station is closed). The 20 lb tanks also allow us to take advantage to the yearly super cheap LP promotions that every distributor seems to engage in (typically referred to as the $6 tank fill) wherein they refill 20 LB tanks for $6. We have been very light on our cooking only LP usage in the summer heat. We cook mostly in the microwave and on the LP grill. I am seriously considering building a small
portable solar cooker to use during the summertime rather than heat up the inside of the bus with the oven.
NOTE: we only use LP for cooking (30" gas range & a tabletop LP grill from Wal-mart) and for a small LP space heater.
Upside to an LP generator... it would use a fuel we tend to already have on hand, seems to require less maintenance based on what I have heard about them, and we could power off a 20LB tank that we can toss an extra into the jeep to get refilled. Since we go thru LP any way, the fuel wouldn't go bad due to age or need any stabilizers added to it like gasoline and diesel. We could simply run another LP line to the generator rather than go to the expense of adding a fuel tank and figuring where to put the fill valve.
Downside to an LP generator is the higher price compared to a similar sized gasoline version.
Would I consider an LP generator? Based on what I posted above... yes. And for those very same reasons. I am having problems squeezing all the stuff under the bus that we need to squeeze under the bus! I have the space to carry our two LP tank and with a little adjustment, I could carry two more. Not that we would need it based on the way we plan on using the bus.
For anyone who plans on using LP in their bus, particularly if you plan on using a permanent mount tank.... Add a simple LP quick connect that will allow you to sit extra LP tanks on the ground outside of your bus. This will allow you to either use an extra 20LB tank or you can use a 100 LB tank (rental or your own if you can transport one upright) for longer extended use (like over winter). Using one of our old 100 LB tanks saved us a lot of $$ over our last NC winter. Now all we have are 20 LB tanks as we do not have a good way to transport 100 LB tanks. You can swap out 20LB tank at more tank exchanges than you can 30 LB tanks.
THIS IS ANOTHER OF THOSE "NO ONE RIGHT OR WRONG WAY" THING. BUT A THING YOU NEED TO LOOK AT IN LIGHT OF HOW YOU PLAN TO USE YOUR BUS NOW AND IN THE NEAR FUTURE! Discuss with your spouse/SO, if you have one, your plans for future use. If you are single... write down how you may use the bus in the future. Take into account as many different scenarios as you can including "worst case" things (you loose your home for whatever reason and have to move into the bus and travel to parts unknown looking for work). Doing this will allow you to add a few changes to "upgrade" later without a major rework. Doesn't hurt to plan for the future a little. sometimes it's cheaper and easier to plan for a future thing now than rip out and rebuild later (like toilets, electrical wiring hidden behind walls, etc).
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