First timer

[daniel.hall87]

Hey everyone! Last fall my wife and I bought a 184bh and we are itching to take it out. I am thinking of taking it down the road to the Columbia River and doing some boondocking for the weekend. I just have a couple of questions as a newbie.
1) How long can I expect my 7 gal propane tank to last running my fridge, furnace and hot water heater?
2) weather is showing temps dipping to 31 potentially during the night. Am I gonna freeze up? Or should I be okay with my furnace on?
3) any other tips you think a rookie ought to know?

Thanks everyone!

[ependydad]

1, your biggest user is going to be the furnace. It sucks up quite a bit of power. The colder you can keep it inside, the less propane you'll use. Depending on the temperature you keep it at, you can expect the 7 gallons to be used up in 2-4 days.

2, furnace should keep you fine.

3, battery power is going to be your bigger issue most likely. The furnace fan is a big consumer of battery power. Also be aware of what does and doesn't work when you're plugged into a campsite. Do you have a plan for recharging it?

[daniel.hall87]

Thank you for the information!

I have solar panels, I guess I should’ve mentioned that we will only be there for one night, just getting out of the house for a little adventure with the kiddos.

Thanks again!

[Kim Gass]

You should be ok However the furnace will drain your battery and if that happens all the alarms will go off
Don't ask how I know.
Consider usibg sleeping bags and turn the furnace on after midnight.
No you wont freze up the water lines

[LuckyDuck]

Propane lasts a lot longer than you think. We’ve gone two weeks on the road running the furnace at night, cooking, running the fridge between stops and heating water. Still had plenty. Like others said, your issue may be batteries.

[TaftCoach]

Congratulations!

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by daniel.hall87

Hey everyone! Last fall my wife and I bought a 184bh and we are itching to take it out. I am thinking of taking it down the road to the Columbia River and doing some boondocking for the weekend. I just have a couple of questions as a newbie.
1) How long can I expect my 7 gal propane tank to last running my fridge, furnace and hot water heater?
2) weather is showing temps dipping to 31 potentially during the night. Am I gonna freeze up? Or should I be okay with my furnace on?
3) any other tips you think a rookie ought to know?

Thanks everyone!

This sounds like a lot of fun... and reminds us of some of our first trips out, they are all an adventure. If it is just you and the wife with good sleeping bags... you are golden. If you have kids on the trip, you need to prep a little more... Bring a spare BBQ propane bottle, in case you go thru a lot of gas with the furnace, they will let you know they are cold and you will burn thru a lot more propane... when it runs out, your fridge stops dead. Turn the hot water heater off at bed too... unless you want to hear a fighter-jet taking off every two hours.

If it is just you and the wife in a good sleeping bag, then we would turn the furnace to 55F before bed. It will come on and wake you up when heating it back to 55, but it will run a lot more at 65F ... Think of it as roughing it in luxury on a good mattress... As Kim states, the battery is sucked up by the furnace, and you won't get much sleep once the low-battery alarms start to wail.

Originally Posted by Kim Gass

You should be ok However the furnace will drain your battery and if that happens all the alarms will go off
Don't ask how I know.
Consider usibg sleeping bags and turn the furnace on after midnight.
No you wont freze up the water lines

Well said!