Single propane tank

[Jacqueline in BC]

Hey everyone,

We currently have room for 2 20lb propane tanks and 1 battery on the tongue on our 17' Bigfoot. We are thinking of switching to 2 batteries and 1 propane tank instead, since getting 2 6-volt batteries seems to give the best bang for the buck in terms of $/AH.

We are just wondering, for those of you who uses 1 propane tank, how do you check when to refill? Should we get one of those fancy tank with gauge? Or maybe just put an extra backup tank in the truck?

Just wanted to know if there are best practices for this kind of thing. Thanks!

[Hazel in Sk]

If we are camping for less than a week and won't need the furnace we go with one full tank. Longer than a week (or cold enough for the furnace) we take a spare and refill the empty before we forget. Hubby weighs tanks at home if in doubt.

[The Minimalist]

" how do you check when to refill?"

Pour a stream of hot water down the side of the cylinder, then run your finger up the side, bottom to top. When you reach the hot, that's your propane level. If you can't make hot water it's too late to test.

[Carol H]

Heck I can go for at least a couple of weeks sometimes more on one 20lb tank of propane and I use it to run the fridge, hot water tank, cook inside etc. If I am not running the fridge on propane and only using the furnace occasionally for short times I can for a number of weeks on one tank. I carried a 5lb tank I use on the outdoor stove and fire pit and would use it to connect to the trailer if I was not going to be moving it and need to fill the main tank.

None of the propane tank gages are great but I had one from Costco that worked well enough that it would let me know when the tank was starting to run low and give me time to get it refilled. Just needed to remember to start checking it after a couple of weeks of heavy propane usage.

[EllPea in CA]

Amazingly, we are still using propane that was in the tank when we bought the trailer. We haven't had to use the furnace, don't have a hot water heater, and so are only using for refer and some indoor cooking.

Does anyone here just do the swapout with those Blue Rhino tanks? What's the best way to go?

[floyd]

Fortunately most major brand truck stops now sell propane by the gallon/pound so you don't have to turn in a partial tank and you pay only for what you have used. That way when you are in doubt you can top it off just like having only one tank on your TV.
A twenty pound tank weighs about 38 pounds full and about 18 pounds empty.
Another option is to buy a larger(30pound) tank with the same footprint, you will start with more propane. Either way it is easy to get used to one tank just by kinda paying attention to your use and your needs.

[Glenn Baglo]

Had those propane gauges from Costco. My buddy picked up a couple. We were using them on our BBQ tanks and concluded that they were interfering with the flow of propane, resulting in poor performance. We both tossed ours.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Had those propane gauges from Costco. My buddy picked up a couple. We were using them on our BBQ tanks and concluded that they were interfering with the flow of propane, resulting in poor performance. We both tossed ours.

Thats interesting. Same one I used on the Scamp with no problems. But I also had newish tanks from Costco as well..... hmmmmm.

[Glenn Baglo]

Could be that it depends on the appliance. Our Q's were on life-support.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Could be that it depends on the appliance. Our Q's were on life-support.

Could also be that the propane appliances in our trailers work on a much lower pressure than the BQ's do.

[Carl V]

I have a single 20 lbs tank on the trailer.
I also carry a smaller 10lbs for my portable grill and outdoor stove.
If the trailer tank runs out, I can plug in the 10lbs until I get the 20lbs refilled. This only happened a couple times in over 15 yrs of camping.
I must have about four or five 20lbs tanks at home, that I use for the trailer, grill, bring to the cabin, etc. I always have at least one that's full that I put on the trailer before going on a camping trip, so I rarely ran out of propane.
I don't use any gauge as they are mostly unreliable.

[Tom Trostel]

Costco and Sam's both sell Worthington propane cylinders that have built in gauges that are very accurate. They work with a float that is within the body of the cylinder.

[C&G in FL]

I've had very good luck with tanks that have float gauges. The primary purpose of the float is to prevent overfilling of the OPD valve equipped tanks, now required by safety requirements.


Sent from my iPhone using Fiberglass RV

[David Tilston]

Canadian Tire sells Manchester 20 lb tanks with a float level gauge. They are marginally more expensive then the ones without a gauge.
The tanks at my local Costco do not have a gauge.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Glenn Baglo

Had those propane gauges from Costco. My buddy picked up a couple. We were using them on our BBQ tanks and concluded that they were interfering with the flow of propane, resulting in poor performance. We both tossed ours.

We tried one of those and found that it read full until it was empty enough to start getting a pressure drop. Useless!
We have since switched to a float gauge and found it satisfactory if not perfect. When ours reads empty it actually has a little less than a quarter tank. Guess that could be seen as inaccurate or just fair warning!

[brendadave]

We just use fridge and stove, rarely use furnace. I budget roughly 1 lb per day of propane to run fridge etc, so I keep track in my head how much I have used. I have an adaptor to go from big tank connector to little 1LB bottles if I ever run out, but so far my guessing has been pretty close.

[Radar1]

We have a propane tank with built in gauge from Sam's club. We now know from experience that when the gauge is deep in the red "empty" area, we still have about a gallon of propane left.
While on the subject of propane, we got an unwelcome surprise in Canada when we tried to refill our empty 2nd propane tank. It seems Canada requires recertification every 10 years (12 years in USA), and they seem to actually check the date! They refused to refill the older tank. Fortunately we had enough propane to get us to Alaska in our newer tank, where it seems the USA propane distributors don't seem to bother checking the date.
We have since purchased another new tank.