Winter gas use -> a worked example: (1 Viewer)

[starquake]

So we just have ran out of 6kg after 30 days nearly exactly of use and actually actively monitored use so hopefully this may help others to judge their use in future.

new replacement 6kg bottle was installed Christmas Eve we had EHU at time until 2nd Jan -> the new bottle lasted (iun terms of gas usage):

1. Cooking meals in oven for 8 days straight -> we were fully off grid with no takeaway possible as rurally located:
2. Coffee/Tea times at least 5 each day

At that point we went home for work for next 3 weeks -> however we have been using van at weekends and lasted 5 days fully off grid, not on campsite, so using the full offgrid capabilities of the van, in winter.:

At weekends we've been 100% off grid for each stay, Fri, Sat and somtimes Sun night -> we counted days fully off grid so far as 5.

1. Fridge on gas fully, it was pre-cooled at home for 24hours before we left.
2. Heating on gas (and yes it's been cold).
3. Cooking in oven or on hob
4. Teas again x5 a day.
5. Showers once a day

We ran out at "teatime" on day 6, ie, the point in day we need the heating on as it's getting dark outside.

We didn't find ~12 ish days with at least half off grid as being that "bad" usage wise for a 6kg bottle. Using hookup does economise on fridge use of gas, which is substatial compared with cooking, as long as the electricity is included, as if it's not it's probably cheaper on gas.

If we end up using the van next winter as much as this, it's making me rethink our economics of Gaslow argument, even though refilling around here there is currently only a single garage with supply regularly. 22kg of gas would do us a month I expect and would allow more wild camping, which we've found we love now -> and if we go France we absolutely would need this as we'd only last ~ 11 days max on 2 full 6kgs..

 

[ianto999]

Thanks - it’s a useful set of data.
We use more but have a 6.4m van, 4e truma heater and large fridge. Also in Scotland. For temps around 0c, we seem to get 3-4 days off grid use (no oven use though) from 11kg gaslow.

What size of van/heater

So we just have ran out of 6kg after 30 days nearly exactly of use and actually actively monitored use so hopefully this may help others to judge their use in future.

new replacement 6kg bottle was installed Christmas Eve we had EHU at time until 2nd Jan -> the new bottle lasted (iun terms of gas usage):

1. Cooking meals in oven for 8 days straight -> we were fully off grid with no takeaway possible as rurally located:
2. Coffee/Tea times at least 5 each day

At that point we went home for work for next 3 weeks -> however we have been using van at weekends and lasted 5 days fully off grid, not on campsite, so using the full offgrid capabilities of the van, in winter.:

At weekends we've been 100% off grid for each stay, Fri, Sat and somtimes Sun night -> we counted days fully off grid so far as 5.

1. Fridge on gas fully, it was pre-cooled at home for 24hours before we left.
2. Heating on gas (and yes it's been cold).
3. Cooking in oven or on hob
4. Teas again x5 a day.
5. Showers once a day

We ran out at "teatime" on day 6, ie, the point in day we need the heating on as it's getting dark outside.

We didn't find ~12 ish days with at least half off grid as being that "bad" usage wise for a 6kg bottle. Using hookup does economise on fridge use of gas, which is substatial compared with cooking, as long as the electricity is included, as if it's not it's probably cheaper on gas.

If we end up using the van next winter as much as this, it's making me rethink our economics of Gaslow argument, even though refilling around here there is currently only a single garage with supply regularly. 22kg of gas would do us a month I expect and would allow more wild camping, which we've found we love now -> and if we go France we absolutely would need this as we'd only last ~ 11 days max on 2 full 6kgs..

 

[hja]

Interesting. And remember you don’t need to wait for gaslow to empty before refilling and you can refill on your travels.

 

[starquake]

Thanks - it’s a useful set of data.
We use more but have a 6.4m van, 4e truma heater and large fridge. Also in Scotland. For temps around 0c, we seem to get 3-4 days off grid use (no oven use though) from 11kg gaslow.

What size of van/heater

6.6m van 4e truma, and small fridge. I suspect the small fridge means its' 250g of gas a day versus 400 for big one. We also turned the thermostate down as it works so well on gas we don't need it set to max like we do on electric. Should probably add we keep a thermostat in the fridge and if it's getting too cold we turn it down and thats usually teh case on gas in winter.

It was very cold (2 celcus) on one of the nights, and I think it was 5 celcius last night. We don't sleep with heat on, but typically keep it 18 ish as it's too warm above that in winter for sleeping (the van internal temp reads as 20 when we set controlpanel tro 18).

 

[Lenny HB]

That seems very low we get through 14kg in 15 days in spring/autumn, our fridge uses a litre (0.5kg) a day.

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[starquake]

That seems very low we get through 14kg in 15 days in spring/autumn, our fridge uses a litre (0.5kg) a day.

Well it's certinally helped us realise even a 2 week jaunt in France is touch and go on 2 6 kilos (my wife at least thought we'd manage), and I think that was a key knowledge to have ahead of planning a trip there for next winter en route to Spain.

But I am surprised at how economical our small dometic ( Think it's dometic) fridge is on the gas.

Downside is I need to drive out for more gas today, still at least it's the Flogas we used up this weekend (which is easy to get as a local depot has lots of stock) instead of Calor, which would meaning ringing around for.

 

[zac]

That's extremely low but I guess it all depends on what heating you have etc etc, my 2 x 11kg gas bottles just having the heating on at 6 degrees whilst at home ran out the weekend so that just under 4 weeks with nothing else on. If i was in the motorhome and using it constantly i would expect to be refilling that at least every couple of weeks in winter.

 

[starquake]

That's extremely low but I guess it all depends on what heating you have etc etc, my 2 x 11kg gas bottles just having the heating on at 6 degrees whilst at home ran out the weekend so that just under 4 weeks with nothing else on. If i was in the motorhome and using it constantly i would expect to be refilling that at least every couple of weeks in winter.

I think you right, but we were on EHU for a fair bit ( including at home) so our real use of gas was just cooking and heat for the 5-6 days off grid + probably as 2/3 of the bottle was off gridding, which as said, makes about a bottle a week of 6kg gas if we expanded. As said, it's made us realise given we are loving winter van use at the moment that gaslow upgrades should be done a bit earlier if we continue with using van in winter. I suspect the heating used majority of gas, as our last bottle lasted 6 months including ~ 8 days off grid fully without heat, but with hot water.

The main points for winter use over summer for us locally (which is why we are enjoying it in cold JanuarY) are, we can get into carparks and places that in summer are not really available to motorhomers as easily, and equally said carparks are exceptionally quiet as are the beaches, making us being able to park up with a lookout over the sea for a day totally viable, and even get our chairs out onto grassed areas at top of cliff. Come 4pm we were one of 3 couples on the beach with our dog. Yesterday in the "daytime" parkup we were one of 4 vans, and in evenign there were 4 different vans on the street we had to move to. (Felixstowe provides nice "during day" parkups, without allowing overnight stays, but has plenty of derestricted parking once the locals all go home when it starts to get dark and cold). This weekends stops were a pub stop Fri/Sat night and Felixstowe Sun. Total cost of overnight stays was nil, the daytime parkign at Felixstowe for motorhomes is £4 for all day at the scenic Clifflands bit.

For those in suffolk last night we were only one of 4 vans on one of the "famous" felixstowe locations where residents were annoyed with perma-vans in summer, and all of us arriving last night were "only there overnight" only -> 2 left with us at 7:30am, presumably for work. We also were respectful to locals picking to park in a location where it didn't block any residents view. Seeing how it was last summer, winter is preferable, and our dog can also use the beach in Winter as hes prohibited April to Oct.

 

[Carpmart]

Thanks for posting, I love this kind of data!

My 11kg Repsol propano bottle lasts approximately 14 days (very consistently the two weeks) running fridge, heating and cooking most days in SE Spain. The heating will kick in most 24hr periods and probably runs for 2hrs on average. That’s with Alde heating. We cook (at least one proper meal at least) on 10 days of the 14 days and use the gas grill most mornings.. crushed avocado tostados

€20.50 per fortnight seems pretty good to me as we are pretty self sufficient on electric, using only €5 in the last month…

Low cost living FTW!

 

[pete4x4]

I know this isnt a real comparison but in Southern Spain January thru March, on a campsite with electric included we do not use a 6kg gaslow bottle over that time, thats cooking only. Just in case someone was wondering, oh and that did include a 1 night stopover at the Ikea aire in Murcis,fridge on gas! .

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[starquake]

I know this isnt a real comparison but in Southern Spain January thru March, on a campsite with electric included we do not use a 6kg gaslow bottle over that time, thats cooking only. Just in case someone was wondering, oh and that did include a 1 night stopover at the Ikea aire in Murcis,fridge on gas! .

Agree, our previous bottle lasted June to December 24th - I'd say about half our stays were off grid too, but we only used the van on weekends + only one 2 week break in that time. At moment I'd say we are on-course to use 3-4 6kg refills in 6 months depending on how much heat we need for our (1 week booked off grid) period.

The big difference is as you say we didn' need heat, or anything really other than gas hob use in the summer months.

 

[VXman]

Interesting. And remember you don’t need to wait for gaslow to empty before refilling and you can refill on your travels.

Exactly. I never really think much about consumption but just top up my Gaslow bottle every 10 days or so when travelling.

 

[tufty]

We had 2x 11kg refillable Allugas bottles fitted on our Cathago compactline ready for our 8 weeks in France/Spain this year. Best decision ever as last year we had to scrimp on gas & stay on some campsites as we needed heat at night ( end of Jan to early March).
This year we have much more freedom. So far we are nearly empty on one cylinder after 13 days. We run a large fridge freezer & loads of tea & coffee & some hob cooking & gas BBQ (no oven). Also used a lot for heating when on stop (to maintain day 22° & night 12°) It was -9 in Northern France & also a couple of days in mountain territory slowly warming up when we got to the Spanish East coast. We will let one run to empty to get a good idea of how long it lasts as the guage has been lower than red for 4 days so not much use

 

[fifthwheel]

Not motorhome related but trying to be frugal we use one 47kg cylinder of LPG per week at home for water and heating. Old brick house with most windows single glazed, most rads are shut down apart from five.
In our living room we have a multifuel stove in a small alcove we run that every day. I am paying £85 per cylinder for the gas. John.