How much propane does furnace use?

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donandlin

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Jul 14, 2010
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We are trying to get out of Michigan in frigid weather.  We prefer staying in the motorhome vs. motel and wondered if we ran our furnace all night just how much propane would we use.
We don't mind refilling the tank in order to keep warm and it still would be less costly than a motel.    Assume the furnace would stay on most of the night and we would heat to about 55 degrees. Just a guess....  Thanks!
 
Motorhomes generally have fairly good sized LP tanks, certainly enough LP to heat for several nights in cold weather.  Depending upon how many batteries you have, batteries are going to be your problem if you do not have shore power. 
 
When we leave MT in January, we usually ahve to fill the propane tank after we get to AZ, usually this take about 4 days and we are at 1/2 tank or a little below.  Of ourse it it is very cold, single digits type, we may have to fill on the 3rd day of travel but we have the furnace on for at least 3 days before we leave.

When we are camping in the cold, a tank lasts about a week plus or minus a day or so in our 38' DP.
 
I am in NYC . The temp has been around 25 degrees and The thermostat is at 70 degrees in my 1996 32'. 3 gallons a day I am using.
 
For an absolute answer on how much propane your furnace (or any other gas appliance) uses, look at the BTU rating on it's nameplate.  In this case, BTUs are used to measure the amount of heat energy in the gas it's consuming, not the heat output of the unit.

There are about 90,000 BTUs in a gallon of propane.  If your furnace is rated at 30,000 BTUs it will use 1/3 gallon of propane for every hour it's in use.  (30,000 / 90,000 = 1/3)

If the furnace is running continuously, you'll use 8 gallons of propane per 24 hour period.

If the furnace is running an average of 50% of the time you'll use 4 gallons every 24 hours.

And so on.


 
I really like the mathematical approach to Lou's reply, but from my experience in my 30' class A I can run the furnace for about 4 days and nights at around 62 degrees when its cold before I really need to start looking for a refill.  I know everyone's performance will be a bit different depending on age, size, slides and furnace size but that is our experience with our 1993 Thor Pinnacle.
 

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