One of our specific and immediate goals is to remove propane from our living quarters. Once we started discussing the idea, it became clear that this was an excellent project to focus on first. It involved changes we’ve wanted to make for a while. It looked completely feasible. With some time and some money, we could make it happen.
Our travel trailer, Howie, was already configured with a solar panel, deep cycle lead acid batteries, and an inverter. John did some great work setting this up in 2014 (I later described it in a blog post). It has allowed us to boondock, i.e. live off-grid, for days on end as long as there is some sunshine, with only water/sewer as limitations.
The best part was that we learned a lot. We’ve driven for miles discussing our electrical setup, mostly with me asking questions and John patiently explaining and repeating. He created a drawing that we still refer to and I wrote up notes to myself for future reference. I believe if you click on these you can see a zoomed-in version or download a copy:
The upshot is that I can talk confidently about DC and AC power within Howie, switch various charging systems on and off (shore power, generator, solar), monitor the batteries, adjust our energy usage as needed, and create spreadsheets for power requirements vs. battery and solar size.
You’d think as an electrical engineer I could have designed the system myself, but I left that to my (also an engineer, and the more practical/handy one) husband. I CAN tell you how the computer chips inside the inverter were manufactured. So there…?
Oh hey, I’ve also been useful for troubleshooting and brainstorming! Ask us sometime to explain how we were tripping breakers at a deserted campground in Virginia one evening, thankful that we weren’t creating blackouts in other peoples’ rigs as well.
Wow, I haven’t even started on the main topic of this post! #BrevityIsBetter
I’m going to jump to the gist of it with this noteworthy bit of news: On September 20, 2019, we closed the propane tank valve to Howie. After that we never turned it back on. Read on for the details!
The purpose of propane
Here is where we have been using propane in Howie:
* Refrigeration (when we aren’t plugged into shore power)
Our fridge (the older one, spoiler alert) could use either AC power or propane. This is pretty standard for RV’s and travel trailers.
* Stovetop cooking
Another standard feature for living on the road (and obviously in many houses as well) is a cooktop with propane burners. Gas cooking is fast and efficient, so it would be nice not to regress back to the older/slower electrical coils that I grew up with.
* Water heating
Our water heater is similar to the fridge, with options for using AC power or propane to heat the water.
* Air heating
The furnace in Howie uses propane to heat the air plus an electric blower to move it around.
* Generator
We started with a gasoline generator when we bought our trailer. It was nice to have as a backup power source, especially pre-solar panel. But it was kind of a pain having to keep smelly gas in the little tank, and most of all having to run it once a month to keep it from varnishing. You can guess how we learned about that problem.
In 2014 we swapped it out for a 3600 Watt propane generator. I can say without a doubt that this was an excellent upgrade. It can sit for months without turning it on, it’s connected to the propane tanks that we already have, and it’s quiet and reliable.
However, it actually DOES sit for months without being turned on, because we almost never need it. Sure, if we were going to boondock in a rainy/cloudy locale for a while, we might really want it. But that has been a rare experience (and choice) for us. In hindsight, removing the gas generator and not replacing it would have been the smarter thing to do.
* Outdoor grill
OK, we don’t actually have one of these. We’ve talked about it, Howie has a place to mount one, and we do enjoy grilled food. This is more about sacrificing a potential idea.
Action items
We walked through each of those uses and decided on key courses of action:
1) For the short term we would stop boondocking while we made some changes to the trailer, relying on shore power until we had more pieces in place. This took Harvest Host overnights off the table temporarily, creating a good incentive to get back to boondock-ability.
2) John found a company that sells conversion kits for our refrigerator so we could change it to a DC-powered compressor. JC Refrigeration is located in Shipshewana, Indiana, which just happened to be only slightly out of our way on our Upper Midwest tour last summer. Yes, of course let’s swing by and pick up the kit for our refrigerator! The conversion details will be in a future blog post.
This was actually the most important thing we did to get started in this process.
3) We purchased an induction cooktop plus a kettle and a cookset that are induction-compatible.
Second-most important thing, and on top of that it has been awesome to cook with induction. Again, more details forthcoming.
4) Water heating is being done with AC power only, and we’ll research how to convert it to DC (or add a DC option). Or swap it out for something newer/more efficient.
5) Our travel would be planned around mostly mild temperatures for the next several months to keep from stressing the heating systems right off the bat.
6) For heating the air in the trailer, we started with a tiny space heater that can keep my feet warm under the table while I write.
Once we got serious about removing the propane blower heater, I got serious about finding something larger. Now we have a ceramic space heater with temperature control and a timer. So far this is all we have needed, with occasional overnight temperatures in the 20’s.
7) Sell the propane generator: Props to John for suggesting in the first place that we might not have needed it, then trying to get me to sell it a while ago… I should listen to my husband more often, but don’t tell him I said that.
At the end of October we lived for a few days at Camper John’s in Tennessee so they could redo the roof as preparation for our new solar system. Camper John bought the generator from us, the next big step forward in removing propane from Howie.
Not only that, but he collects RV parts for use in repairs, so he took quite a few things off our hands. We left there lighter and happier and ready to charge ahead, propane free!
For my part, I’m collecting plenty of ideas for future blog posts.
8) We needed to remove the generator so John can install the new LITHIUM batteries that we bought, woo hoo! This is one of those things we’ve been wanting for a while.
9) More solar! Panels were acquired:
And installed:
And the bigger roof system is newly in place!
10) We will focus on this conversion until we return to at least our starting point of being able to boondock without power limitations.
Hey, that came out to exactly 10 items without even trying! Not sure why I care about that, but apparently it makes me happy 🙂
It has been fun trying new things and making real progress lately. As of October 29, 2019 we have no more propane – no tanks, no lines, nothing related to the entire propane system.
OK, we still have the propane alarm. Hey John, I think we can get rid of that too!
