How much propane do go thru?

[TheThunderbird]

Boat had 2 10# bottles. Those light blue camping gaz like things make rust soon
I chose a 15kg (30#) bottle.

It is only marginally larger than the 10kg one. I keep it horizontally, well fixed, apparently not a problem..

When you cook overnight you DONT WANT TO GO OUT TO BE THE KITCHEN HERO

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by TheThunderbird

Boat had 2 10# bottles. Those light blue camping gaz like things make rust soon
I chose a 15kg (30#) bottle.

It is only marginally larger than the 10kg one. I keep it horizontally, well fixed, apparently not a problem..

When you cook overnight you DONT WANT TO GO OUT TO BE THE KITCHEN HERO

Not a problem if it is a tank that is designed to be horizontally mounted... if not then one day you MAY GO OUT WITH A BANG!!!!

[Mike OReilly]

For the two of us we use around 5# per month. I thought it might be more, but just checked with the boss of data on our boat (my wife). She knows.

During the months we live on the boat each year we cook most meals onboard. Three meals, plus bread baking and other miscellaneous oven uses. Our tank is a horizontal one.

[TheThunderbird]

I added an expansion bottle.

However, even before (with pressure valve positioned upwards..), no problem, any liquid may evaporate along the 20' pipe hose. Even with a full botle, combustion was fine/regular.

[Terrapin]

Cooking only, a 20 lb. propane tank lasts us about six weeks. We spent last winter aboard in Baltimore, and mostly used an electric heater. We also have two propane heaters. A one pound tank lasts about four hours for heating on the high setting, somewhat longer for the low setting. One propane heater heats the place up quite well -- too well sometimes. Now we're on the ICW and cooking more, ordering less take-out. I think we still get about six weeks off the propane, but try to get it filled more often so we don't run out.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by Terrapin

Cooking only, a 20 lb. propane tank lasts us about six weeks. ...

Just wondering why some of us get months, 3 to 4 months in our case cooking/coffee/tea/some baking, and other folks get half or less of that from a 20# tank.

If you have steel tanks and swap them, I have read that a 20# tank only has 17#.

[savoir]

No tank actually holds the stated weight of propane. That number is the capacity when 100% full but no one fills them that far. At my local filler the safety valve blows at 16 lbs for a 20 lb tank.

The reason is safety. Propane will expand in hot weather and when it does you don't want a tank on board that was filled to 100% in cold weather.

[barnakiel]

We go thru about 3 liters of butane a month.

Our clime is about 20 degrees centigrade and we cook our own food onboard every day. We are two.

Cheers,
b.

[txg]

While not an answer to the question itself, there may be others who read this thread while outfitting a boat and my post perhaps makes sense for them:

We chose an ethanol stove because of all the gas refill problems.

We're fulltime cruising for 7 months now and started with 35L of ethanol. So far, we used up a little bit less than 2/3 of it. But we're using an electric plate and an electric cooker sometimes when the sun is shining and the batteries are full.

But even without that, 40-50l should last for about a year and are easy to store because they don't have to be in a special locker. Still, we use the gas locker of our boat to store the 10l-can that has already been opened and is currently in use. Easily accessible and a perfect fit for our gas locker that is made for the blue 2,8l-bottles.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by jcapo

Just wondering why some of us get months, 3 to 4 months in our case cooking/coffee/tea/some baking, and other folks get half or less of that from a 20# tank........

Cooking habits... As the person in charge of the gas budget I am conservative in my use... no pot on the burner = no flame. I budget on 4.5kg/10lbs a month and invariably get more.

The occasional 'celebrity chef' that -in the distant past - was allowed into the galley would fire up all four jets while still peeling the spuds...
They would also be the cooks who no-one would clean up after as every pot, pan, plate and implement on the ship would have been used and every surface both horizontal and vertical would be a mess......

Also, even today when the above mentioned chefs are just a fading memory, usage varies according to location. In cold weather hot breakfast.. even if just porridge... hot lunch and lots of hot drinks.

Sailing in a more clement climate just a hot drink at start of day and a cooked dinner.

[Sea Dreaming]

We just ran out tonight. Our first 20lb lasted 2.5 months. Part of that time we have used an electric coffee pot, but at the same time, have been cooking more meals on board. I know a fair amount of waste has been trying to learn my oven. I'm sure we will use more propane when we are actually anchoring out.

[mako]

When we sold our all electric boat we moved into a new 30ft trailer for a year while building our home. During the cold California desert winter we were burning a 30lb propane bottle every two days trying to keep warm.

The trailer and the boat both had equally horrible insulation values. Onboard a boat I would not have propane heat due to the difficulty in refilling it (especially when cruising). Even a wood stove would be better

Even in our current villa (30lb bottle) if we only use the stove then the bottle lasts forever. However, using the oven heavily we get about 6 weeks max.

The lesson that I've learned from boats, trailers and houses is that it is so important to have very heavy insulation - a lesson I am using for my new construction boat.