Propane use - how long will it last?

[LadyJo]

Hi, I am in my planning stage and working on a budget.

As I have a 20 lb propane tank? 5 gal. I will probably cook two small meals a day, plus heat water for coffee and washing. How long should one tank last? If I have to run my Big Buddy heater on low for a few hours a day I know it will use a lot more gas.

Thanks in advance.

 

[rvpopeye]

For the usage you say , probably a month average.

 

[highdesertranger]

if you are cooking outside you will use a lot more propane especially if it's windy. I cook outside I use a lot of propane, I have a huge stove, a camp chef 60k btu. I also have a camp chef stove oven combo and a propane lantern. very rarely do I have all three going at once. a five gallon tank will last me 2-3 weeks depending on the weather. a buddy on low uses hardly any propane, a small stove will use very little. so I would guess you could make it 4-6 weeks. mind you this is only a guess. highdesertranger

 

[akrvbob]

For your cooking only, i'd say 6 months.
Bob

 

[LadyJo]

Good info. So unless it is cold I could probably keep the usage to one tank a month. I have a two burner Colman with the burners deep set, this helps with the wind. One thing I love is my coffee, a few cups in the morning and a couple in the afternoon. When camping I make a large pot in the morning and keep it in a carafe - it's still warm early afternoon. There will be some water heated for washing me and a tiny amount of dishes.

A Little Buddy heater will more than do the job for an Element. I prefer it a bit cold to sleep, but cold and wet means uncomfortable without some heat.

 

[rvpopeye]

You have the clue about usage now , after you run out the first time doing what you do , you'll have a better idea how long for you !
You can pick up the tank and swing it a little and feel the liquid moving inside , try to refill before it runs completely out.
Try to find a place that refills by the gallon or pound instead of exchange ,,,way better deal !
Burning propane will add some moisture to the air too...

 

[LadyJo]

, after you run out the first time doing what you do , you'll have a better idea how long for you !

This is true, won't know until I start out. I think I will keep a couple of the smaller cans for just in case I run out. There used to be some sort of stick on thing you could put on the outside of the tank and it would tell you how full / low it was.

 

[ArtW]

a few small cans is a good idea at first, I let myself run out once, when the outside temp was like 40f, lucky it wasn't colder, I like to sleep cool, but 40 is a bit too cool for this Texan

 

[Almost There]

You can also use a free hanging weight scale to figure out how close you are to running out of propane.

Each tank will have a stamp on it showing what the weight is empty. The closer it gets to that weight when you hang it from the scale the closer you are to being empty.