Once again kindly asking those in the know, as we are planning on being full time on the road I am just trying to get an idea of how long a bottle of gas might last. We are planning on trying to do as much free camping as poss. We have 2 x 9kg bottles and only would use gas for cooking and water heater. The water heater is gas/240v and the van does have an ensuite with shower. Cooking arrangements are cook top with 1 electric and 3 gas burners and gas oven plus a Baby Q BBQ. Plus of cause camp cooker.
when we free camped we got about 3 weeks out of the 9kg bottle - guess the fridge used a majority of that as we only ran the gas hot water for a shower every second day and boiled the kettle for dishes
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Jenny and Barry
2009 Roma Elegance / 2013 Colorado. Permanent travellers 2011-2015 now just travel for 4-6 mths
Hi Ron Just completed 4 months on the road doing fair bit of free camping same set up hot water , cooking (inside and baby Q) only. Left home with one bottle 3/4 full which we used in 5 weeks and completed the trip using 2/3 of a bottle so I,d say minimium of 8 to 9 weeks .These are rough estimates and of couse depend on all sorts of things.
Hi Ron. As you can see, it really does depend on usage of gas appliances. You can limit the amount you burn by the duration of showers and not opening your fridge/freezer door too often (think ahead so you take out the stuff you want for a period of time (obviously not milk, marg, butter etc).
We found that each 9kg tank would last us about 4 weeks with showering each day.
We also carry a 3rd full tank and store it in a plastic milk crate to stop it tipping over and damaging other stuff.
Unless you go "bush" we went through SA, VIC and NSW and our home state of WA and always found a place we could re-fill our tanks (albeit sometimes it was very expensive) or you can do "swap a tank".
BCF do 9kg re-fills for $22.99 and BBQ Galore for $19.99. You can either google them each time or save them as a favourite on your internet browser and then when youre in a large town, see if they have an outlet locally
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
A single 4.5 bottle lasts us for a 4 week trip, with some left over. We boil the kettle for washing up and only turn the hot water on for 10 minutes before we shower.
Iza
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Iza
Semi-permanent state of being Recreationally Outraged as a defence against boredom during lockdown.
I camp predominantly - the only things that use gas are my Dometic RM7851 two-door fridge - 175ltr (on gas 100% of the time when camping) and a three burner stove.
I also have a Suburban gas/240v HWS. However, I don't use the HWS when camping - I 'bucket bath' and wash dishes using water either heated on the 'choofer' (open fire) or in a billy on the gas stove. I can't see the point in heating 20ltrs of water in the HWS just for washing dishes or the 'bucket wash' of my 'personals'
I have found that a 9kg gas bottle lasts me between 17 and 20 days when camped constantly.
As others have stated, how long a 9kg bottle will last is completely dependent on what you need to use it for.
Cheers - John
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2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Auto - 2008 23ft Golden Eagle Hunter Some people feel the rain - the others just get wet - Bob Dylan
When away from 240v I use gas for most things. The biggest user is my 185lt fridge/freezer that is on 24/7, The next user would be the 4 gas burner stove/grill/oven. I only use the instantaneous hot water service once maybe twice a week for a shower but use the stove to heat water for a good basin wash I do in the shower cubical. It I needed to use my Truma gas heater that would use more gas but I tend to follow the warmer weather so it doesn't get used that much.
I have 2x9kg gas bottles and the best I have got is 13 days from 1. When that empties I get it filled usually within the next week.
When on 240v, very little gas used at all so a bottle lasts for ages. The exact time is unknown really, so far.
Just a little note.....With relying on gas to run my fridge I tend to go on what I call "Fridge watch" around day 10, so the fridge isn't off for long when the gas runs out. The fridge and power/battery meter are opposite each other so every time I go near there I check both.
Edit.....Fix a couple of typos and add, I get my own bottles filled but if and when I have to change to swap and go's all those figures might be a couple of days less.
-- Edited by Dougwe on Friday 17th of June 2016 10:35:57 AM
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Live Life On Your Terms
DOUGChief One Feather (Losing feathers with age)
TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
DEN....... 2014 "Chief" Arrow CV (with some changes)
We have 2x4.5kg bottles which run a 90ltr fridge & are used to boil the kettle & cook toast on our caravans stove. Each bottle lasts 8 nights. We cook our main meals outside under our awning on a separate stove for which we have another 2x4.5kg bottles. If we interchange gas bottles we can stay a maximum of around 21 nights out in the bush. By that time we're ready to stay in a small community CP & give ''the cook'' a night off by going to the local pub for dinner.
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Cheers Keith
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts, of beauty rich & rare. We'll be out there enjoying it somewhere, camped by ourselves much of the time.
We have plenty of solar, a compressor fridge, so only use gas for cooktop or weber Q, sometimes the inside oven, one 9kg fill can last us 6 months easily.
For washing up we boil the kettle on the stove, for an off road shower we use the gas water heater for around 15-20mins enough for two showers easily.
But we only free camp for a night or so between destinations, not full time.
From what i can gather the old fashioned 3-way fridge is the biggest user of gas in most vans.
