Why I’m NOT moving away from LPG in Vanlife
If you’re new here, I’m Darran and I’ve been living in my Motorhome for 5 years. I mainly do urban park ups, meaning I’m living off grid 99% of the time.
One of the adaptations I made to my Motorhome for this was to swap the traditional, exchangeable Calor gas bottles for larger, refillable ones known as SafeFill bottles.
(Other refillable LPG systems such as Gaslow are also available).
It’s much cheaper than exchanging bottles and they have more capacity.
If you don’t know, gas is used for cooking, running the boiler and running the fridge in the van (I have a separate diesel heater fitted so unlike most Motorhomes, I don't use LPG for heating).
In the last 12 months, however, some forecourts have removed LPG filling points. Plus, like most things, the price per litre has risen.
And so the question I get asked most, apart from where do I empty my toilet (which, if you really want to know, here’s a video on that) is are you getting rid of LPG?
The short answer is, hell no!
Why I’m not getting rid of LPG
No way, as a full time vanlifer, am I getting rid of LPG just because there's been a bit of a shortage and prices have gone up.
The reason? Redundancy. It’s better to have more than one option. If one fuel source fails, runs out or isn’t usable, you have another available.
I know some people have been moving away from LPG and towards electric appliances (such as induction hobs, compressor fridges and air fryers). I myself have some of those appliances!
But it’s purely to make my gas last a lot longer. It’s just good sense!
Why it's not good to rely purely on solar
Solar can be hit and miss, especially in this country.
If we’ve got absolutely banging sunshine, I won’t even have to think about what power I’m using and will make the most of the free energy.
On overcast days, I can still pull in 9-10 amps (that's around 150W!) from my solar. That is fine to charge the EcoFlow power banks so that I can run appliances off them.
However, in the darkest depths of winter, I need redundancy.
If I’m not getting solar, I don't want to have to drive to recharge my batteries so I can use my induction hob, for example. I'd rather just turn the oven on, turn the grill on or use the hob.
Considerations when cooking with electric
I've got three 160W solar panels on the roof, a 2500W inverter and I've got 200AH (Amp Hours) of lithium. I’m not exactly short of power. Note: I have now changed my motorhome and upgraded my power system, see my awesome new power setup here.
However, when you're going to use higher power appliances, you still have to use some common sense. Oh, and look at the weather forecast.
Consider; are you going to be travelling for the next couple of days? Are you going to be going far enough to put the power back into the batteries?
To clarify, one of the great things about lithium batteries is that you can run them right down. Meaning you don’t get a voltage drop as the battery discharges.
You can use up all of the battery capacity, unlike a lead acid where you can only use 50% otherwise you can damage the battery.
That is, of course, great for your power usage.
But if you haven't got the power to go back into the batteries, then you’re no better off.
So when it's cold, it's grim and overcast for weeks on end, you’re best off using gas for cooking.
How it’s better to drive of your way to get LPG
I know it's a pain because there are lpg stations shutting down around the country. Therefore you’ll likely be travelling 20/30 miles out of your way to get lpg and that seems like a real waste. Especially with rising fuel costs.
But if I go and get lpg in 20/30 miles and I fill up two full bottles, I've then got 29 litres of lpg. As long as I use it properly and conservatively, it will last me.
And it will do so much more than what I would recover in power from driving them 30 miles. Especially if I’m not getting much solar.
Then, come spring and summer time, I’ll use my free electricity from the solar while I can.
That eeks out the lpg even more and two bottles lasts me about 6 weeks. Yes, really!
How else do I make LPG last longer?
I’ve covered cooking with electricity if there is good solar. That is one way I make lpg go further.
Then there is the fridge.
I have a 3 way fridge that mainly runs on gas. Despite popular perception, 3 way fridges actually use little gas. Therefore it's not a huge drain on my resources.
Lastly, when it comes to heating water, I have a way around that too.
If I only want a cup of tea or I want to do some washing up, I don't turn the boiler on.
That would be 10 litres of water to heat using lpg. I'm not going to heat 10 litres of water for just 1 litre to fill the sink up.
I’ll put the kettle on instead. Same if I only need to wash my face, I'll put a kettle of water on.
The only time I actually turn the hot water on is to have a shower. And that's how I make my lpg last! (ta da)
Making the most of free energy
Campervan and Motorhome electrical systems are getting so much smarter and more efficient.
I know there are systems out there now where, once your batteries are topped up to 100%, you can get appliances to switch over.
For example, the system can start heating your water on electric or automatically switch your fridge over from gas to electric.
My current system doesn't do that. I could get some other bits of technology to make that happen but I’ll save that for later on.
I know my mate Jon (from Life Beyond Bricks) switches his fridge to electric on good solar days once his batteries are full. It’s all about making the most of the free energy!
Also, he’s another full-timer that won’t be getting rid of LPG for the exact same reason as me: Redundancy.