Cost of heating in park - Gas or Elec

We are new to extended camping and are going to AZ this winter for 3 months to escape our ice and cold (MN) winter. We have reservations for a month at a time and found out that we will be metered for our electric use. We are used to plugging in our small (1500 watt) electric space heater for a cool evening with no added cost and saving our propane. So this question has kept me awake for a few nights.
If the electric cost is 12 cents per killowatt hour and propane refill is approx. $50 for 30 lb tank which is the better way to go? Plug in and use the heater or just run the furnace?

2nd question:
I am finally willing to install a 32" HDTV and am wondering if I will have any trouble with the hanger staying on the wall? Is a mounting board built into the back of the entertainment center attached to the tiny studs? What has worked well for others? My wall in the bedroom is labeled for mounting but no such label is found on the wall of the TV center. I am also thinking on whether or not to install a detachable hanger and letting the TV ride on the bed when moving or will any permanent wall mount work OK when traveling. Can any TV travel OK or do they make a RV brand that is more resistant to road vibration?
Any thoughts on the above will be appreciated. If I missed a posting that already covers these questions please point me to them.
Thanks.

Hi Dave and to the forum. A lot of variables go into cost of heating your RV. Last year we were in the Phoenix area the month of December and it was unseasonably cold, During that month I used 3 30 lb tanks of propane @ $25.00 each and when we checked out our electric bill was $55.00, that was with a 26ft TT. This year we are in a 35ft FW and right now in North Carolina with night time temps in the high 30's, been here almost a month and have refilled two propane bottles @ $21.00 each (30 lbs) and up to $75.00 of elect is included in the monthly lot rent. We use the furnace to heat at night with thermostat at 55 then in the morning warm the trailer up good and during the day mostly a electric fireplace and/or small space heater. So far we haven't had to pay extra on the electric. Hope this will give you some general information yours may be completely different as my wife likes it toasty and I am in short sleeve shirts.

Enjoy AZ we hope to be there in late January.

Bill

Thank you for responding. I guess it will come down to trying both ways. I guess my propane estimate is way off. Our Park said we should plan on spending about $100 for elec. I think that is high.
We will also be in the Mesa area. If you wouldn't mind I would love some advice on picking a park or maybe better yet which one's to avoid. You can reach me at dkryzer@frontiernet.net
Thanks again

We've never had to pay for electric, so don't know what would be best in regard to expenses. Our little electric heater does a good job of taking the chill out of the air, but the gas furnace is much quicker and warmer when the outside temps go down low. Using our electric mattress pad at night keeps us toasty warm, and we don't have to try heating the whole trailer. When temps get below freezing, we use the electric heater, and make sure the furnace runs once every 30-45 minutes. We also have a light bulb helping to keep the basement from freezing. That's in extreme cases, though. We don't intend on being out when it's freezing, but it happens.

Regarding the TV - I'm not familiar with the setup in the 2011 29rlbs. Our 29rlbs has a deep entertainment center, and we made a door to go in the front of it, creating a nice cabinet. Since the TV sticks out too much, we have to remove it for traveling. We have a wall mount that doesn't extend. We made our cabinet door strong enough to hold a TV (click on the Picasa photo link in our signature to see our TV set-up). Even if our TV didn't stick out too much, we would remove it for traveling. Some people do, some don't. I haven't heard of any mishaps from the people who leave them up.

Tater

Your first question is very difficult to answer with absolute certainty.

The simplest answer is...use both propane and electric. Set your thermostat to a much lower temp when you're gone, or when you're ready for bed and pile on the covers if needed (some of us have digital thermostats that we can program, which is mighty handy is situations such as this). Then supplement with a smaller, more portable area heater that doesn't use as much wattage as a larger heater that you can move around to the areas you're occupying at the time, as needed.

Something to consider, if it's really cold where you'll be staying you might check into renting a larger cylinder for your extended stay. 100# cylinders go alot further than a 30# does and you can make arrangements with a local LP distributor to deliver and pick up. $50 to refill a 30# cylinder seems extravagantly steep to me, but maybe they can get that in the locations you'll be staying at.

As for your second question, I'll defer to someone with one of the newer Cats who can tell you more accurately how the entertainment area is set up structurally. I can tell you that on our Cat, the back wall of our entertainment center is very thin paneling and would need some anchoring or bracing to mount a LCD to it.

Good luck to you and happy camping.

TC

Dave & Molly I can't be any help on the RV parks as I have only stayed once and that was over on the west side in Goodyear at Destiny RV Resort of Phoenix, this time we hope to stay over in Buckeye on the west side. you might check out www.rvparkreviews.com to get some ideas on Mesa and other areas.

Bill

......Something to consider, if it's really cold where you'll be staying you might check into renting a larger cylinder for your extended stay. 100# cylinders go alot further than a 30# does and you can make arrangements with a local LP distributor to deliver and pick up. .........

I do not believe you can rent a tank without having the propane line " hard lined" or buried. I understand new federal regulations prohibit the use of the " LP rubber hose" that we have used in the past- unless you are grandfathered by the local LP distributor-- or perhaps the RV park has buried the lines to the their sites ....

Actually, we have used 100# cylinders several summers while mining. And I know of contracters/jobbers who pull their RVs into a CG when their going to be on the job for an extended length of time. They also have 100# cylinders delivered to their camp site.

Laws may vary from state to state, but around here, its nothing unusual. However, this regulation may be something newer that I'm not yet familiar with.

TC

TC wrote:Actually, we have used 100# cylinders several summers while mining. And I know of contracters/jobbers who pull their RVs into a CG when their going to be on the job for an extended length of time. They also have 100# cylinders delivered to their camp site.

Laws may vary from state to state, but around here, its nothing unusual. However, this regulation may be something newer that I'm not yet familiar with.

TC

I live in the state just to the west of you- :) I had a 250 gallon tank sat a few days ago-- I had to dig a trench to bury the copper-- dang frost---LOL

The LP distributor also had to record each LP appliance- make, model and serial number ( maybe this is not new?)

Hopefully others will not have to go through the same bureaucratic bull.

Sounds like the nanny state is at it again. Keep them wonderful regulations comming folks. It just means fewer jobs, but what the hey, they're not important, right?

On a kinder more gentler note, you can help yourself to lower heating costs in many ways. Start with those pillows that you can insert in the roof vents. Hot air rises and loves to leak out around these non-insulated vents. Also, buy some of the quilted, foil type insulation at HD or Lowes and make cutouts for any windows that are sliders. They leak like a seive. Hang two 60W bulbs (drop light syle) in your basement. This will keep the basement at 40*F on even the coldest night you might experience in AZ ( we experienced cold down to 4*F for two winters in the mountains of western NC and survived with no water line freezes). Also, there are areas that penetrate the belly covers, like the waste drains and low point drains. Be sure to insulate these with pink stuff. Also, don't forget to look at the mixing valve for your shower that's located behind that little lockable hatch high on the side of the trailer. Mine wasn't insulated, but I caught it before the valves froze.

Keep your ceiling fan running so that it forced the air downward. The ceiling is where the heat rises too. You want to keep it circulating downward.

As time goes on you'll find more and more ways to keep warm.

I'm with TC on this one. Use both. I think that propane is more expensive that electricity (can't prove that). We used two 1500W oil filled radiators in our trailer and got so that the furnace only ran about ever 30 - 45 minutes for about 15 minutes.

Best of luck.

We're in Lake Havasu City Arizona for the winter. It all depends on the price of propane versus electricity. Basically the last time I priced it out the costs were neck 'n neck. If you wander over to Wikipedia and fiddle around you can find out how many BTU's a gallon of propane delivers and how many a kilowatt delivers. I've done the arithmetic to price a BTU that way but don't recall the exact numbers. But, the (in)efficiency of the furnace is what I suspect would tilt things. We run a heater at night, we also run the furnace and mostly cook with gas. We also use electric to heat water. When it gets cold, meaning down into the 30's at night and 50's during the day, we go through a tank of propane every week ($18 or so last year), electricity ran about $100 a month last year. But remember that this is essentially for 2 of the worst months, early in the winter (like this month, it was 80 inside and 78 outside today) and in the late spring (like April) things warm up and your electricity usage is for AC. I know next April when the AC kicks on at 88 inside and it's 9am, with 104 outside in the afternoon, it'll make me wonder why we're not back in Alaska.

Thanks so much for all of your help. I really appreciate it. I will read these all aver again a couple of times and learn from all of you. I do enjoy this process and have fun doing it.