A tank of propane usually lasts us a month. The only thing we really need it for is the water heater and the fridge when we are traveling, when we are in an RV park the fridge runs on electric. However here in Mesa we have been running the furnace for an hour every morning to warm the place up enough for the electric heater to keep it up until it warms up around noon. That burns through the propane
Yesterday I checked and we are down to a little over a quarter of a tank. Time to top it off. We called a couple of delivery places and were given a couple of reasons why they could not deliver to us. 1) They are not allowed to deliver to our park(?) and they are not taking new customers. 2) We live on the wrong side of some street and they are not allowed to deliver to us (?).
Not finding anyone willing to fill our tank and no one really willing to explain why, we called another large nearby RV park to see what they do. Well, the bottom line seems to be the fire department will not allow the filling of RV tanks in Mesa. The way around it is to rent a tank for an annual fee and they will exchange it for a full one when required. Not for us.
We have to leave some propane for running the fridge when we leave so the next solution was to go and buy another space heater. I bought one identical to the Lasco I bought at Target stores a month ago and it will stay in the front while the other one will stay in the bedroom.
We have blown the 30 amp breaker in the motorhome a couple of times so I am running the second heater right off an extension cord to the 50 amp outlet in the pedestal. Actually I plugged the bread maker, ice maker, extra fridge, computer, front TV and satellite receiver into the same extension cord to the pedestal to take those loads off the motorhome's 30 amp breaker.
On the way home from Target I stopped for gas at Fry's Grocery gas bar. I knew I get a discount on gas depending on how much we have spent in the store but was unsure how much. I scanned my discount card and was told I had earned a $.30 discount per gallon for up to 30 gallons! This brought my price per gallon down to $1.57! $14 to fill the Honda! Good deal!
Life in Mesa is cool, but good.
We've been in Mazatlan almost two weeks.
1 hour ago
Yep, the only things that are still cheap in the U.S is fuel and booze! At least you get to enjoy both. :-)
ReplyDeleteBet you're missing Mexico for your propane needs. They sure do make it easy here.
www.travelwithkevinandruth.com
In case you're wondering who's to blame for the cold weather, it's us. We finally chewed through enough of the frozen fruit, fish and meat that we brought from home to have enough room for a tub of Ice Cream. Now it's too cold to eat it!
ReplyDeleteEmail comment from Al:
ReplyDeleteWe are fortunate here in Borrego Springs CA, the park has a fill station and motor homes just drive over and get filled, for us folks that have portable tanks on their RV'S we just leave the tank at the curb and it's filled and returned, the metered cost is added to the monthly bill, we get charged by the gallon, not by the tank.
We've gone through about 3 -30 lb tanks this month, as I did an analysis of propane vs electrical cost and propane is cheaper than electric for heating the RV. Electricity is metered at 22 cents/KWH
We use a Big Buddy heater in the morning and sometimes during the day with one of those 20 lb. exchange propane tanks you can find most everywhere. More frugal than the furnace. At night an electric heater does the job.
ReplyDeleteThat edict by the Mesa fire department sure makes it most inconvenient for RVers. And Mesa has so, so many RV parks. Seems like a silly ordinance considering so many California RV parks have propane trucks coming by almost daily and the service seems to be quite safe.
ReplyDeleteIt is very strange isn't it? The only burned out RVs I have seen have been from something other than propane filling.
DeleteWe use the Mr Heater uses way less propane than our furnace, plus we have an extend a stay adapter can hook up a BBQ tank, easy to have refilled or exchanged most anywhere. Can you not move your coach to get it refilled somewhere?
ReplyDeleteWe have the adapter as well so it is not a big problem. The second electric heater makes it quite comfortable in here and the monthly rate includes electric.
DeleteThen by all means use electric. We actually have 3 small ceramic electric heaters, but usually only use one if we have electric or run the genny for a while in the morning, only cause up I get up way to early.
DeleteMaybe the time has come to move to warmer climes?
ReplyDelete:(
DeletePropane regulations are far and few here in Mexico - a nice feature. Although I imagine the explosion statistics might be sobering? I like the freedom from government intervention on such fronts. The electric heater(s) is the obvious economic and otherwise solution. OR come on down amigos!
ReplyDeleteI did carry a small 10 lb propane tank with me in my RV and used the "extend a stay" device. The 10 lb tank was small enough to keep with me. Then again, if electric is included, keep adding little heaters as long as the amps allow.
ReplyDeleteThey are 12.5 amps each so using two of them through the RV's 30 amp breaker would not work but I have a home made adapter that uses the 50 amp plug and breaks it into three 20 amp 110 outlets. It is very simple, just used the end off an extension cord. The RV plugs into one outlet via a 30 - 20 amp adapter and the front heater plugs into another, bypassing the RV.
DeleteWhat a bunch of cornballs laws. What next? I'm glad I live in a free society and do whatever I want within reason.
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