I pretty much confirmed the 4.5gal propane take is way too small for my needs. I am guessing its only filling actually 4 gallons and I burn that easily in 3 day excursion into the bush in moderate cold weather. So I am using LP for cooking and heating and I am finding that the 4.5gal is not enough for even a moderate trip. I was hoping to do some MT or Alaska trips but this will be a issue.
Im checking on options with Brian to see if I can add more LP cap or if I can swap out to a diesel heater.
Diesel heater was what I went with. I'm at 87 nights and still haven't had to refill the propane tank. On average, we are cooking 1-2 meals a day in the van plus tea and coffee. The Rixen/Espar setup SMB uses sips diesel and you don't even register the fuel consumption on the gauge in the morning with the heater running all night.
Our Espar D2 diesel heater is probably the best feature of our Sprinter van. It works great including fast and relatively quiet heat with no concern about propane. We have ours installed under the passenger seat which works great. They are amazingly small units. I still use propane for cooking and hot water and haven't refilled my propane tank in 2 years. We use our propane water heater for about 5-10 minutes per day to shower and clean up which uses very little propane. I am glad I didn't spend the extra money for a diesel hot water Risen-Like setup.
I had our Espar heater installed by Sportsmobile but our Freightliner dealer has a local Espar installer for the semi-truckers. I think they install them cheaper than Sportsmobile. They told me once that they never sell a truck anymore without one of these small Espar diesel bunk heater for the truckers. I bet it wouldn't cost much to convert to a diesel heater (maybe under the passenger seat with no other modifications) which would solve your propane issue.
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