Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 04-24-2014, 02:40 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 162
anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

I would be interested in anybody's experiences with all electric no propane with a GAS engine sportsmobile.

thinking of a transit van but with no propane.

GAS ENGINE NO DIESEL

sportsmobile will not install gas based heaters even though they are made.

__________________
gerry
gerrym51 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 02:50 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
vwteleman's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: North Vancouver, BC
Posts: 637
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

We have a V10 with a 12VDC fridge and Espar heater, no propane. Works well for us.

Details are here: GTRV Conversion on a Ford E350 EB

Cheers,
Brent
__________________
2008 E350 EB, V10, GTRV Conversion
vwteleman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 03:27 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 162
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

Quote:
Originally Posted by vwteleman
We have a V10 with a 12VDC fridge and Espar heater, no propane. Works well for us.

Details are here: GTRV Conversion on a Ford E350 EB

Cheers,
Brent
gas espars not done by sportsmobile
__________________
gerry
gerrym51 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 06:22 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
BrianW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 4,198
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

We have a Ford EB 2WD 5.4 SMB, all electric. What do you want to know?
BrianW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 06:36 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 162
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW
We have a Ford EB 2WD 5.4 SMB, all electric. What do you want to know?

if your not plugged in what do you do for heat -if it's needed-i do not do winter camping or traveling but might hit rump seasons of spring /fall cool weather

also do you have electric hot water heater-

thanks
__________________
gerry
gerrym51 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 09:14 PM   #6
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 66
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

We have had our all electric SMB for right about one year now. You can see our build thread here:
Our build
V10 gas, no propane, all electric. No water heater.

When we have hookups and need heat we use a tiny electric heater. When we do not have hookups we have down comforters (made just like a down sleeping bag but in blanket form). We put reflectix panels In our windows that I cut to fit. My wife uses a 12v electric blanket (I would call it a half blanket, but she is 5'2" so it is big enough for her). It was about $22 off amazon, and has no temperature setting. Starts off drawing about 6 amps. Not sure if it drops off after that or not.

We have been quite comfortable with night time temps in the high 20s F low 30s F. We did spend one night when it got down to 19F for a bit. That was not ideal. I could get wrapped up and warm but any shifting let the cold in. Some of this was in Wyoming and Montana mountain last August. Some was in the Texas pan handle in December. Both places had days in the 60s. I'm not sure I would want to be without a heater if the low temps lasted through the day as well as the night.

I would love to have one of the gas espar heaters. They look really small compared to the propane heater options from SMB. Is the one in the pictures the smallest espar 5 they have listed? Is there more to it mounted under the van?
skijunkie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 10:01 PM   #7
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 132
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

I just had to put my best friend away to the rainbow bridge who was 15 years old. he was an akita lab best dog ever. your dog reminded me of him, what kind is yours. congrats on van
berns378 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-24-2014, 11:35 PM   #8
Senior Member
 
geoffff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,061
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

We also have gasoline engine & no propane here. I like the simplicity of all electric.

Usually, we're driving around during the day, and camping at night -- rather than staying at one spot long term. So, the van is usually still warm for a while after parking, then we cook dinner -- and the stove keeps the van warm. Finally, we sleep with a blanket and two down comforters (on freezing nights). In the morning, the van gets warm again by cooking breakfast.

If we do want to stay up late after dinner when it's cold outside, we use a catalytic heater such as the Coleman SportCat or one slightly larger. These heaters can sometimes be a bit smelly.

This all works great down to the mid 20's degrees or so, below which we start having problems with pipes freezing overnight.



[edit: by cooking, I mean using a portable butane stove.]

-- Geoff
__________________
2004 Ford, SMB 4x4, RB-50
https://octopup.org/sportsmobile
geoffff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2014, 06:21 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 101
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

We've had a Chevy 3500 EB for 3 years. We have the elect fridge, water heater and a microwave. We've always been plugged in so when it's cold we use a small cube ceramic heater sparingly. We've found that if we have enough fun during the day we're too tired to cook dinner. We pre cook meals before the trip and vacuum seal them. A few minutes in the microwave and dinners ready. We do carry a one burner stove just in case we decide to get frisky
oldbernie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-25-2014, 06:42 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
BrianW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Posts: 4,198
Re: anybody no propane all electric GAS engine

It all depends how you plan to use the van. When looking for our used SMB, I was hoping for an all-electric van, actually. We cook outside, unless the weather is nasty. Then we'll either use our microwave or go find a local restaurant (if we're not remote camped). We're not picky - hot dogs in the microwave are an acceptable dinner if we need to go that route.

Here on the East Coast it's handy not to have to worry about propane because of all the various tunnels that are around and have propane restrictions. Usually the restrictions are if you have a >10 gallon tank, and SMBs usually have a ~8 gallon tank, but it could still be a hassle.

We usually have sleeping bags along with us, and the van stays surprisingly warm overnight with the heat of three people. It's even warmer when we have the top down (if only two of us are camping and we are sleeping downstairs). We're rarely cold at night. If needed, we have a small ceramic 110v heater that we can fire up in the morning to take the chill off before we crawl out of bed.

We have a three-battery bank with 315ah, so haven't had any problems with having enough juice. Most of our van use involves driving every day, so it gets recharged well. I may add solar at some point, too.
BrianW is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:38 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.