Generator Fuel Consumption

[JIM KELLER]

We dry camped at our daughter's over the Christmas Holiday. Always wondered how much fuel the generator used. Nine days of dry camping with six to eight hour brakes daily and some wabasto assistance took 100 gals of fuel for nine days. The generator logged 165 hours with one oil change at the 100 hour mark. Obviously 100 gallons of fuel at todays diesel price exceeds the cost of campground fees.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Hi Jim, with that much usage it might be a good idea to pay for the daughters 50A RV service install, probably a lot cheaper in the long run.

JIM

[sawdust_128]

We were cold in Raleigh until right before Christmas. What was it like in Western NC?

[JIM KELLER]

Sawdust, Had some 17 degree nights. Lots of rain, fog, clouds, grey skies etc. I think we had two days of sun. We are glad to be headed South to our Florida home !

[mike kerley]

Jim, Remember, the larger the electrical load, the more fuel it burns, so you may burn much more next summer when the AC's are running hard.

We'll burn about .3 gal per hour just charging the batteries. Kick on the AC's and water heaters and we go to about .8 GPH. That's with a 17.5 Power Tech.

Yep, its still hot in Florida. 80 degrees yesterday.

Happy New Year!!!!

Mike K.

[Ray Davis]

Jim,

Just so I understand, when I first read your post, I read 9 days at 6-8 hours per day. But, that's nowhere near 165 hours. Then I re-read, and I think you indicate that you had 6-8 hours per day where you were not running your generator?

Dividing 165 by 9, I get 18.3 hours per day of generator use! Wow, that's a bit. All in all, about 0.6 gallons per hour? Not too bad.

Ray

[Yankee802]

Because we haven't drycamped yet, how long does it take to charge up the house batteries? Obviously it depends on the amount of charge/use, does anyone have some numbers?

Jim, why would you run your generator that much? Using your Wabasto for heat, you should be able to run off batteries and only have to run the generator to charge them, right?

Geoff

[Ray Davis]

I've found that my batteries charge in about 3-4 hours, but generally I have not severely depleted them during the preceding day/evening.

Depending upon your electrical use, batteries could wear down significantly faster, requiring additional charging? Things like TV's, video games, lights etc all add their draw to the batteries while dry camping.

Ray

[Petervs]

Geoff,

It depends on a bunch oif things:

How big is your house battery bank?
How old is your battery bank
How discharged is the battery bank?
How big is your generator?
How many other things are you running off the generator at the same time?

So, 2-4-6 hours is usually the right answer depending on how you answer the questions above.

[jack14r]

On real hot days I have burned as much as 15 gallons a day.