You are absolutely right. The cost is difficult to measure but it is there. Especially when you consider the engine is only ~22% efficient and then the alternator can be down to almost 50%. Unless you are in an area that has cheap electricity, it is probably also cheaper to run the fridge on propane then electric power. I get a kick out of the larger RVs that have in addition to a furnace or two, electric heat, heat pumps, or worse, the electric element in the propane water heater. No wonder campground owners have to charge so much. A lot of electricity to save a little propane. Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Larry Alofs Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:23 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Was 12V fridge necessary? now rant (LVC) > My trips tend to be a fair amount of driving and I do have an aux battery > setup, so I usually run off 12V and only switch over to propane when > camped. > Why use propane when the battery power is free. You don't get free energy from your battery. It comes from your gasoline because your engine has to work harder turning the alternator because the battery needs more recharging. Here in Illinois we now have a law that your headlights must be on whenever your wipers are in use. When the law was first enacted, one of the legislators was quoted as saying that it doesn't cost anything to have your lights on....Oh well. Perhaps better science education would help. Unfortunately they recently changed the science teaching certification categories here so that biology teachers are now considered well qualified to teach physics and vice versa. This helps meet the Federal requirements for NCLB. Larry A. got fed up and retired from teaching |
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