Date:         Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:06:21 -0800
Reply-To:     "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Mike \"Rocket J Squirrel\" Elliott" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      LPG > BTUs, check my math
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The lack of a gauge on the LPG tank causes me to be very, very frugal
with my LPG. For example, though we were having record low temperatures
two weeks ago when I was camping along the west coast of California, I
didn't run the Olympia 3100a catalytic heater in the evening because I
didn't want to find I could not easily boil water for coffee in the
morning. As a result, I was pretty uncomfortable once the sun went down.*

So that got me thinking: what is the rate of consumption of this heater?
I could not find any real specifications for it, except that it puts out
2800 BTU on max, and 1600 BTU on min. They don't say, but I presume that
BTU's per hour. A gallon of LPG (propane) has about 140,000 btu/gallon.
The tank on the Westy is -- what? 2 gallons?

So . . . if the heater is on max (2800BTU/hr) then 2 gallons of LPG
(280,000 btu) should last 100 hours, assuming 100% efficiency? (And if
it is not 100% efficiency, wouldn't it be releasing LPG into the van?)

*Yeah, yeah, it dropped to about 30F, which is tinkertoys to people who
don't live in our sunny clime, but we San Diegans are unprepared for
temps that low, and let's face it: the Westfalia is not a paragon of
insulation.

--

Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR