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Topic ClosedDry Camping duration
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Andy View Drop Down
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Joined: 11 Feb 2018
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Posts: 65 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Dry Camping duration
    Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 5:31pm
I would also add that the fridge is only "guaranteed" by Dometic to light below 5,000 feet elevation.  Living in the Southwest we often camp at 8 or 9 thousand feet and learned the hard way that it wouldn't light at that elevation.  So, we always run on propane starting at the house with a pre-cooled fridge and then it will stay lit at the higher elevations.  We ran it constantly for 3 weeks last fall almost always above 5,000 feet with no problems.  It used ~ 4 gallons of propane.
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 5:17pm
Nothing complicated at all tcj, sorry if it came across that way. Just fill the water heater and hot and cold lines at the beginning of your camping season, fill the fresh water tank before each trip with as much water as you want for dry camping (up to 30 gallons), drain and winterize at the end of the season. Very simple. 
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tcj View Drop Down
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Posts: 141 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 4:53pm
You guys are making a simple task sound way to complicated.
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Posts: 5290 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 11:32am
+ 1 to furpod. Also, once you fill the water heater once at the beginning of each season you will be carrying around 6 galons (50 lbs) of water until you pull the anode to drain it again. That 6 gallons is not useable, the total useable water dry camping in an rPod is 30 gallons and then only if you-fill all the water lines as well as the water heater, and then top off the water tank. The 36 gallons FR lists is misleading. 
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Posts: 6128 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 11:27am
Originally posted by tcj

Originally posted by Raven729

newbie : how do you "pre-load" the hot water heater?


Water flows into the hot water heater when any hot water is turned on.  When water flows out any hot water valve in the rpod, the water heater is full.  If you use the fresh water tank pump to do this you then can put six more gallons into the fresh water tank.


This is ONLY if the WH bypass valves are set to summer/use/not bypassed.


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Posts: 141 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 10:43am
Originally posted by Raven729

newbie : how do you "pre-load" the hot water heater?


Water flows into the hot water heater when any hot water is turned on.  When water flows out any hot water valve in the rpod, the water heater is full.  If you use the fresh water tank pump to do this you then can put six more gallons into the fresh water tank.
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Posts: 48 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 9:54am
I carry a blue water cube where I can get water without moving the R-pod. We do dishes in a pan in the sink to allow pitching wash water (with biopdegradeable soap) Running the frig on propane should be the first thing in saving battery. I worried about running out of propane until I experienced that hot water, a little heat in the AM and running the frig on propane have little impact and I estimate I would get 3-4 weeks on a full bottle.  A trick to know how much propane you have left is to slowly pour about a quart of hot water on one side of the tank. Then feel downward and when the warm metal turns cold, that's the level of your propane.  Allows for SWAN. 
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Posts: 1067 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 9:31am
The R Pod water heater holds approximately 6 gallons.  Pre-loading is talking about filling the water heater , the plumbing lines and the fresh water tank from your home location prior to traveling. Be aware that  the fresh water tank on most pods is in front of the axle and if full  will increase the tongue weight as well as the overall weight of the Pod.

We  camp most of the time without services directly at the camp site.   We travel with just a few gallons of water in the tank and carry a hose and 5 gallon container with us in the tow vehicle.  Once we get to the destination(or as close as possible) we will fill the fresh water holding tank.  If we need to refill it, we use the 5 gallon container, fill it at a remote location and then dump it into the fresh water tank. We don't use the water heater as it takes a lot of wasted water to get the hot water to the kitchen sink  location.  When we wash dishes, we simply heat a quart of water on the propane cooktop. Showers are generally available at the campground.

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Posts: 6 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 8:47am
newbie : how do you "pre-load" the hot water heater?
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Posts: 5 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2012 at 9:13pm
Thanks for the tip I did hit bottom.
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