Dry Camping duration
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2843
Printed Date: 01 May 2024 at 10:27am
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Topic: Dry Camping duration
Posted By: KayakkrazyUP
Subject: Dry Camping duration
Date Posted: 18 Aug 2012 at 10:42pm
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As Newbies, we have been in State Parks or full service township campgrounds near Lake Superior, so have not yet experienced dry camping. I have thought it might be preferable to the hustle and bustle of the small site parks, but I have questions.
With just our original equipment on the Pod, how long might I expect the battery and LP to last? How long before the two of us use up the fresh water, or fill up the grey water tank, assuming our customary conservative use? Suggestions? |
Replies:
Posted By: Jhy-lo
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 1:19am
| Thanks for asking this! I have the same question! Didn't want to seem like too much of a newbie! |
Posted By: Camper Bob
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 10:24am
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Congrats to you both. No question is too simple. We all started with lots of questions, and most have been answered on the forum. I might suggest that you both start reading all of the previous posts that pertain to your questions. Lots of terrific info here. No sense in reinventing the wheel if someone has already asked about your concerns and has had it answered. Good luck and have fun. Safe Travels. ------------- Camper Bob and Camper Sue Gracie the Wonder Dog (12 LB. Mini Dachshund) 2013 Rpod 171HRE(ORPod) 2016 Lance 1685 2015 Nissan Pathfinder |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 4:55pm
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I'll tell you my personal experiences. Battery: Making sure to keep lights off that you don't need, using the water pump for dishes and 4 showers (see below), NOT running the fridge on DC (never run it on DC unless you have a good charge line on your TV and you are going down the road), you'll easily go 2-3 days. The big draw is the fan on the furnace so if you need heat be prepared to use it sparingly and use an alternate that does not need DC (see below, too). A new battery might be ok using the furnace nights-only plus the other stuff and make it a weekend, but probably not an older battery. Propane: The fridge will run a month on a full tank, a bit less if you use the stove, and a lot less if you use the furnace. Like the battery, the furnace is a propane hog too. If you don't use the furnace your tank will last weeks, if you use the furnace it could go just days in cold weather. There are radiative-heat options that are popular with campers that sip propane and don't need electric at all. One is the Olympian Wave which can be plumbed into the pod's LPG system or be used stand-alone outside (a quick disconnect makes this easy). Another is the Coleman Mr. Heater, which uses either the 1 pound LPG tanks or you can buy an adapter so it can also be attached to the pod's LPG system. Water: Make sure the water heater is pre-filled otherwise it will use up 6 of your 30 gallons when you get to camp. Using "navy showers" we can go a weekend on one tank - four showers, washing dishes, brushing teeth. Waste tanks: On all models the fresh tank is 30 gallons (the specs say 36 because that includes the water heater), and the waste tanks are either 30 or 35 gallons each. Since the fresh water will get divided up between the gray and black tanks neither will be close to full after your fresh tank is dry, and worse case one or the other will be exactly full. Even if you refill your fresh tank and don't dump the waste tanks the black tank should last about 5 days of steady use. The gray tank will fill quickly, 4 showers and it is full. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: Jhy-lo
Date Posted: 19 Aug 2012 at 10:39pm
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Thanks bunches, Doug! I have been reading every forum post I can for the last week and there are still some unanswered questions... Your answers will really help! It can all get pretty confusing, and I'm even coming from a tent trailer that has some of the same stuff! On our way up to Mt. Rainier on Thursday and am excited to get the PodMonster all organized! |
Posted By: bhamster
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 12:32am
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techntrek seems right on with his estimates, but I do have a couple things to add to each category: Battery: although the stock configuration can get you through a long weekend, adding a solar panel can get you topped off each day if you stick to normal usage (efficient lights, water pump, light furnace use). Switching to LED lights can help a lot also. Propane: we've found the fridge to be extremely efficient, but we camp in cooler conditions so that might help. We're running on our first tank of propane and I think it's about half full still. We use the furnace sparingly, so that might be part of the reason why the propane lasts so long. We have a small backup tank under the dinette bench (I believe it's a 4.5lb) for when the main tank finally runs out, but at this rate we could probably run for weeks on just the backup tank. Water: once you get used to conserving water you can usually get about 3 days of normal usage on a full tank, BUT since the waste tanks are proportionally larger than the fresh tank, you can just fill it again. We bring a 2 gallon tank with us and use it to transport water from the nearest spigot to the rpod. It's a good workout, but you can extend you trip a day or two without much trouble. Waste tanks: we've never once filled up the black tank (without intentionally filling it for flushing), and the same goes for the grey. I've seen several people transfer grey water to a "blue" tank and then dump it in a designated area (usually by the bathrooms). I've never needed to do it myself, but it's the same principle as with filling the fresh tank, but in reverse. So... with all that in mind I think you could extend your dry camping capabilities to around 5-6 days with a couple tweaks and some good habits.
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Posted By: Camper Bob
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 9:25am
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We are taking our 2013 171 to its first drycamping experience. We will fill the fresh water tank at the campground. Just the two of us who must have a shower every day. Also we are taking a new Honda 2000i generator as well as an additonal wheeled 25 gal. gray water tank. We will be camping at 6,200' and will test the generators ability to run our 13,500 btu A/C with an installed Supco starting capacitor. We will be camping for a total of 3.5 days. We have dual lp tanks installed, and my understanding is the area cools down from about 75 during the day to high 30's to low 40's at night. Will be using the internal furnace to take the chill off in the morning. Should be an interesting test of all systems. Safe Travels. ------------- Camper Bob and Camper Sue Gracie the Wonder Dog (12 LB. Mini Dachshund) 2013 Rpod 171HRE(ORPod) 2016 Lance 1685 2015 Nissan Pathfinder |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 10:54am
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I've added info from this thread to the "instruction manual", good input from everyone. One thing I'll add about water & dry camping. You can buy or make something called a "water thief" which will allow you to fill up your water tank with your hose from a spigot that doesn't have any threads. You will sometimes find this in state parks. The "thief" is a soft rubber extention which will screw on to the end of your hose and slip over the spigot. NOT intended for a permanent connection, but for stopping and filling up and then heading out or back to your site. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: dsmiths
Date Posted: 20 Aug 2012 at 10:45pm
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good posts guys, I would like to find one of those water thief's as sometimes I run into the water spicket without threads, and why do they put them on the wrong side of the road, hello, on modern campers the water goes in on the left (drivers side) not the right. ------------- Dane and Donna Smith 2011 RP-172 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4 lift kit prodigy wireless brake controller |
Posted By: Camper Bob
Date Posted: 21 Aug 2012 at 9:47am
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Again Camping World has the highest price. I found it on Amazon with shipping it is still about $3. less expensive. Safe Travels. ------------- Camper Bob and Camper Sue Gracie the Wonder Dog (12 LB. Mini Dachshund) 2013 Rpod 171HRE(ORPod) 2016 Lance 1685 2015 Nissan Pathfinder |
Posted By: pcobelcz
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2012 at 10:37am
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Interesting Dry Camp with water? We use our P-Pod to camp on open fields all the time for 2-3 day weekends. Last weekend we ran the battery down and lost heat. That night it went down below freezing waking us both up. I hooked up the Chrysler and ran it for a hour to bring to battery up. Should have brought our LP generator along. Also I think I should have connected it up at home the day before to fully charge the battery and get the fridge ready for beer. Over the winter I’d like to add a second battery to help us through the cold nights. ------------- Paul & Lois w/Whippets Chrysler 2010 4L R-Pod 177 |
Posted By: g4royce
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2012 at 10:47am
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For us it's always the battery that dies first bc we like to keep the fan on low to help with the condensation. Now we have a battery powered fan that we run if we're not using the showers and need that extra power from the bathroom fan. We get maybe 1 full night's use of the battery if we run the bathroom fan before the battery gets low enough to trip the annoying propane alarm. We also find that we are limited more by the capacity of the grey tanks more than that of the fresh water tank. Not doing dishes in the pod helps tremendously. ------------- ChaiPod 2009 RP152 2011 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.5L V6 |
Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2012 at 7:58am
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If your discharging the battery enough that your tripping the alarms, etc, you won't get more that a couple seasons off that battery. Not sure if you knew that or not. This is not like a cell phone battery. Running it to empty a bunch of times will kill that battery, for good, in no time at all.
------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |
Posted By: coopercdrkey
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2012 at 8:06am
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I've heard that about a standard lead-acid "car" battery, but is the same thing true for a deep cycle battery? Someone told me our deep cycle battery is not harmed by total discharge. Think I'll Google a battery site. I'll let you know what I find. (From a web site "Deep Cycle Batteries FAQ"): Deep cycle batteries are designed to be discharged down as much as 80% time after time, and have much thicker plates. The major difference between a true deep cycle battery and others is that the plates are SOLID Lead plates - not sponge. This gives less surface area, thus less "instant" power like starting batteries need. Although these an be cycled down to 20% charge, the best lifespan vs cost method is to keep the average cycle at about 50% discharge.
------------- Bob and Joyce Jennifer and Baxter, the Campin' Cocker Spaniels RP 177 "Key Pod" Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LT / Z71 |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2012 at 11:36am
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I'm a regular member of a solar forum, where members live off-grid all the time. The consensus is to go to 50% depth-of-discharge (DOD) most of the time, with an occasional dip to 70%. Never go beyond 70%. See the voltage chart on this FAQ (about 2/3 of the way down with all the colors) : http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm - http://www.windsun.com/Batteries/Battery_FAQ.htm
70% DOD = 30% state-of-charge (SOC), as shown on that table. Below that you risk damaging the battery. Going all the way to "total discharge" will kill the battery after 2-3 times. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: this_is_nascar
Date Posted: 27 Nov 2012 at 6:46am
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Here's an excellent article about this topic.
http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm - http://www.marxrv.com/12volt/12volt.htm
------------- "Ray & Connie" - 2017 R-Pod RP-180 - 2007 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Off Road |
Posted By: pcobelcz
Date Posted: 27 Nov 2012 at 9:13pm
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Thanks for the tip I did hit bottom. ------------- Paul & Lois w/Whippets Chrysler 2010 4L R-Pod 177 |
Posted By: Raven729
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 8:47am
| newbie : how do you "pre-load" the hot water heater? |
Posted By: Pod People
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 9:31am
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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. Vann ------------- Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 https://postimg.cc/0zwKrfB9"> 
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Posted By: Blender Bob
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 9:54am
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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. ------------- Bob 2015 Chevy Colorado Z71 2018 178 R-pod Hood River Edition |
Posted By: tcj
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 10:43am
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.
------------- 2018 R-pod 180 Hood River Edition |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 11:27am
This is ONLY if the WH bypass valves are set to summer/use/not bypassed. .
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Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 11:32am
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+ 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. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: tcj
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 4:53pm
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You guys are making a simple task sound way to complicated. ------------- 2018 R-pod 180 Hood River Edition |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 5:17pm
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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. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: Andy
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2019 at 5:31pm
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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. ------------- 2017 179 2016 Silverado Z71 |