Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 12-27-2010, 10:11 PM   #1
jpws
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 7
Generator - LP or Gas?

Hello- i have an 09 Fuzion 302 with one AC. i've used it for one year with a portable roll around 6500 generator but will be adding an on board generator. What are your thoughts on LP vs Gas? i obviously want to spend as little as possible....and am eyeing a 2005 but new started one Onan Marquis Gold 5500 gas model. Thoughts would be appreciated.
i've seen several for sale used, and wondering why someone would be replacing a generator if it was working properly.
tks
__________________

jpws is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2010, 10:08 AM   #2
wingnut60
Site Team
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Where we park it
Posts: 2,838
Onan

Can't help with a choice of fuels, but as to 5500 Gold Marquis gens being available "like-new" here is what I was told by an RV reseller:

He gets in a used RV with an Onan gen that shows almost no hours use, pulls it out and sells it separately from the RV as he can make much more by selling the gen separately than on the RV as original equipment. Says buyers of used RVs will not pay for the value of the generator, so he pulls them out and sells them separately. Friend of mine bought one of these with 1.5 hours on it, had it put in a gen-prepped new trailer for about $2100--way less than the quoted $6000 for an option on the new trailer.

Hope this helps you make a decision.

And I got my used MS fiver with the gen already and would not be without one ever again.

Joe
__________________

__________________
2016 Tiffin 40 QBH
2015 38RSSA, traded
2005 TK3 #1869, 10 yrs of memories,
2017 F450 KR--one more Ford is it
2009 F450 4x4-died; 2010 F450-retired
wingnut60 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-28-2010, 11:44 AM   #3
Motor31
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,130
Built in gen sets take up a lot of room and are noisy inside the trailer to run.

Given your question, you will find a gasoline fired gen set more economical to run. Yup you'll need fuel cans for it but it will run cheaper than propane. Propane sets normally run about a gallon an hour. Given that there is only about 10 to 16 gallons of propane on a trailer depending on size and number of tanks you can run yourself out in short order. Propane, at least in Tucson right now, is more expensive than gas too.

Frankly you would be better off getting something like a Honda 3000 or the Yamaha equivalent and using that. You'll have a 3Kw generator, enough to run one AC unit and everything else and figure on a miserly fuel burn.

We use a Honda 2000 and get about 10+ hours to a .9 gallon of gasoline. It runs everything short of the AC unit. Since we only dry camp in the winter that's no big deal. It's also way quieter than a built in gen set. lighter and takes up no space in the basement when operating.
__________________
Mike Nancy and the fuzzies
Fulltiming since June 2004
Volvo 660 MH tow vehicle
2005 MS 38RL
2007 Saturn Ion "toad"
2010 Gold Wing "piggyback"
Motor31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-29-2010, 10:55 AM   #4
Huck
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Bouse, Az./Franklin,Pa.
Posts: 252
Send a message via ICQ to Huck
I can only reiterate what motor31 said, esp. the amount of LP that you would burn.
I have an Onan 5500 Gold and it will burn about one gallon an hour.
Good for emergency but not for elec. power for hours on end.
I only had to use my 5500 Gold for a 10 day stretch one time for about 4-5 hours a day and it was a pain in the rear going for propane every second to third day, and I have the 40# LP tanks. ($25-$40 a tank)
__________________
Huck & Dodie
2005 RE3 MS #2163
2006 F-350 CC 4X4
Huck is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-05-2011, 02:20 PM   #5
BillA
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Houston, Tx
Posts: 47
We had a 550 Onan in our first fifth wheel. I did not find the noise level to be an issue but the fuel burn was horrible as has been pointed out and using it any more than a couple hours every once in a while would be very expensive and a pain to continually pull tanks and have refilled. The cost of a used one may be reasonable but a new one compared to a couple of Honda 2000's is significantly more expensive. Additionally it adds a lot of weight, a I recall the 5500 adds about 325# vs 100# for 2 Hondas.

As I understand it Onan sells a kit to modify the 5500 to gasoline fuel which would solve the poor fuel economy of propane, but I could not get comfortable sleeping on top of a large quantity of gasoline sitting in the basement storage area.

I will probably go with a couple of Honda 2000's in the future and store them and a fuel can on my truck.
__________________
Bill & Ann Anderson
2010 Elite 38RS4 (On order)
2007 Freightliner M2-106 Chariot Conversion
BillA is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-10-2011, 10:37 AM   #6
wingnut60
Site Team
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Where we park it
Posts: 2,838
generators

Here is a link to one of the gens for sale that I mentioned above....

http://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/rvs/2148136796.html

I told a friend of mine about a 5500 Gold from this RV place and he is really happy with the price and operation.

Joe
__________________

__________________
2016 Tiffin 40 QBH
2015 38RSSA, traded
2005 TK3 #1869, 10 yrs of memories,
2017 F450 KR--one more Ford is it
2009 F450 4x4-died; 2010 F450-retired
wingnut60 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:33 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
×