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jpws
12-27-2010, 10:11 PM
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

wingnut60
12-28-2010, 10:08 AM
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

Motor31
12-28-2010, 11:44 AM
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.

Huck
12-29-2010, 10:55 AM
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)

BillA
01-05-2011, 02:20 PM
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.

wingnut60
01-10-2011, 10:37 AM
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