huffypuff Report post Posted November 8, 2015 I'm getting ready to snowbird to Desert Hot Springs for a few months this winter. With the cost of propane down at about $2.00 a gallon I was wondering what it would cost to run the refrigerator off of propane compare to shore power. Shore power is 13.5 cents per amp hour and was costing me about $60 per month. The information I was able to look up so far is that the refrigerator is about 500 watts running on shore power. Someone has posted somewhere on the web a formula of calculating the break even point of kwh cost compare to cost of a gallon of propane but I can't seem to find it. The question is how long will a 12 cu feet refrigerator run on a gallon of propane. I figure that about half of the cost of shore power I used last year was for the refrigerator alone but I could be wrong. Does anyone know the calculation? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hermanmullins Report post Posted November 8, 2015 Puff, My thought is to purchase propane at that price would mean having to unhook and go to a propane dealer. Although you may be able to have it delivered I don't think it would be at the low price. That could be a determining factor. Herman Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted November 8, 2015 This is a "well maybe". If you can Google and find out how much shore power you are using just for the refrigerator. Do you have an "Extend a Stay" on your coach? If not you have to decide if it is going to work for you to disconnect and go fill the propane tank when ever that runs out. Now this might work out if you plan to exercise the coach during your stay you could combine the two. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lenp Report post Posted November 9, 2015 Huffy, Here is a copy of the spreadsheet I use to determine whether gas furnace or electric space heater. Should be easy to convert to apply to the frig. Forum won't let me upload the xls file. Assumptions: 1 gallon Propane has 91, 000 BTU 1 KW of electricity has 3,414 BTU Propane furnace is about 80% efficient Electric heaters are near 100% efficient At 80%, it will require 22 KW hours to equal one gallon of propane Furnace pull about amps of electric or about 95 watts Furnace running will require less than 2 cents per hour of electricity to run essentially, Multiply the cost of electricity by 22 to see what the same amount of heat would cost for propane If electric is 13 cents/KWH 13x22=$2.86 16 Enter Elec cost 3.52 Equivelent cost for Propane Enter the cost per kilowatt where the cell where "16" is and enter the formula "=B14*22/100" in the cell below that (assuming the "16" is in cell "B14". Lenp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huffypuff Report post Posted November 9, 2015 Lenp I enter the electric cost 13.5x22=$297 <~~~~~ I guess this is the break even point so anything below that would be saving? I miss the second part where you show the equivalent cost of propane. Thanks for your help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lenp Report post Posted November 10, 2015 Huffy, I missed a decimal. Should be .13 x 22 that's a decimal in front of the 13 Lenp Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huffypuff Report post Posted November 10, 2015 oh it's .135 x 22 = $2.97 whew better break even point. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
