Propane Firepit Question - How Much Propane Do I Need?

How much propane will I need to carry with us? Here is our scenario: We are going on an 8-night camping trip over the New Year holiday, two nights in Anaheim, 4 nights in Yosemite, and two nights in Los Angeles (was going to be Malibu at Leo Carrillo campground, but that sadly no longer exists). I expect that it will be snowy while we're in Yosemite.

Our 560 ultra has the on-board propane heater, and we have a screen house that we will be using over our galley kitchen. I bought a propane firepit with 19,000 BTUs so that we can use it inside the screen tent (we'll have a rainfly on top, but it's not a Northern Breeze.

We would be heating water on the stove.

Assuming we use the heater for a bit each night/morning, the stove, and the firepit, how much propane should we plan to take with us? Will one extra 5-gallon suffice, or will we need to bring a 20-gallon tank?

 

I would think you'd be able to exchange the 5 gallon tank even in Yosemite. Seems like propane exchanges are ubiquitous. You could go a really long time though with a 20 gallon tank. Kind of a bear to haul around though. Her's some info re: propane:

Pounds per gallon of Liquid @ 60 degF 4.23

BTU per Gallon of Gas @ 60 F 91,502

BTU per lb. of Gas 21,548

 

It will depend on how much you use your fire pit. Eight days without using the firepit should be no problem the the 5 lb (9-10 propane). If you use you CI heater occasionally to warm the cabin and cook with it should last, if you over use the firepit could be an issue. We use a 20 lb (16-17 propane) when on extended +7 days and run our Mr. Buddy in our Northern Breeze to take the chill off. Use a 12 hose run from the camper to the NB for the Mr. Buddy. The 20g tank will add to your tongue weight if that is a concern...

 

I'm wondering if we are all on the same page here. An empty 20 lb tank will hold about 4.7 gallons of propane. The tanks we normally use for our barbecues that can be exchanged all over the place (Blue Rhino is the common one in this part of the country) are 5 gallon tanks which weigh around 37 pounds when full (20 pounds of propane and 17 pounds or so for the tank). A 20 gallon tank would hold a bit over 80 pounds of propane - there is a 100 pound tank but I have not seen an 80 pound tank. Between the tank and the propane you'd be up in the 150 pound range. These tanks are really tall and skinny so would be really awkward to mount on the tongue of the teardrop.

 

I was thinking of a bbq-sized 20 lb tank. Doesn't that hold more propane than the little tanks on the CI?

 

I swich my 5 lb for 20 long time ago, it definitely doesn't look as good as small one, but its way more easier to exchange your empty 20 lbs for full one, any hardware store in the middle of nowhere has 20 lbs for exchange. 5 lbs..... not so many.