Gasless motorhome

[The big slipper]

Currently have a PVC with diesel heating and fridge running off the leisure batteries. Considering getting a motorhome and don't want gas. Chausson have diesel heating but need gas for the fridge when parked, is it an easy conversion to have it run off the leisure battery ?
Thanks

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Sounds great ,but what are you cooking on.?

 

[Boringfrog]

 

[Figaro]

Easy enough but it'll mean substantial investment in solar and batteries if not already fitted ?
How are you cooking if not on gas?

 

[The big slipper]

Thanks for the replies, cooking would be the same as now, I use a camping gas stove, outside, as SWMBO won't allow it inside

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[Lenny HB]

3 way fridges work far better on gas, 12v is the least efficient the 12v element is always smaller than the 240v one so will not cool adequetly in hot temperatures. Far better to run on gas or change the fridge for a compressor fridge.

 

[The big slipper]

Thanks Lenny

 

[Bessy765]

Our Dometic fridge/freezer uses 17 amps @ 12 volt d.c.

 

[Guigsy]

Richard n Ann has a thread on converting a 3-way fridge to compressor:

Converting our 3 way fridge to compressor.

Been trying to keep busy over the last 2 days so I started my compressor project. Mainly to save gas and the inconvenience of filling up, the compressor fridge will run off solar easily but even if the battery gets a bit low you can fit a resistor to the controller so it will switch off at 11v...

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

Diesel heating works well (although it can be noisy).

A recent trend in the US is to use induction hobs for cooking. You need a LOT of battery capacity to pull that off. And if you're staying off-grid for more than a couple of days, you're going to struggle to recharge without lots of driving time (with a good DC-DC charger), or you're going to need several square metres of solar panels and pray that it's sunny (even then, it'd only work in the summer).

So it is possible to run without gas. But not trivial.

 

[Speve]

Coco VW T6 have a look at the thread by TheWildThing she may have some ideas for you?

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[Tombola]

I think Wissel added a standard LEC fridge to a totally leccy conversion he is doing atm, and uses very little via inverter

 

[Otter Spotter]

Take a look at the Wallas XC duo Diesel hob and heater, works great in my PVC.
I have a 12v only Thetford T1090 fridge.

 

[Lenny HB]

Funny you say that, mine is the other way round, hopeless on gas and ok on the 240. it does ok tbh and need to power dump, at the moment the power i being wasted so have the fridge on 240. My fridge is about 10 years old.

The chimney & baffel probably need cleaning also at 10 years old worth replacing the jet & the burner if it's very rusty.

 

[RedFrame]

Thanks for the replies, cooking would be the same as now, I use a camping gas stove, outside, as SWMBO won't allow it inside

If you buy a motorhome and don't use gas to cook on then, a huge area of the van is wasted, even in a European van, surely???

Cheers
Red.

 

[Lenny HB]

When i bought the van the fridge went wrong, it was under 2 year warranty, but it took some force to get them to repair the fridge with new burner and the things you said. if i had the cash would go for a newer type.

I don't use the freezer part, so removed that but the freezer part still works, if there was a way to stop that from working it would save gas and power. is there a way to turn that bit off as Domitic states you can remove the freezer section?

There is only one cooling circuit so not removable but without the freezer box in there the fridge will cool quicker and switch off sooner so shouldn't really affect the power used & it probably works better.

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[Bessy765]

Is that a tall type? mines an under sink one. I guy ran some tests on fridges on youtube a few years back, its the freezer part that runs the most power.

Yes 125 litre, we have 700 watts of solar a 12/2000/80 inverter charger and 200amps of Lithium when the batteries are fullly charged I run the Fridge on mains through the inverter with the loss of efficiency it uses about 19/20 amps @ 12 volt d.c. But using it this way it soon uses up the amps, but saves on gas.

 

[Coolcats]

It’s probably not far away but lithium batteries and induction jobs will be the new kid on the block instead of Gas.

 

[The big slipper]

Thanks to all for your replies, some very interesting points, still unsure what way to go, but putting SWMBO outside while I cook on gas inside is the current favourite

 

[Larby]

How would your wife do a roast outside ?
I am spoilt

 

[Coolcats]

yeah maybe but at the end of the day all these solar and battery things are in the hands of mother nature, no sun no power lol, she's always boss.

This is where Hydrogen would be helpful for gas appliances

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[cyberyacht]

My neighbour round the corner converted his own panel van. No gas. Diesel heating and hob plus compressor fridge. 350W solar and a 200Ah lithium. 2Kw inverter.

 

[Lenny HB]

My kettle at 1000 watts puls 98 amps

If you want your batteries to last you shouldn't discharge them at more than the C20 rate. On another thread you said you had 2 batteries if they are a 100 ah each that would be a max discharge rate of 40 amps, (adjust for battery size) 98 amps will kill them.
Also I wouldn't run AGM's below 50%.

 

[Lenny HB]

These aren't standard agms, they were designed to be used much harder and why it took about 3 mounts to find the right types. they have been perfect for 3 years, they sulfate like other batteries but can be recovered using the MPPT chargers, they are 130 amp hour and can be discharged to 80%.

I never believe what maufacturers say about AGM's I've know expensive professional ones fail when used as leisure batteries.
I hope they survive for you.

 

[nabsim]

I heat with an Eberspacher, hot water is from the engine via a calorifier, fridge is 110ltr Waeco 12v compressor job but I cook on gas. 6kg last me 31 days so with an 11kg and 6kg refillable I can go long spells. I recently bought a Vango induction hod to save gas and use free solar for the summer but my 1500W modified sine wave invertor won’t power it, think it may need a pure sine wave.
I am in the van all year in U.K. and I know for a fact I can’t produce enough power from my 300w on the roof and 100w folding panel, need the genny every few days to charge battery’s up (200ah Lifepo4). I have just acquired a second folding 100W panel so hopefully be slightly better come the back end.
If you go all electric you are going to have to constantly move, use sites with EHU or get a genny if you intend staying in the U.K. if you only use it for short trips and summertime then you should be fine if you size things for your usage

 

[nabsim]

These aren't standard agms, they were designed to be used much harder and why it took about 3 mounts to find the right types. they have been perfect for 3 years, they sulfate like other batteries but can be recovered using the MPPT chargers, they are 130 amp hour and can be discharged to 80%.

Lead carbon?

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[Raul]

All electric and no gas is definitely doable. Throw in a diesel hob and you done for winter to. In the las 3 weeks we used 4,4L of gas. Mostly was used for hot water and cooking on dull weather. We had days with 4kwh plus of solar. The induction hob is excellent.

 

[Tombola]

I didnt even know they did diesel hobs, learn something new every day .

 

[Raul]

On the boats diesel stove/hob it’s been used for cooking for years. Sorry should of said stove instead of hob. Somebody in here has the diesel heater and stove, can’t remember.
Diesel, because the availability, it’s everywhere don’t need to drive in search for gas, specially in remote locations. I have diesel and gas heating, the diesel is used 99% of the time, the gas is preserved for dull weather only, or if a fault with the diesel heater, just redundancy.

 

[Clive Mott]

If you really want to gasless and dont mind the occasional whiff of diesel then diesel hob which also doubles as a space heater, top opening compressor fridge, lots of lithium batteries, a full roof (panel van) of glass based solar and a large B2B charger so you can top up if its not sunny. Kettle for hot water. Or perhaps a diesel Truma Combi that will also work from the mains hookup and compressor fridge top loader.
Personally I remain in the refillable gas camp and 3 way gas fridge as this needs so much less battery. There are good arguements for both.

 

[Steve-N]

We have a PVC with a 12 volt d.c only Thetford T1090 compressor fridge which is far better in hot climates at keeping cold, it runs 24/7 using 4 amps/hour. (night mode reduces this to 2.5 amps)
With 200 amps of batteries that's (almost) 50 hours run time.
Add to that 150 watts of solar, and engine charging top up (when on the move). All lighting is led and we don't have a TV preferring the radio or a book if bad weather prevents a beer by the camp fire adding to the low energy usage.
Gas cooking, and also gas heating all from a 25 ltr underling tank (last fill was 62 ppl) but it lasts easily for 6 weeks or longer in summer.
We have managed 5 days/nights 'off grid' with no issues, the only constraint being fresh water, although I can 'lift' water into the van main tank with a bucket and 12v pump for washing/loo flush etc if we get too low.
None of the above was standard fit for the van, I have heavily modified almost all the systems to suit our needs, and be able to camp in remote off grid locations and avoid paying high campsite prices.