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Generator Recommendations -- Propane, Gas or Diesel


s106300

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Jack,

 

Ron and Shelley spec'd a lot of what we have on our unit (same 38RSSA) and we have 3 AC's units on ours all ducted on a common plenum. You can hang meat inside if they are all turned on max....

 

Ours also has an additional 50 amp marine plug in the front to allow us to plug into a front pedestal, separate generator or run an onboard gen set with auto start. I didn't get the gen set with ours and have the same concerns that Ron and Shelley do about the pets.

 

We did order with a Magnum 2800 watt inverter and 4 6 volt batteries but I screwed up the order on mine and wound up with 4 wet batteries instead of AGM batteries. I added a single point watering system for each set so it's not that big a deal to keep them at the correct level but AGM's are zero maintenance and can be forgotten about.

2017 Kenworth T680
2015 DRV 38RSSA Elite Suites
2016 Smart Prime

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Wow thanks for all the great replies - so much to think about, We are currently driving to Knoxville to hopefully order our DRV and continue this conversation with the brain trust at RVs For Less. We will keep you posted. Ron is still juggling all of the potential options that have been suggested.

2010 Volvo VNL 670 D13 500 HP Ishift - "THOR"

2016 DRV Elite Suites 38RSSA - "Freya"

2012 Smart For Two - "Loki"

 

Ron & Shelley Johnston, pilots

Toy, Nika, and Piranha, feline co-pilots and Demi-gods (at least if you ask them).

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With all due respect to your RV dealer....you have to know and understand your options first. Never take the advice of an RV dealer or salesperson - no matter how trusted - without researching and understanding the options first. Most of them do not RV, do not boondock, and have no vested interest in getting it "right". Some have good experience to share, though, so it is another data point....

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Well we know of many options, thanks to research, talking with Greg of RVHaulers, folks at he technical end of DRV, and of course, the many experienced and knowledgeable compatriots on this great forum. We take in as much data as we can - including talking to many dealers (who have many different opinions) but at the end of day we understand we need to sift through all the info and make our own intelligent decision. Hopefully we will figure out the best option.

2010 Volvo VNL 670 D13 500 HP Ishift - "THOR"

2016 DRV Elite Suites 38RSSA - "Freya"

2012 Smart For Two - "Loki"

 

Ron & Shelley Johnston, pilots

Toy, Nika, and Piranha, feline co-pilots and Demi-gods (at least if you ask them).

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We switched from a race car conversion to a TH then to our current DP . The first had the yamaha inverter style. Very nice but if you did not run enough gas through it it goes bad. Had to always run gas with "stabil" in it. The Th had a huge aux tank for toy fuel and running the gas 5500. It was really finicky and ended up putting a new carb on it due to gas going bad issues with stabil I may ad. If I would have kept it I was going to convert to propane. The DP is a gimme its make almost zero noise and runs of the coach diesel fuel. The only down side at full load/draw is using 2 gallons per hour.

1999 Freightliner FL 60 Crew Cab SOLD
300 HP Cat, Allison 6 speed
2010 3912 Raptor Toyhauler SOLD
Dirt bikes and Quads

Coming soon 2005 Country Coach DaVinci Inspire Sold

2018 Rockwood Signature Ultralite  8328

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Steve describes the very issues I've experienced in the past, and why I have an LP generator.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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Steveroreno;

 

How is the change to a DP working for you?

 

2 gallons per hour! At mid high idle my truck uses 1!

 

Curt

2001 Freightliner Century, 500hp Series 60, Gen 2 autoshift, 3.42 singled rear locker.

2004 Keystone Sprinter 299RLS (TT)

2 & 4 Wheelers!

2013 Polaris Ranger 800 midsize LE

Our motto "4 wheels move the body, 2 wheels move the soul!"

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We switched from a race car conversion to a TH then to our current DP . The first had the yamaha inverter style. Very nice but if you did not run enough gas through it it goes bad. Had to always run gas with "stabil" in it. The Th had a huge aux tank for toy fuel and running the gas 5500. It was really finicky and ended up putting a new carb on it due to gas going bad issues with stabil I may ad. If I would have kept it I was going to convert to propane. The DP is a gimme its make almost zero noise and runs of the coach diesel fuel. The only down side at full load/draw is using 2 gallons per hour.

Stabil did not work for me. I am now using some stuff called Seafoam. If I had to do it over again, I would have gone with a propane generator.

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Jim, I also find that Seafoam works very well.....we use it in all our gas equipment in the campground.

Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member
Living on the road since 2000

PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail
2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it)
2022 New Horizons 43' 5er
2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 
2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU
No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units
2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar power
www.jackdanmayer.com
Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com

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  • 4 weeks later...

Currently I have a Honda 3000i on the truck. GREAT little generator. I then added a extended run kit from Pineallis Power with a 12gal marine fuel tank/cell. Our use is primarily overnights in a parking lot as we are traveling. The 3000 will run 1 A/C no problems until you get in to higher altitudes. (Spent the night at 7000' and as the A/C would cycle it would drop out as the load kicked in. Finally had to set A/C down as low as it would go then by 2am you could hang meat in the RV.) I then put a 30A outlet on the back of the truck cab then a 30A input on the front of the RV. Then just use a 30A cord to connect the two. If truck and RV were further apart I can just add another 30A cord. You can run two 3000i Honda's parallel just like the 2000i and then use a 50A plug.

 

 

I've been meaning to ask you about the extended run kit. We have our Honda 3000 mounted the same as yours. I watched the Pineallis Power video but one thing wasn't clear. Do you loose the main (built in) tank with this kit? We haven't run it much where it's mounted. Do you leave the fairing open when running of just let the exhaust escape "where-ever"?

Ray & Deb - Shelbi the Aussie & Lexington the cat
2004 Volvo 630 500HP ISX "Bertha D" - 10 Speed-MaxBrake -ET hitch.SOLD
2009 Designer 35RLSA SOLD
Fulltiming since '07 - stopped 2016

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The tank on the 3000 still works. If you shut the valve off then you draw fuel from the extended tank only. Because the internal tank is gravity fed the kit comes with a fuel pump.

 

Typically if it is hot, I will open the faring. If it is that hot we are typically running the A/C plus the the heat coming off the pavement. But if you really think about it the generator is not in a box or anything. I don't use the generator with the truck running so there is no other source of heat so I am sure it would be fine with the faring closed.

2017 Entegra Anthem 44A

SOLD - 2004 Volvo 780. 465hp and 10sp Auto Shift (from 2010~2017)

SOLD - 2009 Montana 3400RL

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We use 100% Gasoline and seafoam in all of our small engines. You can purchase Gasoline without Ethanol in it from our local Marina's, or the gasoline distributor (jobber) in your area. The Ethanol is the real problem, It has a short shelf life, it dries out everything it comes in contact with, It reduced our mileage, it loves water, things grow in it. We have sold Fuel for over 40 years and only started selling fuel with Ethanol in it a few years ago. What a nightmare!! I could go on and on.

 

Bottom line if you can find Gasoline without Ethanol in it most of your troubles will be history.

 

Bob

Bob&Kay
2012 VNL730 I Shift D13 2.47 ratio
2018 Mobile Suites 40 kssb4

 

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