In this fast competitive technological era a variety of devices and appliances are invented and upgraded with every passing day. An RV fridge is also one of the appliances in frequent use. Although the core focus of this article is on the question given in the title, some basic information regarding the RV fridge is necessary to be furnished.
What is an RV fridge?
RV is the abbreviation of recreational vehicle and fridge is the appliance we are all familiar with, so the RV fridge is an appliance which is mostly liked to be used in the vehicles for recreational activities such as camping and outing. It has no movable parts like the fridge we use in homes. It uses propane as a source of energy and has two-way and three-way options to run i.e. it can be run with AC, DC and Propane. For the contraction of heat it uses the process of absorption instead of compressor technology used in ordinary electric fridge used in homes.
What is Propane?
Propane is a gas and is collected as a byproduct while processing natural gas and refining petroleum. It is in the gaseous state at standard temperature and pressure but it can also be compressed and liquefied therefore in liquid form it is called LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). It is used as fuel for industrial and domestic purposes.
Running time of an RV fridge on propane
To answer the above question it is important to know about the condition and size of the appliance and the tank used for storing the fuel in it. If the RV fridge is old in condition or large in size then it will consume more propane as compared to the new or smaller one. To analyze the running duration of the RV fridge first we consider the sizes of the tanks. There are different sizes of the propane tanks used in RV fridges i.e. 20lb, 30lb and ASME propane tanks. The average cooling capacity of an RV fridge is about 1500 BTU (British thermal unit) and one gallon of propane gas produces the heat energy to produce 91500 BTU. If it is converted to BTU/pound it makes 21500/pound. To analyze it further, how long will it run in how much quantity of propane? Consider the smallest tank of 20lb capacity, the approximate time of running of an RV fridge by 20lb propane tank is about 288 hours, similarly the running time of an RV fridge by a 30lb propane tank is about 430 hours. The use of a larger tank will provide a large amount of heat and will run the fridge for a long time. For example if a 100lb ASME tank is used it will run the RV fridge for about 1400 hours.
Conclusion
From the above discussion we concluded that the running time of an RV fridge operated by propane is about 288 hours for a 20lb tank, 430 hours for 30lb tank and 1400 hours for 100lb tank. The two factors i.e. condition and size will affect the running duration.
