I don't think it's fair to the creatures of the night for you to intrude upon their silent night by running your generator all night. Nor is it fair to others who may be within sound of your generator, which in dry heat can be for a mile. So to be fair to nature and fellow campers, if you need to run the a/c all night, then stay in a location with the necessary power.
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Tizi wrote: My Honda 2000 can run for almost 2, 8 hour days on a gallon of gas...
The OP was running his generator so that he could run his A/C. You're saying that your Honda 2000 will run your A/C for 16 hours on one gallon of gas? That's amazing!
Tizi wrote: My Honda 2000 can run for almost 2, 8 hour days on a gallon of gas...
The OP was running his generator so that he could run his A/C. You're saying that your Honda 2000 will run your A/C for 16 hours on one gallon of gas? That's amazing!
I don't have AC.
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I've got a Generac LP 3600 Impact. Camp year round. Use a camper to reduce business travel costs. Propane usually runs me in the neighborhood of $2.90/gal at FlyingJ on the east coast.
At approximately .5 gal/hr under heavy load, long runs are impractical. Eight hours of a/c costs about $12, which is considerably less than a $30+ private campground. But, the real issue is convenience or the lack thereof. Two 30# tanks don't go far under those loads and finding a refill station can be very inconvenient or out of the way at times.
So, during the summer, I try to plan my trips around government campgrounds and Passport America parks where shore power is available at a reasonable price. I'm not always successful, thus the need to hunt for propane. But, I save the dry-camping for cooler weather as much as possible.
"Free camping" to "save money" is when I stay home.
Unless you're stone deaf, you'd probably want to stay in an RV park rather than listen to an Onan and roof top air conditioner run all night long.
The economics of it are a mute point.
I found the spec after some research, and at current prices, it costs me about $14 to run my generator, under heavy load, for a night - for fuel only. So, it is not such a great deal!!!
I was, however, interested in all the "don't go there" or "don't bother other people with generator noise" comments. Sometimes you have to go through a desert to get to the mountains - particularly out west.
Perhaps some folks have never been in the California or Baja desert on a hot night, but it becomes a matter of "life support" if you want to get some sleep, rather than convenience - regardless of whether you dry camp or find an RV park.
Keep in mind that, anyone else dry camping out there in the "stinking hot desert" is also running a generator if they have one ... and I ALWAYS stock plenty of earplugs.
WOW, are you guys camping or RVing? Go camping asnd use the RV for what it is intended. They are self contained units that will provide everything you need (roughing it in style) unless you have to have trees and air conditioning. I do have Honda generators for an occasional micro wave use or to hit the battereis for a bit. But air all night? No, we camp not RV.
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I too doubt I'd be running a generator all night, but so be it. I don't boondock to save money, I boondock to be able to stay the h** out of RV parks. I don't care if it does cost more money - there's no question it's more work.
RichieC wrote: "Free camping" to "save money" is when I stay home.
Unless you're stone deaf, you'd probably want to stay in an RV park rather than listen to an Onan and roof top air conditioner run all night long.
The economics of it are a mute point.
That's fine for you folks in the frozen north. Here in the deep south it's a lot more comfortable with the A/C running at night. Given the choice, I'll run it on shore power not because of noise, but because the generator will run out of gas after 4-5 hours.
BTW, it's a "moot" point, not as you said a "mute" point. Look it up.
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