11Lb Propane Bottle - How Long Will It Last

[nast70]

Going all propane on my next trip, Have an option of either my 20Lb or my dads 11Lb'er. Mom and dad only used it to warm up the tent for a few minutes in the morning and before bed so they really don't know how long it lasts.
I like the idea of a smaller bottle in the truck (means more room for elk! ) and potentially needing to trailer camp in again with the quad, so less weight too.
Anyone have any feedback if a 11Lb bottle would last a week with a stove and a lantern on it?

[EZM]

If you run a regular 2 burner camp stove 2-3 times a day for, say, 30 min each time and a lantern for a few hours each night bring the 20lb. The 11lb will "more than likely" be plenty enough - but is it worth the gamble?.

I'm the type of person who would bring both and not sweat thinking about it the whole week and what your contingency plan is to fill up the propane and how far of a drive that is.

I hate worrying about little, easy to mitigate problems.

The other thing is, what if it gets crappy and cold and you have to run the heaters hard - not having fuel to do that would make for a miserable night.

I'd also burn off the 11lber first, and use it as much as you want to, so next time you will know more accurately.

[StringTheory]

I lugged my 20lb tank around last year ice fishing but this season bought an 11 lber. Used all summer to run the bbq and camp stove (at least a dozen times each) and still havent filled it again. Plus, its way easier to carry around and is supposed to run the big buddy on high for around 12 hrs. In my insulated Otter Lodge hub I would run it on high to get things warmed up for 15-30 mins then switch to med but usually low depending on outside temps.

The big buddy can consume a lot of propane on high, but I cant see the stove or lantern using near as much. I'd say 11 lber is all you would need. To be on the safe side, maybe take both this year and see how you make out with it? Dont forget to report back here and tell us how it went!

A fella on In-Depth Outdoors made some great charts to give you some perspective:

https://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/com...buddy-heaters/

[nast70]

Originally Posted by EZM

I'm the type of person who would bring both and not sweat thinking about it the whole week and what your contingency plan is to fill up the propane and how far of a drive that is.

I'd also burn off the 11lber first, and use it as much as you want to, so next time you will know more accurately.

This is not a bad idea.
Just found out dad has 2 small bottles. I'll take them both a know exactly how long they will last

[Hogie135]

If you know how many btu's your stove and lantern are rated for you can calculate just how long your propane will last. 1 pound of propane is about 21,500 btus.

[Hooter]

Originally Posted by Hogie135

If you know how many btu's your stove and lantern are rated for you can calculate just how long your propane will last. 1 pound of propane is about 21,500 btus.

I never knew this. If it’s accurate it would be very useful when trying to figure out how much propane a person would need in a holiday trailer too

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Hogie135

If you know how many btu's your stove and lantern are rated for you can calculate just how long your propane will last. 1 pound of propane is about 21,500 btus.

True enough - and works pretty good in 80% efficient RV heaters, stoves, fridges, but your camp stove and lantern may be wasting 30%-40% of the fuel .... so if it says 10,000 BTU output/hr you might be using 14,000 BTU's of propane to get that 10,000.

But it would at least give you a reasonably good starting point to look at.

[CanuckShooter]

we usually get 10 days, on oct hunts, out of a 20lb tank, big 3 burner stove and high output lantern. you should get at least 5 days out of an 11 lbr

[Puma]

I find I skip the heater and just use the lantern for heat.

[lyallpeder]

I use a 5 pound tank for the stove camping almost every weekend and a couple full weeks in the summer, then I fill it before hunting season and it lasts for a week running the stove and most if not all the next summer.

I found a 11 pound tank in the alley and got it certified and filled it was like $45!! I’m taking the 5 pound again this year it only has 3 years left on the certification so if it grows legs and walks away it won’t hurt as much.

[nast70]

I'm willing to bet I'll have to get one of dads recertified as well.
Mutual Propane will do for $30.00 including fill.
BTW, Costco is the cheapest place for propane refills. My 20lb was $9.00, almost completely empty. They will fill everything up to 100lb bottles.

[FlyTheory]

I ran a 11lber for years with a single sunflower burner and it seemed to need to be filled every 15 trips. Which is a whole season for me. Now that the 11lb tank has expired, I’m going to run a 5lber this winter. I’m not too concerned about running out with proper prep before each trip of weighing it to see how much u lost

[EZM]

I have 2 of the 10-11lb size I take for ice fishing.

One runs the Buddy Heater, and the other runs lanterns, stoves or whatever else.

I may average 20 days on the ice per year - maybe more - and I am once a year for a fill up, maybe twice if I'm really going hard ...... so they last a while for sure.

And like most people, give it a shake, when one starts to get empty, I use that tank until it's empty and fill it up and always have one at least 1/3 full.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Reminds me of sheep hunt couple years back. Wife and I went camping to Jasper/Banff. She said better fill 20 lb tank before sheep hunt. I said lots of propane. Got up in middle of night to water daisys in bare feet. realized was standing in 6 inchs of snow, no problem just turned up furnace. By morning no propane, no heat and no breakfast.

[nast70]

Picked them up from dads last night. Both feel full. Going to Mutual to get a proper splitter and get them weighed so I know exactly how much I have.
Both have been re-certified at least once, so I'll find out how long I have on them as well.
This next week can't go by fast enough!

[nast70]

The results are in. I used a bit less than half of one bottle. That's using a 2 burner stove and Northstar lantern, twice a day. The lantern was on for between 4-6 hrs a night.

[CBintheNorth]

A little late to the party, I know, but your 11lb bottle has 236,536 BTU'S in it, if totally full.

A 20 lb bottle has 430,066 BTU'S.

If you know the consumption of your appliances it's easy to figure out how long you've got. Just remember BTU'S on appliances are listed per hour.

Or just do like you did and test it out. Lol.