Grand Design Onan 5500 generator

[Travel]

We just purchased a Grand Design Solitude 310GK R. Question is, we also added a 5500 Onan Generator. Does anyone have experience with the 5500 and what kind od fuel consumption did you experience? Can you run generator while towing?

[FT4NOW]

We run ours while towing to power the fridge and 2 of the A/Cs. I use about .8gph, but I have the gas version, I imagine yours is propane.

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[Travel]

yes ours is propane. swapped the two 15# for two 20# and kepped the two 15#'s. want to be able to dry camp at least 24 hours.

[Txfivver]

yes ours is propane. swapped the two 15# for two 20# and kepped the two 15#'s. want to be able to dry camp at least 24 hours.

You will want to go bigger on the propane bottles. I have two 40 pound bottles in my 375 and the Onan will suck them both dry in about 36 hours. I carry 4 extra 30 lb bottles if I'm going to use it a lot. I love having it, it will run both 15K air conditioners at once and still power the tv and lights etc. You also don't have to worry about gasoline going bad and fouling the carb. They just seem to suck down the propane though lol. Go on Amazon and look for propane leak detectors hand held. I found that I was getting slight leakage where the line connects to the tank unless you tighten the heck out of it with twist knob. That may have led to my excess propane use. Anyways you'll love having it
!

[Travel]

Txfivver: Correction I swapped the two 30#’s for two 40#’s and kept the two 30’s. So that’s 140#’s total. So that’s about 35 gals less the 20 percent. In reality I have about 28 gals when full. About how long do you guess that will last?

[Txfivver]

Txfivver: Correction I swapped the two 30#’s for two 40#’s and kept the two 30’s. So that’s 140#’s total. So that’s about 35 gals less the 20 percent. In reality I have about 28 gals when full. About how long do you guess that will last?

You should definitely be good for the 24 hrs use you wanted. Remember that .8 gal per hour figure is at max load and it won't be running at max load all the time. You will hear the tone of the engine and exhaust change as the a/c kicks off and on etc. I love having mine and the propane bottle switching and filling is really just a minor pain. You also will have virtually no exhaust smell out side the trailer either. I would also switch the fridge and hot water heater over to electric while dry camping with the Onan. That way only the generator is using propane.

[Travel]

You should definitely be good for the 24 hrs use you wanted. Remember that .8 gal per hour figure is at max load and it won't be running at max load all the time. You will hear the tone of the engine and exhaust change as the a/c kicks off and on etc. I love having mine and the propane bottle switching and filling is really just a minor pain. You also will have virtually no exhaust smell out side the trailer either. I would also switch the fridge and hot water heater over to electric while dry camping with the Onan. That way only the generator is using propane.

Thanks so it’s possible to stay past the 24 hours? That’s good I may take an extra 20# bottle when we dry camp. I appreciate your response.

[Travel]

We got the residential refrigerator

[Travel]

Just to make sure I understand I can stay approximately 36 hours on two 40# propane cylinders?

[Txfivver]

Just to make sure I understand I can stay approximately 36 hours on two 40# propane cylinders?

It really depends on the load on the generator. If you're running both ac units and water heater etc it may be close. I was at the Texas Rennfest last fall and it was pretty warm out. Running 1 AC at night and both during the afternoon hours and the water heater on propane I went through 2 40lb bottles and 2 30lb bottles in 36 hours. I discovered later that I had a slight propane leak at one of the bottles though. I would carry all the propane you have room for. I just put 4 30lb tanks on my rear slide out tray and 2 40's upfront.