Should you go gas-free?

LPG is the fuel of choice for caravanners but there are other options

Diesel is a dirty word in the car industry. Volkswagen’s Dieselgate shambles is just the start as authorities shift their steely gaze to all diesel vehicle emissions.

In the RV industry, LPG gas has been the standard just about since Noah built a van as a trial run for the ark.

LPG is the way to cook, heat water, run a eutectic fridge or even heat a caravan. To say any other form of fuel could take over most of the work LPG does is pure, unadulterated heresy.

Yet other fuels like diesel – and even methylated spirits -- are gradually being adopted as an alternative. Diesel fuel has plenty of advantages and some disadvantages for cooking and heating air and water.

For starters, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If you’re running a diesel tow vehicle, right there you have an ace up your sleeve when you head bush. You can carry the same spare fuel for vehicle and van.

Diesel also by-passes most of the regulations covering LPG. LPG gas lines can only be fitted or repaired by a licensed gas fitter, and the rules are different in each state. The van or camper has to be vented to allow the gas to escape if there’s a leak, which means you’ve got a perfect entry point for dust if you travel off-road.

Sell an LPG-equipped caravan in Queensland, and you have to get a gas inspection certificate before selling by law.

There’s no rule that stops you from running gas appliances in your van when travelling (such as the fridge), but it’s a bad idea. If the gas line ruptures, especially inside the van, or if the gas flame goes out, despite the vents there’s one hell of a kaboom waiting for the slightest spark to ignite it.

Running diesel appliances on the go — no problem. Want to have the van all toasty for when you arrive at camp in the cold? Easy, just switch it on during a break on the road, and keep it on when driving. There’s no reason not to.

One litre of LPG weighs 0.51kg, and a litre of diesel is about 0.85kg and LPG has a much higher calorific content than diesel. So LPG is lighter and in theory will last longer for cooking/heating.

Yet in practice diesel seems to last longer in RV cooking and heating applications and is cheaper to run than LPG.

If you’re out free-camping in the middle of nowhere and you run out of LPG? It’s cold baked beans for dinner until you get back to civilisation.

Run out of diesel when out in the bush and it’s a much simpler a problem to fix. You don’t need to don your fluro safety vest and check that your federal- and state-approved diesel-dispensing certification is still valid. You just whip out the jerry with spare diesel in it, chuck it into the diesel tank on the van and you’re good to go.

Diesel containers don’t come as fat round bottles, either. Being squared off, they typically take up less space on a van, and you can always chuck a spare jerry of diesel on top of or on the back of your tow vehicle.

What if you’re out camping when it’s cold? You’ll have to drag along the gennie to keep your 240v reverse-cycle air-con pumping out toasty air. Then there’s the weight and space the gennie (and spare fuel) takes up. Not to mention the racket -- nothing like being out in the peaceful, big-sky country with a gennie rattling away!

A diesel-powered space heater is more efficient and takes up less space than all the paraphernalia necessary to run the reverse-cycle a/c.

You can cook with diesel (not directly, obviously), but the only diesel-fuel ceramic-plate cooker on the market is a two-plate job (the Webasto's diesel Cook Top X100A), and the word on the street is that it’s a bit slow to heat up.

It takes about 10 minutes to get hot, and on start-up and shut down the diesel cooker uses a fair bit of electrical current.

Going to diesel isn’t cheap. The Webasto Cook Top X100A is an eye-watering $2000, and that’s without plumbing, fuel tank or installation costs. A diesel heater is about $2200 fitted. Mind you, the other free-camping option - a gas-powered heater - isn’t a lot less than that.

If you want to cook your favourite slow roast meal in the oven, it’ll cost you about $10,000 for a diesel-powered RV oven as we reported here

If you like your toast and vegemite of a morning, keep the camp fire coals burning overnight because that’s the only place you’ll get to toast your bread with a diesel set-up.

You can’t run a fridge on diesel, so you’d have to invest in a decent solar and battery set-up to keep the beers cold in a 12v fridge. It’s not a deal-breaker.

If you’re a holiday park kind of camper, then all this chatter about diesel is irrelevant. But if you don’t like being corralled cheek-to-jowl in a caravan park, diesel starts to look pretty good. If you can stump up the cash for the set-up, that is…

Images: Track Trailer Topaz with all-in-one diesel system

Should you go gas-free?

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