Kathryn BirdFounder and Creator, Wandering Bird · Founder of the UK's largest motorhoming and road trip blog- Wandering Bird

GAS IN A MOTORHOME IS NO JOKE! 😏🙈😂

29 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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1:04

In this segment of The Truth About Van Life, Kathryn Bird answers a viewer’s question about how much propane gas a motorhome consumes. She explains that usage varies with season, travel style, and heating needs. In summer, a 6‑kg propane bottle typically lasts about a week when only powering cooking, a kettle, and a fridge. In winter, especially when heating is on (e.g., mountain trips), the same bottle may be exhausted in roughly three days. She also advises that frequent European touring benefits from a refillable gas system, whereas UK‑based travelers may find exchangeable bottles more convenient. The segment emphasizes the importance of matching gas supply strategy to travel patterns and climate.

Chapters

Welcome back to The Truth About Van Life, where your questions get answered. And this week's question is all about gas. How much gas do we use? Well, it's a really good question, and the answer is it depends. It depends on where we're traveling, whether we're using campsites or whether we're wild camping, and also what time of year it is. So to give you a rough indication, when we are traveling in summer, whether we are staying on campsites or whether we're wild camping, obviously we haven't got the heating on, so it lasts a lot longer. And we reckon one 6-kilogram bottle lasts us roughly About a week, and it's just powering cooking and the kettle and the fridge. That's pretty much all it's doing. If we're going in winter, like we took our motorhome up to the mountains with all the snow and stuff in winter last year, that lasted us about 3 days, that same 6 kilogram bottle. So it totally depends on where you're going and what you're doing. If you're going to be touring in Europe a lot, I strongly recommend getting a refillable gas system fitted, but if you're staying mostly in the UK, you'll probably find exchangeable ones are better for you. Hope that helps. See you on the next one. Bye.