Cons: No propane oven (big deal for us…) - RV-Dreams Community Forum

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Cons: No propane oven (big deal for us…)

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you all for your quick replies!

Mike, Bill and Terry – would your thoughts be influenced regarding boondocking/power outage, if you had a generator as well as solar panels (i.e., using the Breville Oven would be less of a challenge). Still figuring our energy consumption levels, using battery bank versus full hook-up ... so I am not sure my assumption is correct (i.e., that it would be easy to use the small Breville Oven when boondocking and/or power outage occurs).

-- Edited by Lyn on Sunday 3rd of February 2013 07:54:22 PM

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill, A related question -- did you purchase the Breville in part for the broiler functionality? I recalled reading a prior post of yours (and some related posts by Neil) which has us considering purchasing the Breville oven (i.e., your prior post "My waistline does not want a broiler in our RV. If we had one Diane or I would be tempted to make my grandmother's almond torte since it needs the top browned by a broiler.") In other words, have you/Diane found the Breville functionality sufficient to create items that you/she previously made in the S&B oven?

-- Edited by Lyn on Sunday 3rd of February 2013 08:13:00 PM

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lyn.....I Mainly boondock so Electricity is like water to me. it must be conserved or It has to be taken from something else it was going to be used for.

average oven time in a convection oven is lets say 30 min. that would be 1000 plus watts during cycle which is every 4 min......that is going to draw the batteries down.

onboard generator is going to consume roughly a dollar's worth of fuel to do the same job or I turn on the oven and consume a quarter cup of liquid propane at roughly 30 cents.

the oven relies on nothing but propane to do its job it doesnt take from the electrical system.

again I am a boondocker so conserving on power and such is the way of life for us

I cook in solar dutch ovens on nice days
I have a solar hot water system for showers
I have a solar heater to supply heat durring the daytime

when I am in the boondock mode I only visit the campgrounds twice a month for dumping and refilling water and live like the other half does in the Fulltiming world.....LOL

-- Edited by Lucky Mike on Sunday 3rd of February 2013 08:17:22 PM

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lyn: Our old toaster oven had some internal areas that could not be cleaned so it set off the smoke detector often and I could not stop it. Some friends raved about the Breville and reading reviews many who bought $80 to $150 alternative ovens found they did not measure up to the $250 Breville we bought. It makes the most even toast we have ever seen and bakes really well. Yes, we can now broil and have. It was more of a worry that we would bake my grandmother's almond torte, which requires a final broiling to brown the almonds, and gain weight. So far we have resisted making it since it also requires ingredients specialized ingredients, like unsalted butter. Diane has been able to make lemon meringue pie, which could not be made the convection oven since the convection messes up the meringue. (There are people who dispute this but Diane is the baker.)

-- Edited by bjoyce on Sunday 3rd of February 2013 08:34:33 PM

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Linda, Based upon Howard’s write-up about the Dynamax Trilogy, which the two of you recently toured, it appears that you enjoy using your propane oven. I was curious to understand your reasons.

Our current plan is to have a convection/microwave oven and propane stovetop. Use the space below the stovetop for storage (e.g., pots, pans, and possibly a Breville Oven that would function as our toaster, broiler, alternative to the convection oven for baking and an additional way to cook outside, when the weather is warm).

I have read some related threads, with most people removing/wishing they did not have their propane oven. I would welcome learning why you like having a propane oven.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

I also prefer an oven.....I find convection and toaster ovens dont heat and brown the same......also durring boondocking running the generator for extended periods to do simple cooking gets costly..........IMHO

igotjam · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our 2011 Escalade came without the oven. Never used the oven in our previous 5er so not having one was an unexpected bonus for us. The extra cupboard space works for us but everyone is different.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Not that I have ANYTHING to do with the cooking, and Jo would say that if we were to get another RV, it likely wouldn't have the oven, I am of a different mind. Even if one is not boondocking, there are possibilities of losing one's electricity, even in RV parks. In most cases, that wouldn't be a problem as most folks would just wait until the electric came back on, but I like the idea of the oven in the event electric is gone and she really wants to bake something.

Terry

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

A warning: The Breville can use 1500 to 1800 watts so a 2000 watt generator would struggle since they are not built to run that close to maximum for extended periods. Plus some of the generator power is going to your battery charger and other loads, so it would be easy to exceed 2000 watts. I would not want to run it on less than a 3000 watt generator. I say this because it is common for boondockers to get a Honda 2000 or similar generator, but they are not trying to run a microwave, Breville or hair dryer. We have a 7500 watt diesel generator.

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Mike and Bill -- thank you both. Although I don't think the following would change your reply, but we would likely have a 5500 or 6500 propane driven built in generator. Although we currently own a Honda 2000, we believe that we may want the convience and power of a built in generator in our future 5th wheel ... at the very least, it sounds like the Honda 2000 would definetly not meet the power needs of the Breville.

Bill -- thanks for the added info about the Breville. Sounds like it meets your and Diane's baking needs.

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

Running the breville off the 2000 watt honda can be done as long as other high wattage units are not being used......example...coffee maker in the morning and using the brevelle at the same time......

you have to remember you have what is called ghosting in the electrical circuits within the coach when you plug the generator in

inverter/ charger
tv & components
clock radios
phone chargers/computers

so they will take up power on there own ......the onboard generator is nice there are times durring travel that being able to cool the coach down or pull over and have lunch it is nice and also when you really need the power for electric heat and being in bad weather to run the whole coach

the smaller generator is great for rapid battery charging and getting am and pm things done using less fuel

It will all boil down to what your needs call for and how you travel

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Lyn,

Jo and I do have a Honda EU3000IS generator, so there would be no problem using the convection oven instead of the LP oven. However, Jo has two items that she does in cooking that requires the oven to be on for a long period of time. In the past, when she does beans, they are on overnight on a low heat and when she does a roast, it cooks for a long time as well. While I can't say a lot of how "good" the beans are after cooking all night, I can say that when she does a long roast process, the meat is so tender it just peels off with a fork. Now, in honesty, we've not had either very much since we moved into our RV, but I can say that her roasts now don't just peel off. I have to use a knife because she didn't use the LP oven..

Terry

-- Edited by Terry and Jo on Monday 4th of February 2013 08:15:48 AM

Cindy T · RV-Dreams Family Member

Our Mobile Suites came without a propane oven. I really like having the storage drawers where the oven would be. Using the convection/microwave took some getting used to, but now I do pretty well with it. I also purchased a Breville oven & I love it. It makes great toast & broils really well too.

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

our 5th wheel had both and the LP oven was a real pain to light the pilot, took both of us to do it! We ended up using the convection oven almost exclusively. Our current MH has an LP cook top and convection/micro so we have no choice but do not miss the LP oven at all. When we want to broil, I mostly use the outside grille but our convection has a broil setting too and does a decent job on steaks etc.
As far as boondocking, I fire up the generator if we need to use the micro. Works for us.

Phil

Linda · Hostess

Hi Lyn,

I speak from lack of experience. I have never had a convection oven, so I prefer a propane oven. For some reason my propane oven is a really good one. So many people complain about theirs not baking evenly, but mine has never given me any proplems.

I'm sure if I only had a convection oven I would get the hang of it.

As far as the storage I could gain without a propane oven, well I really don't need more storage so I would choose a dishwasher for that space. biggrin

So many of the things I bake take about an hour. So that would roughly be 30 minutes in the convection. So if I was boondocking, I would have to run the generator for that time period. I could surely do that, but would prefer not to because of the noise.

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

Linda,

so your telling us that the generator makes more of a racket than Howard dancing from one foot to the other waiting for the ??? to come out of the oven? biggrin biggrin

Phil

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

I never used the oven very much when working and traveling. Since I have been parked with not much to do it gets a lot more use. I light it with a flexible tubed butane lighter used to start a charcoal grill.

Lynn and Ed · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thank you all, great info and insights ... very much appreciated!

Although I run the risk of Howard not replying to any of my future questions ... Linda, you do have a dishwasher, you just need to motive him biggrin . In all seriousness, we will have a dishwasher in our future 5th wheel -- we regularly cook, so the space usage make sense for us (and per a related post from Jake, the water usage sounds like it can actually be lower than hand washing).