Quote: Originally posted by Bernie47 on 10/5/2009
Gas is more reliable. The EHU is liable to trip if one of your neighbours plugs in a heater or other high load item and you may have to wait hours, or even until the next morning, for it to be reset. Electric is convenient but should not be relied upon as your prime source of power.
That's a good point, Bernie, there are some sites (usually event sites) where even if power is available we run the fridge on gas as there is too much risk of the electric going off.
Like most other campers on here we use both, gas for cooking and EHU for heating, but often stay on sites where no EHU and then its gas and battery power.
I can manage with gas only since getting the 3 way fridge . I would have insisted on ehu before I had this for anything longer than a weekend just for the fridge tbh.
Ehu is easier, boiling the kettle faster , fridge, fan heater if its cold, but no way essential if you are a spring /summer camper like me. I can manage without a heater, if it was really cold I would run the suitcase cooker for a few minutes just to take the chill off, but never had to yet .
We don't take tv , computer games dvd players or anything else that needs electric when we have a weeks camp at whitsun on a non ehu site. .
Both. We use gas for things like cooking, including the kettle - but when we are in the camper ~EHU is nice to do things like use the slowcooker, and charge things like the DSs up. OK the kids are not allowed to play with them all the time - but boy was I glad of them on Saturday afternoon. Torrential rain, so we all sat in the camper playing on our DSs - till the sun came out, when the kids were chased out to play. Also handy for early in the morning, when it is too early to go out an play.
Richard has now fixed the lighting in the camper to run off electic.
However, if I go tent camping, I will be all gas/battery power. Things like the DSs can be charged in the car.
We have both for flexibility, But if a site does'nt have ehu then we simply light up the gas light & heater instead.. having ehu is'nt a priority with us really, as long as we like the site/area we are visiting we'll forgo ehu & use gas instead..
Best of both worlds means we don't have to be picky when dictating what amenities we look for on a site too.. each to his own i say about ehu versus gas...
------------- Ashfield Caravan Park. York. 21-28 May
Hoddom Castle. Dumfries. 28May-2 June
Stanwix park cumbria.
The gart caravan site. callander
We use ehu, mainly to run the fridge or heater. Fridge could run off gas and our lighting is gas but for me the prob - girly as it sounds is my hair needs a hairdrier to tame it and as Ive had a couple of bad experiences with washroom driers i.e shooting flames I tend to take my own and run it on a low heat - sounds daft reading it back need ehu for a hairdrier ha!!!
Never felt the need for EHU. For me the whole point of camping is to get away from all the gadgets. We have a coolbox that plugs into the car, gas cooker and gas lamp. It means we can be flexible about where we camp and don't end up against a wall, right by the loos and the site access road like the EHU-users.
EHU for heater (when needed), light, cool box, charging things up (mobiles, rechargeable light etc)and blowing up air beds. Sometimes for the tepenyaki grill if it's needed for that nights dinner or breakfast or George (usually weekend trips)
Gas for cooking and boiling the kettle.
There's plenty of choice for everyone to do whatever they prefer doing.
Quote: Originally posted by Former Scout on 11/5/2009
Does anyone else have that uncomfortable little feeling that this could end up going the same way as some other similar threads?
We have both but use at different times of year. EHU early and late season, for heating purposes mainly but to cook with also. Then gas when its warmer. We do prefer gas simply because its more flexible regarding site availability.
I prefer camping without EHU, like others have said, more pitch availability, I like to go last minute. Being self sufficient feels more like proper camping for me (I know this is not for everyone), though I do like EHU in colder months, just so I can run a fan heater in the tent. Everything else can be run from gas or battery.