Fridge in LP Mode While in Transit

[Glenritas]

With our past T.V. we ran with propane and shut it off when fueling.

With our Tundra we run on 12 volt when traveling and it work better

Second post due to data base error

[TerraYacht]

Two issues: risk assessment and liability.

I agree there is little risk of the propane flame igniting a small amount of gas vapor if everything is working right, will never get to LEL. however, given a hot day, hot pavement and a spill, and my fill spot is very close to the fridge vent, and the hazard becomes more "real," and liability soars.

Most of the time I just turn off the fridge when I exit the moho and turn it back on when I am done filling. I have even pulled up the island and filled my moho and toad in the same stop and don't want the unlikely spillage to cause a bad day.

[sparkymark]

I have a diesel so I don't worry about it!


Ford F-350 crew cab 4X4 diesel, 25' Jack Bauer edition AS

[aftermath]

Originally Posted by chaseav

Maybe rather than discussing the odds of ignition happening or what the best practices are, we should discuss the legality of it. Smoking by the pump is illegal, I assume carrying a misdemeanor criminal charge and couple thousand dollar fine. Is having an open flame like this also illegal? The government will protect us after all! (Sarcasm font on)

Smoking is illegal because people have a tendency of tossing a lit butt on the ground, right where the gasoline fumes are concentrated. For those who want/like to turn off the gas because they feel better doing so, I say go for it. There is nothing wrong with doing this, especially if it makes you feel safer. I am not sure about "laws" to do so. In Oregon they say that you have to turn off the fridge before refueling but I don't know of the penalties if you don't do so.

Reality says that you don't have to do this. Why would a company like Airstream and Dometic tell you to leave the fridge running while on the road if it were unsafe? The gas station thing is different so each of us needs to do what we feel most comfortable doing. Me?, well mine is on all the time. If it were an issue you would hear about an explosion at a gas station or a trailer burning to the ground while in transit, but you don't. I have posted this before, show me one, just one case where this has happened and I might change my mind. The best someone could do was to post a story about a motor home on the side of the road engulfed in flames. When the research was done, it was caused by a faulty carburetor, not a fridge running.

I am not aware of any Airstream that turns off the flame when you turn off the ignition switch. If this is true, how would you boondock? Get to the country, back trailer in and turn off the ignition. Your fridge would then go off (?) and then where would you be?

Again, to each his own.

[switz]

Since the fuel neck on the truck is on the same side as the Airstream refrigerator and the rig is 52 feet long, if I pull up to the front pump, the refrigerator could be about even with the second pump. That could be cause for concern if someone on the other side starts to pump gasoline.

Out of curiosity , I wonder if this ethanol additive, especially in E15 where there is 15% ethanol, poses more of a fire hazard than just plain gasoline? I thought alcohol fumes were lighter than gasoline fumes and thus could rise to the vicinity of a flame in the refrigerator compartment.

[chaseav]

Originally Posted by aftermath

Why would a company like Airstream and Dometic tell you to leave the fridge running while on the road if it were unsafe?

Well, it's not that it's unsafe all the time, just when refueling. Certainly because "they" say it's okay is not conclusive evidence that it is. Come on man, you're from Oregon! 😜

Originally Posted by aftermath

I am not aware of any Airstream that turns off the flame when you turn off the ignition switch. If this is true, how would you boondock? Get to the country, back trailer in and turn off the ignition. Your fridge would then go off (?) and then where would you be?

This is a really good point. How could the system tell the difference between a shutdown at a gas station and a shutdown everywhere else? It couldn't. I swear it says that in the manual though. You just have to be running in AUTO mode, not in LP mode which is how I always make the switch to propane before disconnecting from 30 amp.

[idroba]

Originally Posted by chaseav

This is a really good point. How could the system tell the difference between a shutdown at a gas station and a shutdown everywhere else? It couldn't. I swear it says that in the manual though. You just have to be running in AUTO mode, not in LP mode which is how I always make the switch to propane before disconnecting from 30 amp.

When I had my '83, 310 Motorhome it had one of Dometic's first Automatic Energy Selector refrigerators. It could work on Propane, 120 volt electric, or 12 volt electric.

The logic sequence was this: If 120 volt electric was available, it would switch to 120 volt. If the engine was running, a pair of sensor wires determined that (like the radio on when the engine is on) and it would switch to 12 volt power. That 30 amp 12 volt power was via a separate circuit from the engine battery, and turned on via a relay. If neither 120 volts or 12 volts from the ignition switch were available it would switch to propane and automatic ignition.

Now, the kicker was this: The propane would not turn on for 30 minutes after the 12 volt power from the engine ignition switch was turned off. This was so the propane would not come on immediately after the engine was shut down, and assumed you were getting gasoline. After 30 minutes, the propane would automatically ignite.

It was a stupid system, honest. This is what happened in reality. Lets say you started out in the morning with a nice cold refrigerator, from either being plugged in at a campground or running on propane, as in boondocking. The refrigerator would switch to 12 volt power, but the maintenance heat of a 12 volt heating element is really not up to a good cooling job, especially on a hot day. You drive say, an hour and see a nice rest area and pull over to get coffee, or whatever, and shut the engine off. The refrigerator will not switch to propane for 30 minutes, remember. So you stay 25 minutes and go on. The 12 volt power element comes back on, but it is not very powerful. Another hour goes by and you stop to get gasoline. The refrigerator again shuts off for 30 minutes. You start again and in half an hour see a nice place to stop for lunch. The refrigerator shuts off again for half an hour.

Bottom line, the refrigerator was off most of the day, and when on, only had the minimal 12 volt power heating element to power the cooling. At the end of the day the ice cream was melting, the box was warm and you didn't know why.

My solution: disconnect the engine running 12 volt sensor wires so the thing would never go into 12 volt mode and the propane could work all day while traveling. Nice hard ice cream at the end of the day, nice cold beer too.

You can see which camp I am in, leave the propane on to do a good job of cooling all day, even when at a gasoline station.