Propane Tanks while towing

[BayouBiker]

Thanks for the correction Torch. I looked again and see that the statute has an exception for refrigerators containing perishables. My mistake.

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by bspirito

I recently purchased a Flying Cloud 26 U. The previous owner said he always left the tanks open while towing to power the refrigerator. I saw an instructional video saying the tanks should always be off while driving. Apparently even a law is some states.
Does anyone have advice on the best practice?


Thank you,

I also have a 26U. I never turn off the tanks. I'm not claiming I'm right, but it works fine for me.

[cinesilver]

I love my Dometic fridge that automatically turns to battery while towing. Propane scares me enough that since I never boondock, I’m considering just turning everything in my Airstream to electric...anyone else do this?

[RivetED]

Originally Posted by OldDogGone

Why not run fridge on battery setting while driving? (my 22FB Bambi fridge has setting for propane, battery and 120; don't most?

I don't know of many 3-way refers Airstream has used over the years.

[banderabob]

Originally Posted by Hans627

When on the road I run the refrigerator on propane. So thus one tank is open.

I do the same.

[Rick n Mary]

My response is close the tanks, keep them off.
My reasons are multiple,
1. If a stone or debris hits any exposed lines, no propane!
2. If you are involved in an accident, a line is cut, BIG trouble!
Fire? Leaking propane and an oder? BIG trouble when the police and or fire department show up.
3. Spot DOT inspection? because we are not commercial, this will be rare. I was a commercial driver, my colleagues have reported MAJOR fines for other safety issues, I would hate to think what this would be.
4. I read that others on the forums have reported the pilot light for the refrigerator has gone out leaving you with warm food and lose of propane.
IMHO turn it off leave it off until you get to your destination. I have installed a fan to move air past the fridge coils to help cool ..... ice takes several hours, but food cools quickly.
My answer is freeze what you can before you start your trip, put what you can in freezer section the rest in a cooler.
I have a tendency to live on the safe side and be pessimistic about everything.
Travel safe and stay healthy! Rick

[suncoasteng]

I always run fridge with one bottle off. In fact, after pre-departure use of 120V to get RV fridge pre-cooled, I switch to Gas and leave it there for the duration of our trip, sometimes for several months. Murphys Law can bite you if you use Auto position. And for those nervous about driving with tanks on - consider this. Many cities now have garbage trucks fueled with 1,000 psi CNG tanks...and worse yet busses filled with people also fueled with CNG!!

[ekbruster]

I always keep one open on the road, for over 10 years without any issues, unless in a restricted area (e.g. tunnels). You'll even find if you read your Airstream manual (at least in my 2018 FC) leaving the furnace on to prevent pipe freeze when traveling in sub-freezing temps! I've never tried this, and probably wouldn't, but always leave it on for the refrigerator as we're usually traveling more than 4+ hours away from home when we go.

[Goin camping]

Like the OP I live in a hot area.

If I didn't leave one bottle on and run the fridge off propane. All my food would get warm and go bad.

[kidjedi]

Originally Posted by suncoasteng

And for those nervous about driving with tanks on - consider this. Many cities now have garbage trucks fueled with 1,000 psi CNG tanks...and worse yet busses filled with people also fueled with CNG!!

The propane isn't the danger [edit: it *is* a danger, but not the *primary* one]. The pilot light (open flame) or a leaking line on a vehicle that's not required to be inspected in a regular basis is. A city bus or garbage truck doesn't have an *open flame* that might ignite when fuel vapors are present at a fueling station.

Remember what your mother told you: just because "everybody does it" doesn't mean it's ok.

Best practice is to either run on electric while driving or treat your fridge like a cooler and use ice packs while rolling. Second best practice is run on propane, but be diligent about turning of tanks when fueling or where otherwise posted.

Note: there are posts in this thread saying things like "I seem to remember driving through places where there were signs saying propane was prohibited." If you have your tanks on and there are signs saying they shouldn't be, you'll be much less likely to subject yourself to the inconvenience of stopping and turning them off vs. simply not having them in in the first place.

Have people been driving with their propane on as long as Airstreams have been running refers on propane? Yes. Does it only take *one* instance for really bad things to happen? Also yes.

But the choice is yours.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

Personal choice. A wide majority of people travel with their refrigerator running on propane. A smaller number do not. The only time I have shut my tanks off was when it was posted at tunnel entrances and on ferries. I am not aware of any state that ban propane use on the road.

^
Yep...
Plus I hate warm Honey Brown Lager

Bob
🇺🇸

[Daquenzer]

Run with one bottle turned on. Regularly check to see if Fridge is on at stops. Not had any problem so far.\

It is nice that AS finally put a 3rd way to operate fridge without the LP. But I can say that if on hot days I didn’t have it running it would get pretty warm. Also the refrigerators don’t cool quickly.

Some put all their food in a separate cooler. But that’s just one more thing to carry.

[HoldenGatt]

I'm curious, everyone who has said they leave their propane tank open while traveling have newer AS. Any vintage owners do the same?

[dcasr]

Originally Posted by bspirito

I recently purchased a Flying Cloud 26 U. The previous owner said he always left the tanks open while towing to power the refrigerator. I saw an instructional video saying the tanks should always be off while driving. Apparently even a law is some states.
Does anyone have advice on the best practice?
Thank you,

_________________

I've towed trailers since summer of 1971, always with one propane bottle on and the frig lit. My 1971 had a manual frig lighting mechanism and it was on the street side of the trailer. It did tend to have pilot light blow out if a semi passed too close too fast. Because it was on the fuel island side in warm to hot weather I did turn off the bottle while gassing up, then relit the frig away from the pump.

Now I've had a 1990 since 2009 with a curb side frig that I replaced about 2012. It is a piezo light which is great, it is on curb side so semis don't blow it out, and it is away from the fuel pumps at the fueling islands. At present my TV is diesel.

An issue of course is in a catastrophic accident where you are jackknifed, overturned, smashed into, etc. the propane line will most likely be ruptured and some propane will escape. By the grace of God in 50 years of trailering I haven't had that happen, but of course it could, and has for some. It comes down to, except where the law is specific, what are you comfortable with? If your frig is on street side near gasoline pumps, in Phoenix, in the summer, you might want to shut it off while refueling, as gasoline fumes will be floating around. You asked the question and the Air Forums will definitely give you lots of answers.
See you down the road.

[John & Roberta]

Had another thought on this. I’m seeing more and more Dry Ice for sale in grocery stores. Maybe fill a small WOOD box with dry ice and place, with lid off, on lowest shelf of refrigerator for drives lasting over three hours . . .

[mikapen]

Originally Posted by dcasr

_________________
.........
An issue of course is in a catastrophic accident where you are jackknifed, overturned, smashed into, etc. the propane line will most likely be ruptured and some propane will escape. By the grace of God in 50 years of trailering I haven't had that happen, but of course it could, and has for some......

Since OPD tanks were introduced (2003), there is a "fast flow" mechanism in the valve that will shut off flow if a line ruptures.

Also Acme lines and couplers have this feature. It's no longer a problem.

[Atwebs]

Our Airstream and our last trailer both have 3 way fuel systems for the refrigerator. So, while we travel we use batteries, then switch to gas once we are set up. We also used frozen water bottles to keep things cold while we are moving long before we had the 3 way refrigerators -when we just had gas.

You only need to see one trailer aflame to decide it might not be too smart to travel with the gas on. The one we saw was actually a stove that caused the fire, but if the gas hadn't been turned on the thing wouldn't have burned the trailer down while they were driving down the highway!

[Sailorguy]

Here are our thoughts on the topic.
1. We use to drive with the LPG tanks on to cool the Refrigerator, then we woke up one day and realized the dangers involved in doing this. Imagine, your Refrigerator is running on Propane, the Pilot Light is burning bright, and you pull into a Gas Station to fill up! Do you see anything that could go wrong with practice? It's like smoking while you Fill-Up the Gas tank!
2. As you know there is no Crash Protection Gage (like LPG Fuelled Trucks/Cars have) surrounding the LPG tanks on the front of any Trailer, they are sitting Ducks waiting for an accident, don't invite a problem by having them OPEN and an open Flame on!
3. I don't see a "Down Side" to using Electric to run the Refrigerator on the battery Mode while driving down the road.
4. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the AS factory and see them building a European AS, you will notice that they Do Not have a provision to mount Propane Tanks mounted on them. from what I understand this is for two reasons. 1. Less weight, better vehicle fuel mileage. 2. Safety!!!
They use a unique system, they simply use quick disconnects fittings and plug into the Camp Ground's LPG system just like we would Plug into their Electrical system. BTW, they also use Hot Water Heat, no furnace.

[MandN]

Originally Posted by DCPAS

Most of us do not have fridge's that will run on just 12v.

That’s true, our 25fb FC is either 120ac or propane, so I did a great one plug rewire that put the fridge on the inverter circuit (and the rest of the shore power plugs as as a bonus). Now when we drive, solar and lithium power the fridge, propane is off. If interested, search under our name there should be a post about it with a link to a how-to video.

pS before this, like many others we drove with propane powering the fridge. The reason it’s is not officially sanctioned is due to the increased risk it poses in case of an accident: broken propane line + spark = flame thrower.

Found the link

https://www.airforums.com/forums/f37...ay-213619.html

[dmatzinger]

Originally Posted by Rusty B

I tow with bottles off and refrig off
Have read that there can be an issue with the flame being blown out during towing.
whenever we stop for the night or a layover I open the tanks and start the fridge
the fridge has never warmed sufficiently to spoil food -- this even includes a recent trip where I did a 13 hour 650+ mile push on the way home -- normally we try to limit our legs to 3-4 hours of drive time -- fridge will not warm noticeably in that time.
One other thing I did this trip that helped -- I had a 1/2 gallon milk carton filled with water and frozen (prior to trip) that I kept in the freezer compartment -- it helped to maintain the cold when fridge off, and gets refrozen when the fridge is turned on.

We follow pretty much the same procedure. We load up the top freezer of our small refrigerator with as many Yeti blue ice packs as we can fit. With the rest of the food pre-chilled, this keeps everything cold for us for typical drives. At night propane or electricity allows the ice packs to freeze again. It's basically an old-fashioned icebox during travels.