Inverter usage while underway

Gene_M wrote:
So, I'll ask the questions to all that drive with propane on . . .
do you also smoke while refilling?
turn the engine off while refilling?
leave your pilot lights on while refueling?
Turn off the propane for travel through a tunnel?

I didn't mean for this to be such an adversarial debate, I was just fact finding for installation of a power inverter.

A seemingly innocuous topic, who would have thought it would become a knock down drag out over propane?

Well, at the risk of getting further involved in something I'll regret, I'll put up my answers.

I do not smoke, whether refueling or not. However, If I were a smoker, I would not smoke while refueling, if only because it's against the law in most if not all states.

I do turn the engine off when refueling; again, in most if not all states that's a legal requirement, and it serves no purpose to leave the engine running. With a motorhome, that can be a good little while to idle. Likewise I shut off the generator.

I do turn off my propane appliances when refueling, as the law requires that open flames be extinguished. The only one I happen to have with a genuine pilot light is the oven, but that's an unimportant question of semantics. (I must admit that occasionally out of forgetfulness I have failed to turn of the fridge when refueling, but that's completely an unintentional omission.)

If a tunnel or ferry requires that propane be shut off, I shut it off. Not all tunnels have that requirement. Many of the larger tunnels I'm likely to want to go through (Boston's big dig, for example) prohibit propane altogether, turned off or otherwise, so in those cases it's a moot point: I must have to choose a different route.

But for me, having the propane on and the fridge (or water heater or furnace or possibly even oven) operating while underway is not something I get too concerned about. You are certainly free to choose otherwise, and set up an inverter to operate your fridge while driving, and that's perfectly all right. I may not think it's the best all-around way to do things, but there's nothing wrong with it, and it can be made to work out just fine.

If running the fridge mainly on AC power, it might be well worth your while to install a residential fridge. The AC power consumption is much lower, and the recovery after being opened is quicker. The primary advantage that an RV absorption fridge has is the ability to run on propane rather than electric power when the latter is not plentiful.