Traveling with Propane on

Where are the thousands of posts/reports of fires at gas stations from leaving fridge on while refuelling? Does anyone even know somebody this has happened to? Not an issue.

My routine:

When I take the trailer to the storage yard after a trip, I turn off the fridge and open the fridge/freezer doors for defunkification. I also check the bottom of both sides of the freezer because I'm taller than my wife and she's the one who usually empties it. I only found food in there once, but once was enough.

When I pick the trailer up for the next trip, I close the funkless doors and turn on the fridge so it can begin cooling ASAP. It should be cool enough in an hour or so to start filling it with food. I try to add the ice bags at the very last minute because I want the freezer as cold as possible before I add the ice.

My fridge stays lit through the entire trip unless I have to remove the LP tanks to go refill them.

I don't run with scissors, but I walk pretty quickly. It's a risk/benefit analysis thing.

Always have and always will. I go to diesel only pumps and leave it running while refueling then pull away and shut it down if taking a break or just get back on the road.

Is it the sparks from a vehicles starter motor which are contained or the alternator that supposedly make things dangers at gas stations? I remember years ago on a jobsite someone augered though a gas main and after the repairs were made they put a gas sniffing meter under all our fenders before allowing us to start our vehicles.

At one time, several fridge models were equipped with a timer that automatically shut off the burner for approx. half an hour after the vehicle engine was shut off.

Burner operation was restored as soon as the vehicle engine was restarted, or after the timeout period had expired (on the assumption that the RV was parked for some reason other than a fuel-up).

There was also a product available on the aftermarket ("FlaimOut") that did the same thing - It could be retrofitted to most 2- or 3-way fridges with electronic burner ignition.

The biggest downside with this scheme is that it requires a dedicated connection between the fridge and vehicle's engine ignition switch - which could be particularly unwieldy on towed RVs that don't have any spare pins available on the hitch electrical connector to pass this signal between the TV and trailer.

IDman wrote:
Yes, we always ran with LP on UNTIL we stopped for fuel. I would pull over before we got to the station and turn it off at the cylinder. After fueling, I would pull out of the station, or at least away from the fuel pumps, and turn it back on. Then I would enter the TT to make sure the frig was lit again.

Safety first!!

Wait a minute... If all you do is turn off the valve at the cylinder, isn't the fridge still on and the igniter is now trying to light and 'sparking' until it shuts itself off? Now, leaving your fridge in a "check" state and even if you turn the cylinder valve back on, the fridge is not going to just lite itself again, is it??

Maybe I missed something in your statement?

If I were to turn mine off (which I don't do) unless the trailer is going to sit out of level for a period of time while on the road, I turn it off on the panel, but leave the valves alone.

Only time I've ever had to turn the fridge and the valves off was on a ferry..

Anyway, to the OP.. There are literally "thousands" of posts on this topic and you are either in the 'camp' of "I leave it on", or "I never run with it on"... There are the ones that shut down while fueling, and that's fine..

In the end, it's just your own "risk/reward" kind of thing.. :)

Do whatever makes you feel comfortable as you go down the road, as there are a million other things to worry about when in transit!!

Good luck! Mitch

Surgtech94 wrote:
One last question, at home do you start off with the fridge on electric and then switch to propane when you leave ? Or just start off with the propane at home before you leave? Thank you

I always have mine on auto when at home and plugged in which has it running on electric,then when I leave it switches to propane and I keep it on for the trip.

If yours doesn't have that feature I would start on electric then switch to propane,thus saving propane for later.

ONLY time I have ever turned my propane off was on a Ferry.

Best to turn off propane for a gas rig at a fuel station due to volatility of gas.

But there are thouslands of posts on this subject... :h

Fridge, furnace, water heater is all on if needed. Fridge is aways needed. Never left the stove on while in motion although if it was a MH I would not hesitate to use it if needed.

Conveniently the fuel port is not close to any of the propane items so all can run continuous.

I didn't travel with refrig on LP for years. Then, once I started doing it, I was fine. I do turn off the refrigerator and LP before I put fuel in. Then, pull away from the pumps and start it all back up.

I usually cooled it down 24 hours prior to leaving (before full-timing) with either electric or LP, whichever was available.