Do you drive with your propane on?
In the 30 some odd years I've been camping in truck campers and a motor home I have always driven with the propane on to run the fridge. All these years I had never concidered this might be dangerous ...
Forum Discussion
Some people watch too many movies and just don't have an understanding of the science behind making a "big boom."
You need the exact right mixture of fuel and air to make a boom. The science is called stoichiometry. Not enough, or too much fuel, and no boom.
Then there's common sense. First off there are multiple failsafes in place to prevent booms, the most important of which is the thermocouple which shuts off flow of gas when there's no pilot flame to indicate that the gas is being burned. Even if the thermocouple fails, there are "drains" (vents at the lowest points in the compartments) in the compartments which allow the heavier-than-air propane to flow out where it is carried harmlessly away by the wind.
Can the failsafes be defeated? Sure, but that goes under the "stupid people doing stupid things" category, and you just can't prevent that. Heck the mythbusters shot propane tanks with bullets and could not make them explode without resorting to extreme, deliberate measures that are so unlikely to occur naturally in everyday life, that you could almost say they'd never happen.
I don't run with my water heater lit but my fridge gets lit the minute the camper sees the light of day.
You need the exact right mixture of fuel and air to make a boom. The science is called stoichiometry. Not enough, or too much fuel, and no boom.
Then there's common sense. First off there are multiple failsafes in place to prevent booms, the most important of which is the thermocouple which shuts off flow of gas when there's no pilot flame to indicate that the gas is being burned. Even if the thermocouple fails, there are "drains" (vents at the lowest points in the compartments) in the compartments which allow the heavier-than-air propane to flow out where it is carried harmlessly away by the wind.
Can the failsafes be defeated? Sure, but that goes under the "stupid people doing stupid things" category, and you just can't prevent that. Heck the mythbusters shot propane tanks with bullets and could not make them explode without resorting to extreme, deliberate measures that are so unlikely to occur naturally in everyday life, that you could almost say they'd never happen.
I don't run with my water heater lit but my fridge gets lit the minute the camper sees the light of day.
