running refer on propane in a closed garage.

It's my understanding that when an amonia fridge is run using electricity (to heat an elemenat that the gas normal heats) that eats a lot more power, essentially like a small space heater, compared to a dedicated electric compressor fridge.

Wouldn't it be more cost effective to purchase a small/hotel/apartment size electric/compressor fridge, and just move everything over to that when you put the RV in storage. That way you save propane and energy by using a more effecient fridge during non use of the RV.

I'd just leave my off, and the doors open when not traveling.

I know it got off track in the thread about running in it a garage, so long as you have plenty/several CO alarms that you trust and you know it's a danger, it's your choice.

thomasmnile wrote:
My question is how well the fridge would cool running in an enclosed garage in Northwest Arizona where it's not exactly winter, regardless what energy source it's operating on. Seems like heat dissipation would be an issue........

Assuming it will be a few degrees cooler, in the Shade of the garage..it will cool better, than in direct Sun, outside..

Non issue, in my opinion. Crack a window if you're worried about it.

It's not like you're running a gasoline or diesel generator, either one of which will quickly produce enough carbon monoxide to fill the room to lethal levels. Not so with propane- little if any CO production; and the threat of oxygen depletion in an unoccupied space that size is vanishingly small, especially since all you're doing is running the fridge.

In summary:
- Probably not an issue.
- If you have a faulty fridge, it could be.
- Electricity is presumably already available and while not "free" it is much cheaper than gas.

Just plug it in and life is simpler.

My question is how well the fridge would cool running in an enclosed garage in Northwest Arizona where it's not exactly winter, regardless what energy source it's operating on. Seems like heat dissipation would be an issue........

Dick_B wrote:
Electric is basically free and much safer.

Well Good....I will send you my Electric Bill then.:S


If you have a window open in the garage.. it should be enough fresh air .......BUT, to be safe Run it on that "FREE" Elec.:W


And just to clariffy......I see a $10.00 a month jump, when my camper fridge is running on Elec at home . ALL other things being equal.

A few things to point out. When an propane powered appliance is working correctly the primary byproducts are carbon dioxide and water. The same is true for a natural gas appliance. When combustion is incomplete (i.e. a faulty appliance) the byproduct is carbon monoxide and water. If the fridge is in good working order and the garage was completely sealed, the space would fill up with CO2.

It is possible that CO2 could kill you, but it would have to replace almost all of the oxygen available in the air. The air we breathe is around 21% oxygen. For CO2 to become deadly, it would have to replace enough oxygen to lower it to a level of about 8%. That's going to be tough for a small refrigerator that's cycling on and off. In a typical attached garage there's plenty of places for fresh oxygen intrusion through the garage door alone. The bottom plate, jamb, and the space between sections all leak air constantly. Take a smoke pencil around the door and it's not hard to see. Carbon monoxide works differently. Low concentrations are enough to prevent your body from accepting oxygen.

Also, building codes vary for location to location, but it's my understanding that at a minimum most building codes outline requirements for a separation of the attached garage and the habitable space via a contiguous firebreak. You normally see this in the form of a drywalled garage and fire rated doors. Since the firebreaks can have no gaps, it has the benefit of keeping gasses contained in the garage. I've seen some building codes in Canada that go as far as actually requiring the prevention of gas/fume intrusion into the living space via vapor barriers.

As long as the fridge is in good working order, I don't see this being very dangerous.

Golden_HVAC wrote:

Farm Camp wrote:
Yah, it might be. The burning of propane will take oxygen from the space and produces carbon monoxide.

I would not run (edit: on gas) in a closed space with no ventilation.

Really?

So do you ever use a gas stove inside a home?

The stove burners are up to 12,000 Btu's each, while the oven is 30,000 Btu's in a house. Compare this to the 2,200 Btu's that a refrigerator uses in a hour, it would take 6 hours to equal one hour of boiling water on the stove at home.

The garage is well enough ventilated to give it sufficient fresh air to allow running the refrigerator overnight. You did mention the open door while you are going in and out of the garage, so you will be fine.

Now if you hear the CO meter going off when you get out there, I would not suggest taking a nap on the couch, but get out and let it vent a while. The CO meter is there for your protection, and if it is not going off, then you are perfectly safe.

Fred.

First off: I agree with you.

Secondly: I would NOT ever run a gas stove inside my house without a range hood fan (exhausted to outdoors) running. I don't like the idea of exhausting products of combustion into an enclosed space even when the calculations verify that there SHOULD be enough fresh air.

Thirdly: We had a horrible situation here in the fall, young boy left in a minivan overnight after the tent camping family arrived late at night. He was asleep in the van, so they left him there. They set-up the tent but left everything else in the minivan overnight. The propane powered cooler produced enough carbon monoxide to kill the young boy. There was no CO detector inside the van of course...

Golden_HVAC wrote:

Farm Camp wrote:
Yah, it might be. The burning of propane will take oxygen from the space and produces carbon monoxide.

I would not run (edit: on gas) in a closed space with no ventilation.

Really?

So do you ever use a gas stove inside a home?

The stove burners are up to 12,000 Btu's each, while the oven is 30,000 Btu's in a house. Compare this to the 2,200 Btu's that a refrigerator uses in a hour, it would take 6 hours to equal one hour of boiling water on the stove at home.

The garage is well enough ventilated to give it sufficient fresh air to allow running the refrigerator overnight. You did mention the open door while you are going in and out of the garage, so you will be fine.

Now if you hear the CO meter going off when you get out there, I would not suggest taking a nap on the couch, but get out and let it vent a while. The CO meter is there for your protection, and if it is not going off, then you are perfectly safe.

Fred.

Yah Fred, really... Normally I have thick skin and just ignore responses like this... But I'm reading this before I've had any coffee. While you make some valid observations about the relative risk involved, why be snarky about it? Just block me if you think I'm an idiot and offer your own insight/opinion.

My grandmother died in a closed garage because of CO in the mid 70s so the subject hit home for me.

The OP asked if it was a concern, and I said "yah it might be", and "I wouldn't do it." I did not have the luxury of knowin that there was a door, windows, whatever, the subject says "Closed Garage".

I also didn't know if the garage is attached to a occupied structure, or not. Burning propane consumes oxygen, and makes carbon monoxide. These are facts.

Flame me however you wish. But I stand by my answer 100%. The OP has electric available and that is much, much, much, safer IMHO.

(Since I am not clairvoyant, I know nothing of the OP's level of awareness, or ability, or tolerance for risk, or how well his garage is vented.)

So now I'm going to go get coffee and feel guilty for replying to this. I guess I'm just as guilty as the next guy of being crabby sometimes.

Golden_HVAC wrote:

Farm Camp wrote:
Yah, it might be. The burning of propane will take oxygen from the space and produces carbon monoxide.

I would not run (edit: on gas) in a closed space with no ventilation.

Really?

So do you ever use a gas stove inside a home?

The stove burners are up to 12,000 Btu's each, while the oven is 30,000 Btu's in a house. Compare this to the 2,200 Btu's that a refrigerator uses in a hour, it would take 6 hours to equal one hour of boiling water on the stove at home.

The garage is well enough ventilated to give it sufficient fresh air to allow running the refrigerator overnight. You did mention the open door while you are going in and out of the garage, so you will be fine.

Now if you hear the CO meter going off when you get out there, I would not suggest taking a nap on the couch, but get out and let it vent a while. The CO meter is there for your protection, and if it is not going off, then you are perfectly safe.

Fred.

My home is quite a bit bigger than my garage, it also has combustion air designed into the mechanical systems.

Why is that the owners manual tells you to open a window when the oven is in use. I would guess that would be to allow oxygen in to replace that which is consumed by the oven/cooktop.