Towing with Propane on

dewhit wrote:
I tow with my fridge on never had any problems.
By the way Welcome and there are know dumb questions.

X2, but it's personal preference. Some turn it off.

Go it the blue bar on top of the page and click on "RVing FAQ."

Scroll down to section 19, which is devoted to this very question.

There is more information there than you could possibly want.

Personaly I dont understand why the industry still using these fire breathing absorbsion fridges, In my mind their day has come and gone.
I have never lost any food within a 6-hour drive by just using ice packs. but since then I have removed the absorbsion fridge and installed a residential fridge with a 1000 watt inverter, Finaly ice cream that stays cold.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
If I couldn't safely operate fridge on propane while traveling I dang sure don't want to be sleeping inside rig with fridge on

Yes it is safe to travel with propane valved in service and fridge operating on propane..same with water heater, furnace etc.

Safety features (2) in the ACME nut (Green nut) on hose you connect to propane cylinder will shutoff all propane flow if a line/fitting should break.
1 safety feature is an excess flow valve....ball bearing that floats inside ACME nut. When you first valve in a cylinder it moves towards 'close' until downstream line pressure builds and equalizes then it moves to center.
If a line/fitting broke downstream.....ball bearing would slam shut due to the excess flow.
2nd safety feature is a thermal bushing in the ACME nut. It will melt in high temps. Should it melt the spring activated valve in the cylinder will close.
(Open the valve on a propane cylinder that doesn't have a hose attached and no propane will flow......because of the spring loaded valve

So YES!

Thank you for this. I'm always torn about shutting it off or leaving it on, only due to a wreck. Also I imagine a tiny leak (for example when you turn on the stove the gas wont shut off) that fills the trailer while driving then the whole thing eventually explodes.

Understand the process, then make your own decision.
1. Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and so tend to settle to the ground.
2. Most refrigerator vents are 3’ - 4’ off the ground.
3. Most gas stations have vapor recovery fuel nozzles on their pumps to prevent the escape of gasoline vapors.
4. Most all cars and trucks built since 2006 have internal vapor recovery systems for the same purpose.
(3. & 4. is why you rarely smell any significant gasoline odors at a fueling station any more.)
5. For gasoline vapors to ignite, the vapors in the air must reach a level above the lower explosive limit (LEL) to support combustion. LEL is defined as “The lowest concentration (percentage) of a gas or a vapor in air capable of producing a flash of fire in presence of an ignition source”.
6. There would have to be enough gas vapors emitted from a nearby nozzle to travel thru the air across the distance from that nozzle to a refrigerator vent, enter that vent, and contact the flame or spark. Meaning the wind would have to be just right and the fuel concentration would have to remain high enough to maintain the LEL across that distance.

If it were a gas motor home with the fueling tube near the refrigerator vent I would be a little more concerned about it.

Diesel does not produce the same explosive vapors that gasoline does. You can pour diesel fuel on any fuel source such as wood, paper, etc. Then you can put a match close to it and it will not ignite. You can move the match close enough so that the flame touches the diesel and it will ignite at about the same rate that charcoal lighter fluid will ignite. It does not flash.

or fill up downwind???

Depends with me. With a motorhome, in the Texas summer, I run the overhead A/C + generator anyway, so the fridge goes onto 120VAC with the gas shut off.

With my TT, I usually have enough frozen gel packs in both compartments that I can turn the fridge off by the switch and at the propane bottles.

This doesn't mean it is unsafe to run with the propane on, it is just something I don't need to do since I'm not on the road that long.

It's not the propane that's the issue. It is the spark igniter. So if pulling in for gas go in and turn the fridge off this will turn the spark ignition off and you can fill up.

Now the second part is fuel vapor is heavy so it will be at ground level so if you think about it you should be fine and also you are at a gas bar which is a fully open area with lots of wind moving air so gas vapour should be dispersed with no real issue.

If you are really worried about a spark fire then when you pull into a gas station you should roll in without your vehical running and push your vehical back out to a safe spot after. Think hard about all things in your vehical that have spark things like spark plug coils,starter motor that's mounted under a vehicle,heater blower motor,power window motor,static electricity. As you see lots of things that also spark that could cause a spark ignited fire. But yet we are not all blowing up.

I did a big road trip last year and yes filled up with the fridge running but if I remembered I would shut off the fridge. And when on a ferry they shut off the gas to contain the propane if a fire was to happen. But trust me I seen a cabin burn and watched 3 100 pound propane bottles vent off and even though the bottle does not explode the venting sends off a big ass flame. That's why they have the new propane bottles that if there is a pressure differance they will shut down.

I hope this helps you and maybe all the professionals here will take note that running with propane on will be fine and propane does not start a gas station fire it's the ignition from the fridge that could cause this.

patperry2766 wrote:
so, if I turn it off, and the fridge is set on auto, it will start using the battery. Then, when I turn the propane back on, the fridge should automatically default back to propane?

If you are going to turn it off, go inside and slide the fridge control to off. Then turn off the tank if you want, or need to do so.

If you only turn off the gas, the fridge will continue to run till the propane clears the lines. Then it will continue to spark the igniter if it wants to relight itself until it locks itself out after I think three tries.

Then, when you want to restart, turn the gas on first. Then you will probably want to light a burner on your stovetop to get gas back into the lines. Then set your fridge from off to auto, or gas as needed.

Personally. I just never seem to remember to turn it off. No doubt it's probably safer to do it when gassing. But as others have stated. It's actually pretty hard to blow yourself up at a gas station with only a fridge on.

I think back decades ago when hordes of people smoked while filling their tank, including my father, with us I the car. No, he's no idiot. In that day and age people just didn't think twice about it. I also wonder how the glowing red catalytic converter under my truck always seems to fail to cause me to explode.

Do what you think is best. Safe is good. I won't argue with that.

patperry2766 wrote:
so, if I turn it off, and the fridge is set on auto, it will start using the battery. Then, when I turn the propane back on, the fridge should automatically default back to propane?

No, not unless you have a 3-way fridge. Typically 'Auto' allows the fridge to go to ac power if the rv is plugged into 110v and to propane if the ac power is cut-off.

Personally I run on Auto all the time and leave the propane on while traveling.