Traveling with refrigerator on gas???

I have not been out East much but I have travels all around the South and West. I have yet to see a sign on a tunnel that said to turn off the propane.

I would be interesting in a propane powered vehicle. :)

captnjack, you asked "how many fill caps are close to the fridge?" Not many but this did remind me of a response I got years ago to a similar rant I just made here.

An older gentleman was filling his conversion van at a gas station and had the fridge running. He somehow managed to lose control of the hose as he was removing it from the van and also managed to spray gasoline all over the side of the van and covered the vent area of the fridge. Yes, it did catch fire and all of this was caught on security video.

Because my fridge is in the trailer many feet behind and above the fill cap I am not really worried. If I were driving a van with a much shorter distance between the two I would probably shut it down before filling. The point that was trying to be made here was that this was "proof" of fires caused by running with the fridge on. Uh....no...this fire was caused by gross negligence of the driver, period.

I'd like to know where delwhjr got the information that there are tunnels that prohibit tanks over 10 lbs. First of all TANKS are far safer than cylinders and second how many Motor Homes utilize tanks that small. 10 lbs. of propane is 2.39 gallons IIRC, that's a pretty small TANK. What about all those cylinders that are more than 2.39 gallons are they restricted too. Seems for all his research he forgot almost all RV's that have kitchens would be prohibited.

Old-Biscuit wrote:

Griz14 wrote:
I heard this info during a Walk Through I was on with my cousin who had just bought a new 5th wheel trailer. The person giving the walk through stated "It is against the law to travel with the refrigerator running on propane in the state of Washington". As far as I am concerned there is little risk of a fire doing that. I understand shutting it off when refueling or traveling through tunnels is the proper thing to do.

Why not have 'cousin' stop by dealership and get the WA State Statue......??

Course one will not be provided as there isn't one.
WA State follows DOT, NFPA regulations/requirements/recommendations

Both Dometic and Norcold (Atwood before being acquired) address this travel issue by statements that rolling motion of RV while in transit resolves being level concerns. If Fridge isn't ON then being level is not a concern so it is obvious that both fridge mfgs deem it safe.
There are MORE safety features in the RV Propane System then provided in the Fueling System of vehicles.

Propane has a narrow explosive range.....below 2% there is NOT enough propane to ignite and above 9.6% there is too MUCH propane to ignite so as a explosive gas it is very safe

Personal choice......
Run fridge (water heater, furnace) on propane while in transit
OR DON'T

Personally I DO. Figure if not safe to use while in transit I do NOT want to use it while stationary cause either it is or isn't safe to use---no maybes!

Yes propane has a narrow flammable range but in an outdoor environment it is less likely that the upper flammable limit will be reached. It is very likely to disperse due to pressure and wind. Hopefully disperse to a percentage below the lower flammable limit.

Indoors is another story.

But having said that, I do run it on the road.

Gasoline vapors are heavier than air and will migrate along the ground. So even while fueling it is unlikely for those vapors to rise up to the point of the fridge. Swirling winds could be an exception. Plus how many fill caps are close to the fridge?

I travel with it on, dont turn it off at the gas stations either. Had to turn it off in a tunnel once and never took a ferry yet.

old guy wrote:
rv experts like rv education 101 people or the rv DR advise against it. As a firefighter for many years I have fought many fires on the freeways and at gas station because of people who use the frig with gas on. You do what you want to but I hope we aren't next to each other at the gas station.

I would love to see some justifiable support for this statement. I am sure you have been involved with fires on the highways and probably have also seen a few at the gas station but I really would like to see an authentic link to a fire caused by leaving the fridge on. There is a similar thread running on the Airstream forum and I have asked for anyone to offer up a legit example of this happening. It has been at least 5 years and not a single supporting story has been offered up.

If you are worried about this then how do you ever manage to drive your TV with a half tank of gas sitting below you and your family? Where do you carry those little propane bottles for your BBQ? Do you smoke? Do you leave your furnace running at night? Gasoline is far more explosive than propane will ever be but we not only carry that in our gas tanks but many of us also carry an extra can for the generator.

If this were a serious problem the manufacturers of our trailers and our refrigerators would not tell you that it is OK to use the appliances as designed.

There is also no reason for us to turn off the fridge when we fill up at the gas station. The little sparking device is a good 25 feet from the fill door of the TV. It is also about 6 feet above ground level. Even if there is a spill, the gas accumulating on the floor outside will not provide enough concentrated fumes to be ignited by the fridge. If you want to borrow worry the feel free to do so. If you want to turn off your fridge do that too. If you spend tens of thousands of dollars for a nice trailer and you want to pack the fridge with ice for a long trip then do that as well. But....don't forget to look all around you as you drive the freeways. Lots of old cars with gas tanks, lots of folks pulling trailers with propane tanks right out there in the open and lots of us running with our fridges on. Heaven help us all!

One more thing to think about:
Your vehicle is parked right next to the gas pump, you spill fuel. What do you do next? You start your vehicle and move it. In the process of starting your vehicle you energize a non-vapor sealed starter solenoid that creates sparks, you then cause a non-vapor sealed starter motor to spin causing a significant amount of sparks, the engine then begins to run and if distributor equipped a non-vapor sealed distributor cap and rotor begin creating sparks, then the non-vapor sealed alternator begins creating sparks.
With all these open air spark events taking place on a gasoline engine while cranking and running (and not blowing up) I rather doubt the tiny non-vapor sealed flame on my refrigerator will ignite those same fumes 40' away.

I shut mine off and gave myself food poisoning. Now I leave it on unless they are warshing the diesel pump cement pad with gasoline.

or any other time it is required to turn off the bottles by law.

Some good points have been brought forth on this one. Static electricity could cause an ignition....or that guy that is smoking over on the sidewalk. I try to be cautious when refueling. And yes I travel when the Fridge on gas...

In regards to turning it off at fueling stations, the chances of reaching a stociometric ratio of either gasoline or propane vapor in free air is basically astronomical. If it wasn't gas stations would blow up on a weekly or more frequent basis. The only significant risk of igniting gas fumes comes from static discharge at the filler neck or from metal scraping in an auto accident with a pump.