When I'm driving do I run my fridge on propane or electric?

for all of you who have traveled for years and never had a problem I say two words,"NOT YET". One fire we had that involved a motor home and a UPS truck and the station and a 5000 gallon propane tank, he said I turn off my propane so I thought I was safe, turn out after questioning him and seeing the location of the fridge in relation to the gas filler, the propane was off but the fridge was still on. so it was trying to light and one spark lite the gas fumes up and the rest is history. Oh yes, the 5000 gallon propane tank was a propane filling station and our second truck in hit a hydrant and used the mounted steamer nozzle to keep the tank cool. other wise we would probably be replacing half the town not just a gas station. being that close to a large propane tank is just plain scary as all get out and I'm glad I'm not fighting fire any more

I run my fridge on lp while traveling with the exception of when going through the tunnels on the east coast under the big bays. They have signs all over the place that propane must be turned off. I have seen tunnel/bridge authorities pull RV;s over to check them.
I installed a 6 gauge wire from the power distribution center under the hood to the rear of my truck and connect it to the battery on the trailer with an Anderson Powerpole connector. A circuit breaker is at both ends of this to protect against shorts. When I statt my truck, my volt meter in the TT jumps to 14.4 volts. I have checked to see what amps I am getting. I also connect my solar panel/controller to this same plug when we get set up.

Over 1.2 million miles on the road for eleven years in a nine state area in and out of lots of fuel (gas) stops and never saw a fire started from a LP fridge.
Now LP hot water tanks are another story. Some years back trailers and motor homes were common at my area dealers with the sidewall burned out around the hot water tanks.
First LP fridge was in a new 9.5' 1970 Fields truck camper. Three truck campers ...a TT ...and three 5th wheel trailers all with the LP fridge on. But I do turn it off if required by law.

With all the rigs on the road it seems from some posts that a major fire is inevitable in your rig. So true. I’d be willing to bet that any second you’re going to get in a wreck and die. The best thing to do
Is stay off the road completely.

I have always run propane traveling. When I had mh I turned it off to refuel. 5th wheel I never do. Its far away from pumps when refueling.

propane

Hmmm, my frig flame is on opposite side of fuel for my truck and at 30ft, sits well behind.

I certainly understand the concern but over 20 years of towing with frig running on Propane and no BOOM.

I agree ,we turn our frig off before we pull in for fuel.

old guy wrote:
I fought fires for 30 years and some of those fires were rv's that traveled with the frig on propane. and after saying so on this forum got a lot of static from the members that I didn't know what I was talking about. well, there is a gas station in this town that was rebuilt because of a frig propane fire mishap. and many rv frames sitting int he wrecking yards of propane fire mishaps. I point out that the RV Dr and mark at rv education 101 feel the same way I do and in their videos state not to travel with propane on to the fridge. I travel with small ice packs in the fridge to help keep the frig cold. when I park at night or reach my destination the ice packs go into the freezer to refreeze. I feel safer this way then pushing my luck with a fire going down the road or buying fuel in a gas station with an open flame in the back of the fridge. but it's your rv . you can push your own luck or travel safely.

When we first opened our RV Shop in the early 70's motorhomes were burning down gas stations at a pretty alarming rate from people not shutting off the propane fridge when the filled up with gas. The story/theory is: The burner is drawing air, the fumes from the gas hose filling the rig, which happens to be adjacent to the fridge. Draws in the fume, makes the big bang and it's all over. It's not really much different now days, but I think since the "islands" have such higher canopies and things are spread out more it doesn't seem to happen as much. Driving down the road with the propane fridge on will have no affect on anything so long as everything is right and tight

I fought fires for 30 years and some of those fires were rv's that traveled with the frig on propane. and after saying so on this forum got a lot of static from the members that I didn't know what I was talking about. well, there is a gas station in this town that was rebuilt because of a frig propane fire mishap. and many rv frames sitting int he wrecking yards of propane fire mishaps. I point out that the RV Dr and mark at rv education 101 feel the same way I do and in their videos state not to travel with propane on to the fridge. I travel with small ice packs in the fridge to help keep the frig cold. when I park at night or reach my destination the ice packs go into the freezer to refreeze. I feel safer this way then pushing my luck with a fire going down the road or buying fuel in a gas station with an open flame in the back of the fridge. but it's your rv . you can push your own luck or travel safely.