Camper explosion

[Skylark]

Check your gas lines and yes check and or replace lp alarm.

Explosion

[Oaklevel]

I doubt that the camper had an LP leak detector. It looks like an older model camper and not that many years ago campers did not come with leak detectors. Didn't come with smoke alarms either. Sadly they probably did not think or know to add one.

[pira114]

It takes an awful lot of propane to do that. Whatever was on/leaking, was doing so for a while. And there wasn't much ventilation.

[eric1514]

I smelled gas under my MH last week. I crawled underneath and very quickly found that if I applied pressure to one of the lines near it's end, it leaked at the fitting. If I let go, it stopped.

Went to the dealer. It was going to be a warranty issue so I thought I'd let them fix it. I told the service advisor EXACTLY where the leak was. I told him which hose and which end and what he needed to do to hear the hiss. Imagine my surprise when I came to pick up my rig 2 days later only to be told there was no leak.

I asked to see the mechanic. I crawled under the MH grabbed the hose and its hissed and frosted up. Idiot service advisor didn't write a word of what I told him down for the mechanic.

[katysdad]

And replace your LP alarms after 6 years. Smoke detectors and CO2 also, goes for your home also.

[captnjack]

hotbyte wrote:

captnjack wrote:

GENECOP wrote:
Sounds like the alarm would not have made a difference..human error...grandpa was lighting the stove...shame....

Why would it have NOT made a difference. Whether it was leaking prior or he just let it run too long prior to igniting it, the alarm would have sounded and alerted them to a problem. A problem which we can assume they were not aware of beforehand.

The propane that exploded could have been contained within the stove. When he put flame in to light stove it ignited. At that point, there might not have been any escaped to trigger the alarm.

I agree that most definitely a working alarm is essential but we have no idea if it would've made a difference in this situation or not. We don't know if they had a working LP alarm or not.

You may be right. But my impression from the article and story is that there was more than a stove full of propane.

[Chris_Bryant]

One thing is that the trailer that exploded was obviously an older, permanently set up rig. A lot of rigs like that have had so many modifications and "repairs" that there is no telling what the problem was, and when the LP system was checked for leaks by a competent party.
I hope the victims make a full recovery.

[hotbyte]

captnjack wrote:

GENECOP wrote:
Sounds like the alarm would not have made a difference..human error...grandpa was lighting the stove...shame....

Why would it have NOT made a difference. Whether it was leaking prior or he just let it run too long prior to igniting it, the alarm would have sounded and alerted them to a problem. A problem which we can assume they were not aware of beforehand.

The propane that exploded could have been contained within the stove. When he put flame in to light stove it ignited. At that point, there might not have been any escaped to trigger the alarm.

I agree that most definitely a working alarm is essential but we have no idea if it would've made a difference in this situation or not. We don't know if they had a working LP alarm or not.

[naturist]

For sure be careful. Propane can hurt you bad if you don't cross your tees and dot your eyes. Reading the article, it's hard to tell if grandpa did anything wrong, or if a working propane detector was in use.

[Coolerman]

On my first trip with my old Star Craft Gemini camper we could have used a LP detector. Quality control let our camper get through without checking to see if all the propane fittings were tight. We set up camp after arriving late, turned on the furnace, and went straight to bed. The furnace kept going out and restarting and I finally just turned it off. Woke up about 5:00 (my normal wake up time)and smelled propane REALLY strong! (The Star Craft has a slide out bunk that is right over top of the propane tanks.) I got up and turned the tank valves off and waited for daylight to try to find the leak. Turned out that an entire tank of propane had leaked out during the night and the auto switch over valve had started on the second tank! The low pressure must have been what was causing the furnace to keep going off. Once it was light, I found that the main fitting after the regulator was loose! Could have been a lot worse....

[captnjack]

GENECOP wrote:
Sounds like the alarm would not have made a difference..human error...grandpa was lighting the stove...shame....

Why would it have NOT made a difference. Whether it was leaking prior or he just let it run too long prior to igniting it, the alarm would have sounded and alerted them to a problem. A problem which we can assume they were not aware of beforehand.

[Bobbo]

Years and years ago, my parents owned an 1973 Class A Concord on a Chevy chassis.

I was over there one day helping Dad get it ready for a trip. I lit the pilot light on the water heater to be sure everything was working OK. All of a sudden, I had a HUGE flame blowing out of the water heater compartment!

I ran around and grabbed the fire extinguisher and put it out. On examination, I found that the 1/8" copper tubing carrying propane to the burner had split.

I went to the hardware store and bought a length of tubing and a flaring set, and replaced the split tube. He kept the RV for years, and finally sold it, still in working order.

[GENECOP]

Sounds like the alarm would not have made a difference..human error...grandpa was lighting the stove...shame....

[Dutch_12078]

And make sure your LP alarm is working!