Cracked Propane fittings

drsteve wrote:
If this issue was as serious as the lawyer on YouTube insists, they would be telling owners of affected RVs not to use their propane systems.
Spreading FUD about RV manufacturers is good for his business.

4x4van wrote:
I've read that initial article from Ron (referenced in the Youtube video). Yes, this is serious, however... He wrongly states that all 22,000 RVs have cracked/leaking fittings. In fact, he states that twice, in both the first and second paragraphs. Finally, in the 4th paragraph, he admits that these fittings "could" crack when owners torque them down. If they were all cracked/leaking, then the recall would already be under way. Not to downplay the seriousness, but over stating the danger is usually counter productive. The NHTSB is aware and is following the proper protocols; there is no reason to panic.

Believe it or not just because the fitting does not show cracks now, if the brass alloy used to manufacture the fitting has been contaminated by another incompatible material, cracks will eventually form due to break down of the brass in the fittings caused by the incompatible material. Over time the brass fitting will become weaker and very well could crack on it's own where threaded together since the threads are still under tension when they were originally screwed tightly together.

This break down is similar to what happens when welding stainless steel pipe and fittings, in which you use stainless steel welding rods or filler metal that has been contaminated with copper during the manufacture of the rods & filler metal. The copper will eventually migrate into the grain of the stainless pipe and fittings causing cracks and causing the metal to fail.

Just doing a visual inspection of the gas fitting may not detect cracks that have not yet reached the surface of the brass and the RV propane fittings on recall are used in the extremely low pressure part of the system measured in Inches of Mercury and not in pounds per square inch.

Besides the RV manufacturers who used the compromised fittings have known about this for months and have been trying to keep it quiet until it has to be announced. They are busy conducting record sales and don't need the embarrassment that any of their RV's are affected.