How many of you do this?

[caysea7254]

Ok in another forum it was mentioned that your fridge should always be turned off while filling up at a gas stations. Reason being open flame from LP tank. We have been pulling a camper for the best part of 30 years and never do that and never even thought about it. What about the rest of you? Thanks Tara

[fj12ryder]

wnjj wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:

RasMouSein wrote:
I never even thought about the fridge,
Well from now I will use it on the inverter while travelling.
In the end it's gonna save me a bit of propane since the alternator is more then capable of powering it.

I don't get when people say "it's 30 feet away"... What happens when you drive past the pump ??

Anyhow, If your fridge can be powered with electric while travelling, wouldn't it make more sense to use it ? I know will now.

You have a propane and AC current fridge? I'll have to admit I've never heard of one. The RV fridges I've heard of are usually 12V and propane. And the reason no one used the 12V is because it is a huge draw, and your alternator probably won't be able to keep your house battery fully charged at all.

And why would you necessarily drive past the pump? I don't when I fuel up since I have a diesel.

Huh? I’ve never heard of an RV fridge that didn’t have AC or at least it’s rare. Many do not have 12V, however. Propane + AC is a 2-way. Propane + AC + 12V is a 3-way.

Inverter or 12V direct will still require a decent rated charge line from the alternator, Watts are watts when it comes to cooling with electricity and the 120V will also lose some efficiency in the inverter.

You're absolutely correct, I don't know what I was thinking of. I know that the fridges run on gas and 110AC, so i don't know how the heck I got so confused. Old ageitis I guess. 🙂

[lazydays]

I've though about turning off. Well maybe for a second. I never have and probably never will.

[d3500ram]

Several years ago, about 2004 I think, there was a class C fire at a gas station in the Town of Frisco, Colorado. A couple of cars and the OH canopy along with the RV were destroyed.

It was said (rumored?) the cause was a faulty gas fill nozzle that did not shut off. The user pulled out as it was still dispensing gasoline which sprayed all over the side of the camper. It was also initially mentioned that the side on to which it sprayed was where the refrigerator was located.

There were reports of station maintenance crews doing work on site which may have caused gasoline and/ or gas fumes and early speculations were indicating something "RV related" added to the ignition. Perhaps just coincidence, but the RV was certainly involved in the fire.

I have e-mailed the local fire department a couple of times to obtain an official position of the investigation on this matter but have not heard back.
I may follow up again with the local FD to try and find a final investigative report.

[pnichols]

If you have a new enough RV so as to have a water heater and refrigerator that are electronically lit, Just switch OFF the battery power to the RV while you gas up so they can't ignite, or stay lit if either one of them was lit when you pulled up to the pump.

This eliminates any open flames while you're gassing up. Just remember to turn the battery switch back ON before you take off back down the road.

[wnjj]

fj12ryder wrote:

RasMouSein wrote:
I never even thought about the fridge,
Well from now I will use it on the inverter while travelling.
In the end it's gonna save me a bit of propane since the alternator is more then capable of powering it.

I don't get when people say "it's 30 feet away"... What happens when you drive past the pump ??

Anyhow, If your fridge can be powered with electric while travelling, wouldn't it make more sense to use it ? I know will now.

You have a propane and AC current fridge? I'll have to admit I've never heard of one. The RV fridges I've heard of are usually 12V and propane. And the reason no one used the 12V is because it is a huge draw, and your alternator probably won't be able to keep your house battery fully charged at all.

And why would you necessarily drive past the pump? I don't when I fuel up since I have a diesel.

Huh? I’ve never heard of an RV fridge that didn’t have AC or at least it’s rare. Many do not have 12V, however. Propane + AC is a 2-way. Propane + AC + 12V is a 3-way.

Inverter or 12V direct will still require a decent rated charge line from the alternator, Watts are watts when it comes to cooling with electricity and the 120V will also lose some efficiency in the inverter.

[RasMouSein]

fj12ryder wrote:

RasMouSein wrote:
I never even thought about the fridge,
Well from now I will use it on the inverter while travelling.
In the end it's gonna save me a bit of propane since the alternator is more then capable of powering it.

I don't get when people say "it's 30 feet away"... What happens when you drive past the pump ??

Anyhow, If your fridge can be powered with electric while travelling, wouldn't it make more sense to use it ? I know will now.

You have a propane and AC current fridge? I'll have to admit I've never heard of one. The RV fridges I've heard of are usually 12V and propane. And the reason no one used the 12V is because it is a huge draw, and your alternator probably won't be able to keep your house battery fully charged at all.

And why would you necessarily drive past the pump? I don't when I fuel up since I have a diesel.

Hum... I would dare to say the exact opposite, but I'm no expert in RV fridge, but I'm pretty sure that most are 12v/propane and 120vac, well all the Travel Trailer I visited...
I believe it's 20 amps draw on the 12v when on inverter powered ac.

And for your second question, I'm just saying. I guess if you only fuel at Service Station that has Diesel only island separate from the gaz pump it would not apply.

[fj12ryder]

RasMouSein wrote:
I never even thought about the fridge,
Well from now I will use it on the inverter while travelling.
In the end it's gonna save me a bit of propane since the alternator is more then capable of powering it.

I don't get when people say "it's 30 feet away"... What happens when you drive past the pump ??

Anyhow, If your fridge can be powered with electric while travelling, wouldn't it make more sense to use it ? I know will now.

You have a propane and AC current fridge? I'll have to admit I've never heard of one. The RV fridges I've heard of are usually 12V and propane. And the reason no one used the 12V is because it is a huge draw, and your alternator probably won't be able to keep your house battery fully charged at all.

And why would you necessarily drive past the pump? I don't when I fuel up since I have a diesel.

[RasMouSein]

I never even thought about the fridge,
Well from now I will use it on the inverter while travelling.
In the end it's gonna save me a bit of propane since the alternator is more then capable of powering it.

I don't get when people say "it's 30 feet away"... What happens when you drive past the pump ??

Anyhow, If your fridge can be powered with electric while travelling, wouldn't it make more sense to use it ? I know will now.

[tinner12002]

Never shut it off when fueling.

[JaxDad]

DSteiner51 wrote:
I always drive into filling stations. Since gas fumes are heavier then air they stay closer to the ground. This way if the fumes are heavy enough to ignite my alternator cooling fan will draw the fumes thru the alternator and cool the sparking off that is going on inside or ignite. If it doesn’t ignite the chances of my frig igniting it is zilch as it has no fan to draw air thru it to cool it and is considerably higher then the alternator.

My alternator has continuous sparking inside a metal housing under a metal hood while my fridge has a small flame inside a metal shroud under a plastic hood with no fan drawing fumes thru the metal shroud. When I see folks pushing their vehicles to and from the gas pumps I’ll turn my fridge off.

The alternator is behind the engines cooling fan, you’d need to be nearly parked on top of a puddle of gasoline to reach the stoichiometric mixture, the correct ratio of fuel to air to support combustion.

But hey, ignorance is bliss as long as this isn’t your RV.

[free_radical]

caysea7254 wrote:
Ok in another forum it was mentioned that your fridge should always be turned off while filling up at a gas stations. Reason being open flame from LP tank. We have been pulling a camper for the best part of 30 years and never do that and never even thought about it. What about the rest of you? Thanks Tara

My fridge is electric only,,no need to shut it off.. 🙂

My Espar heater runs on diesel,would obviously shut that off when refueling..

Funny thing hapened when parked one cold night on the street and someone heard the hiss of the heater exhaust underneath the truck and called the fire department thinking its propane escaping...

Firemen were quite surprised unable to find any leaking propane or bottles of LPG anyplace..

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

dieseltruckdriver wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
LOL, aaaaa it's an EPA law so I don't have to visit every gas station in the us.

In fact all vehicles come with a vapor recovery system now so the EPA is going to do away with the recovery boots at the pump.

Tech has passed you up too I see.

Much of what you're referring to is only applicable to a certain state. Guess which one? You guys got the charcoal canisters and recovery boots, whatever those are, long before anyone else did. And yes, you can still get whiff of gas fumes at many stations around here. Gosh, just makes you wonder if all these stations should check with you or just shut down? 🙂

+1.
Lots of states in this part of the country have never had them, and never will. It wasn't EPA, it was your state.

It had noting to do with my state. 29 states required a stage II system. If you pumped over a certain amount of fuel they required a stage I system.

The EPA did away with or are doing away with the stage II requirement because of the on board systems that vehicles had since the early 2000's.

Show me several RV news stories where they caught on fire while refueling and I will believe you about the vapors. Hyperbole on.

[dieseltruckdriv]

fj12ryder wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
LOL, aaaaa it's an EPA law so I don't have to visit every gas station in the us.

In fact all vehicles come with a vapor recovery system now so the EPA is going to do away with the recovery boots at the pump.

Tech has passed you up too I see.

Much of what you're referring to is only applicable to a certain state. Guess which one? You guys got the charcoal canisters and recovery boots, whatever those are, long before anyone else did. And yes, you can still get whiff of gas fumes at many stations around here. Gosh, just makes you wonder if all these stations should check with you or just shut down? 🙂

+1.
Lots of states in this part of the country have never had them, and never will. It wasn't EPA, it was your state.

[toedtoes]

Aww jeez. Just do what YOU feel comfortable with and add this to those things you never discuss in polite society (along with religion and politics).

[Jagtech]

Its called Risk Management. I personally don't want to be liable if my fridge causes an explosion or fire. Statistically its not if it has or hasn't happened; its when it will ultimately happen.
Really, what's the harm in taking a few seconds to turn it off? And maybe preventing a catastrophie.
Have you ever seen a person burned by gasoline? Not something you want to witness, or be responsible for.