Traveling With the Propane On

I do turn the water heater off while I travel but leave the reefer on. Been doing it that way since I replaced my rig with an icebox with one with a reefer. Fires can start for many reasons. My daughter was driving her pickup when it lost power. When she pulled over to the side she smelled smoke and had enough time to undo the seat belt, depart the vehicle and watch it go up in flames. Cause was probably a leaking fuel line.

Full-timed for 16 years with propane on.

This subject has been covered a million time. If you feel uncomfortable with it on then turn it off. Im going to leave mine on.

Sprink-Fitter wrote:
I wonder if propane powered vehicles run with the tank open?

I run mine with the tank open - except right before I pull into a gas station. It gets kind of hard pusdhing it the last 50 yards to the pump. Still can't seem to find that pesky fill tube though.

At 63, 6 ft 0, 165 pounds, I eat ice cream, pizza, cookies, and all the garbage I did in high school. I take it on vacation and don't want it to spoil so I run with the fridge on. Yep, it's going to kill me some day.

You know what they say: "Live well, eat healthy, die anyway". :)

DutchmenSport wrote:


Hope you did not have any ice cream in your freezer! Otherwise, you would no longer have "Ice Cream" Do I "REALLY" need to describe what those Sunday Cones and pop-sicles look like when we reach our destination? Not to mention the mess on the bottom of the freezer compartment.

Possibly one of the reasons that at 63, 5'11" and still weigh the same #158 I did in HS, we don't keep that sort of garbage in our freezer. So, absolutely no worries.

Years ago I was on a BLM range fire crew based in Rock Springs, WY, just down the road from Green River which is a huge marshalling yard. We watched a DOT training film on BLEVE incidents with railroad tank cars and semi truck tankers, that's some scary stuff. But again, I have yet to see a warning label or statement that says don't travel with propane fridge lit.

Regards sue ze q comments regards propane tank safety. Serious topic,,,,,Propane use for refrigeration is safe and leaks are manageable if taken care of promptly. But the discussion regards Bleves and down playing the hazard of flame impingement on a tank is inappropriate. Upper explosion conc limit and lower explosion conc limit, release volumes, mixing, containment are all technical terms further describing the envelope in which bleves are measured. ANY observed impingement of flame on a propane tank should be considered a life hazard event best left to the professional with the appropriate protective gear and response knowledge. Emergency response crews will evacuate personnel to a distance of one mile for a tanker fire because of the over pressure potential. Five gallon tanks can cause over pressure potential to a hundred yards.
First response to flame impingement ought to be evacuation. second response ought to be call 911.

pops

EMD360 wrote:
Would it really be 50/50? My guess is more like 80/20. With no "warning" in the RV manuals and without the enlightenment offered by the Internet or possibly local news, it seems most people who buy RV's wouldn't think that running the refrigerator while underway would be a potentially dangerous practice.
We sure didn't and after running it without issue even on rough roads for some time, it would be difficult to convince us that we should no longer do it. So even with the benefit of these warnings and scenarios of doom, we probably will still keep running the fridge on propane while driving (even while getting gas which I have also read is a no-no.)
So I kind of doubt that a high number of RV'ers really believe this is dangerous enough to change their behavior. Look at smokers--they know their behavior is dangerous but convincing a smoker to stop because of their health often takes more than the message itself.
Human nature being what it is, some people are more cautious than others. Even we are cautious about some things and not at all cautious in other situations. We are illogical beings as Spock says. :-)

I would have to agree with the 80/20 being that most of the dealerships, when they do the walkthrough they tell you to switch the fridge over to the propane when it goes off of shore power.