fuzzy194
R.I.
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You poeple can say anthing you like, untill it happen's to you an I hope it never dose, you will know how it feel's to see it go up in fire along the side of the road an nothing you can do but see eveythink you own go up in fire.Wend someone that works on camper's said don't do it.I found out the hard way.Run the refer, on hight the night before I leave to get it real cool. I was told it ok to run on propane if I'm going to sleep over night in a parking lot,to keep it cool, but not going down the road. Will never run refer again know mater what enyone said.I'm not new to camping but never did what I was told not to do untill this happend. I learn the hard way.....
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AO_hitech
SF Bay Area
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Joined: 08/09/2004
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There is a reason no one can quote the law prohibiting it in a gas station...
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Bonefish
Midland, TX
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Joined: 01/08/2008
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wilber1 wrote:Bonefish wrote:Run the frig all the time when traveling and do not shut if off when fueling. The fueling point is on the driver side of the truck near the cab. The frig is in the center on the passenger side of a 33 foot camper. The two points are over 20 feet apart.
As to the flame being blown out while going down the highway.
If everything is in proper working order the gas is shut off when there is no heat to the thermocouple to keep the valve open. The circuit boards on both the frig and the HW heater will turn on the gas and attempt to ignite the burners only about three time before going into default of off.
The modern propane tanks have a built in shutoff so if the line is ruptured. You can even open the main valve on a tank without a regulator and if working properly little or no propane comes out (safety factor).
If a tank is already turned on, you can get quite a large leak without it shutting off. Every time you turn a stove burner on it goes from off to high yet the system doesn't trip. Also, how about electronic start water heaters and furnaces?
The tank goes through a regulator which drops the pressure to around ten psi. I was talking about a catastrophic failure the tanks are designed to shut off.
The Dometic on our camper failed about a year ago while on the road. It was running at the time and did not cause a fire. It just had bright yellow stain all in the back and some down the side of the camper.
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dupreet
High Point, NC
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Joined: 08/03/2007
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Beating this one to death again 
I just looked at NFPA 30A, the closest thing to a 'law' on the topic. While there are lots of regs determining what is an explosive environment around pumps, nothing specifically mentions open flame. It does classify that the classified explosive location is
"Up to 18 in. (450 mm) above grade level, extending 20 ft (6 m) horizontally in all directions from dispenser enclosure"
I think the 18" above grade clears all RV fridges except popups...they might have the fridge's flame that low to the ground.
Here is a snippet from a thread on RV.net a couple years back regarding the fact that there are few/no occurances of an RV fire caused by its fridge at a service station -
"Dear Mr. *******,
My name is Bob Benedetti and I’m Staff Liaison to NFPA’s project on motor fuel dispensing, NFPA 30A, Code for Motor Fuel Dispensing Facilities and Repair Garages.
I asked our Fire Analysis department to see if they had any fire incidents on file. The best they could come up with was a single incident dating back to 1977: a fire involving a motor home was reported as having been ignited by a pilot light and the material first ignited was gasoline vapors. Sounds like ignition while refueling to me.
NFPA 30A classifies a hazardous zone around gasoline dispensers for purposes of proper selection and installation of electrical wiring and equipment. Basically, the electrical wiring and equipment must be suitable for use where there could be an ignitable atmosphere. While the extent of this zone is specific to electrical installations, it is considered as marking out a zone where there should be no source of ignition, such as a sparking device or an open flame. Figure 8.3.1 of NFPA 30A shows this zone quite clearly.
You can also view (but cannot copy) NFPA 30A by going to the following web page:
http://www.nfpa.org/aboutthecodes/list_of_codes_and_standards.asp
Scroll down to and select the desired document. Scroll to the bottom of the next screen and click on “Preview this document”. Follow the instructions from that point on. Because the “on-line” documents are located on an external server, expect system loading and response to take a minute or two.
If you’d like to purchase a copy, call our Customer Sales Department at 800-344-3555 or download from NFPA’s web site at catalog.nfpa.org.
If you have any questions, please call me at 617-984-7433.
cc FS/IFI
Robert P. Benedetti, CSP, PE
Principal Flammable Liquids Engineer
National Fire Protection Association
1 Batterymarch Park
Quincy, MA 02169-7471
Safe Travels Everyone,
Todd
Todd
1993 Ford E-350 pushed by a 1988 Wilderness 24' TT
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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Joined: 04/15/2001
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SolidAxleDurango wrote:fuzzy194 wrote:In 2009 I lost my HD,presidential Suite 37SKQ 4 slide out tralier 5TH tr. Caught fire going down the road in May of 2009. Had trl check out before leaving NO leaks in propane no leaks. lost everything tv ok.Was told bye DEL. after the fire never to run refrigerator on propane going down the road becouse the wind could blow out the flame an that's what happen. an wend it try to start again with propane coming out it just start a fire.the fire dept check it out What was left of it.I have pic of it but do not know to put them on here. an said the samethink, never told them I was told not run it eather untill they told me samethink. WILL NEVER RUN ON PROPANE GOING DOWN THE ROAD. ( $ 80.000 trl. an thinks inside came out too around $110.000 BIG TIME LOST.
If you could get back to us with English, that would be great... mmmmmkay? lol
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wilber1
Abbotsford B.C. Canada
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Joined: 12/16/2002
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Bonefish wrote:wilber1 wrote:Bonefish wrote:Run the frig all the time when traveling and do not shut if off when fueling. The fueling point is on the driver side of the truck near the cab. The frig is in the center on the passenger side of a 33 foot camper. The two points are over 20 feet apart.
As to the flame being blown out while going down the highway.
If everything is in proper working order the gas is shut off when there is no heat to the thermocouple to keep the valve open. The circuit boards on both the frig and the HW heater will turn on the gas and attempt to ignite the burners only about three time before going into default of off.
The modern propane tanks have a built in shutoff so if the line is ruptured. You can even open the main valve on a tank without a regulator and if working properly little or no propane comes out (safety factor).
If a tank is already turned on, you can get quite a large leak without it shutting off. Every time you turn a stove burner on it goes from off to high yet the system doesn't trip. Also, how about electronic start water heaters and furnaces?
The tank goes through a regulator which drops the pressure to around ten psi. I was talking about a catastrophic failure the tanks are designed to shut off.
The Dometic on our camper failed about a year ago while on the road. It was running at the time and did not cause a fire. It just had bright yellow stain all in the back and some down the side of the camper.
My point is, you don't need a catastrophic failure to have a leak or a fire. If you did, none of our appliances would work.
I'm not religious about this. If things were defrosting in my freezer and my post setup beer was warm, I would have to run with the fridge on, but they aren't so I don't.
It's kind of like not wearing a bike helmet or seatbelt. Chances are nothing will happen but the consequences can be much more severe if it does.
"Never trust a man who has not a single redeeming vice" WSC
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AO_hitech
SF Bay Area
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Joined: 08/09/2004
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Here are the warnings at the Gas Station I got gas at this morning. I will admit that whoever wrote these is an idiot. A 'fridge in an RV is more of a danger than a cell phone! 
And
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Gale Hawkins
Murray, KY
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I did not think there was any thing about shutting off the generator and I see this supports that is correct.
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2oldman
Winchester WA
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There's nothing about using an acetylene torch or lighting a campfire either.
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AO_hitech
SF Bay Area
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Gale Hawkins wrote:I did not think there was any thing about shutting off the generator and I see this supports that is correct.
Would that be covered under "STOP ENGINE"?
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