I like the Idea Kajtec1 is doing. I set up my Dad's class C this way because back in the 70's he had a bad experience of sheering off the LPG pipe near the tank on his van camper. People motioned to him on the road that he had a problem, when he pulled over he had a propane leak that was sizable and scary.
I also remember seeing a motorhome in a gas station go up in flames. The pumps blowing up one by one were spectacular. I have no idea what caused the fire. I believe it is the law to turn off all open flame while in a gas station and some tunnels. All motor home manuals should have that written somewhere. My Lance manual does. My fridge is threeway and I use the DC mode while traveling and switch to gas/AC once to my destination (Lance Camper).
Three way fridges are not that common anymore because if you don't remember to manually switch to gas/AC after reaching your destination you will kill your coach batteries within a few hours on a hot day and requires a stout 8 gage wire from the engine compartment back to the coach battery to provide good charging current to the coach battery while under way with a circuit breaker at the engine compartment end (40 amp) in case of a short on this wire.
When you precool your Fridge before the trip a day ahead of time, then whether it is on gas or electricity it does not have to operate that often while in transit anyway. Many people just put frozen blue ice packs in the fridge to keep things cool under way and turn the fridge off. All these methods work!
The Fridge is the greatest appliance that RV's have. I remember when I was a kid my dad always had to worry about ice blocks and my mom complaining there was no room for the food because my dad put so much ice in there!
1998 2500 Dodge V10 3.55 Quad cab. Lance 5000 camper 9'10" and tow 17.5 ft Larson Boat
Dixonmatco wrote: This subject comes up quite often with the same results.. Most do, a few don't. I have one question:
There have been fires documented that started at the fridge. Every one of these I have ever read about occcurred when the RV was parked. Has anyone ever heard of a refer fire occurring when travelling?
Usually the problem has been overheating when the flue was plugged or similar problem. With the additional airflow that happens when moving, the chance of overheating is greatly decreased.
If this is true, it would seem like it is safer to leave it on when driving and off when parked!
BTW, I leave mine on all the time. I just like living on the edge, I guess..
One of those fires started while traveling, by the time they stopped and attempted to distinguished, it was history. Not sure about the other one. Like I mentioned, this shop is located in remote area, so to have two fires in what started in the reefer area is not a good sign. Both RVs had the dometic reefer, apparently both had insurance and were covered for there damage.
The Tech recommends anyone with this unit, not to operate while underway. He thinks its a poor fix for this problem.
As most know, the service change installs a baffle to contain the heat/fire, underway your getting a huge amount of wind currents and its doubtful the shield will contain the heat.
Offline
