Towing with fridge running on propane - Page 2

Diesel Donnie · 04-06-2012, 10:53 PM

I have been camping for 50+ years- We always have the reefer on propane- The only time we had to turn the reefer off was to go through a long tunnel somewhere on the East coast- We have never had any problems- DD

The Hawk · 04-07-2012, 07:30 AM

How many of us have seen a RV go up in flames by the side of the road, I figure most have had the tank valve open and the refer running. I turn the propane off when running down the road and the refer box stays cool and the freeze stays frozen for more than 8 hours.
The Hawk

drfife · 04-07-2012, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Hawk

How many of us have seen a RV go up in flames by the side of the road, I figure most have had the tank valve open and the refer running. I turn the propane off when running down the road and the refer box stays cool and the freeze stays frozen for more than 8 hours.
The Hawk

I've never seen an RV in flames on the side of the road in all my travels.

David472 · 04-07-2012, 11:28 AM

The flame to run the fridge is quite small, and if it goes out, the thermacouple shuts of the gas supply. Like anything else, the propane system needs maintenance. If you tow your trailer a couple thousand miles each year, you should have the propane system leak tested every 2 or 3 years. System leaks are a far more dangerous thing, whether you use it on the road or not. Leaks can still be there after reaching your destination.

Sorry for getting off the original topic of fridge performance.

kcconawa · 04-07-2012, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Hawk

How many of us have seen a RV go up in flames by the side of the road, I figure most have had the tank valve open and the refer running. I turn the propane off when running down the road and the refer box stays cool and the freeze stays frozen for more than 8 hours.
The Hawk

Owned an RV since 1979 and the answer is NEVER have I seen an RV on fire on the road. And yes I always leave my propane on. I do turn off the water heater when traveling.

The Hawk · 04-08-2012, 07:29 AM

If you have not seen one burning by the side of the side of the road and you want to see how they go up in flames do a utube seach. What is interesting is that not all of them are old rvs some are new!
I run my refer on the low setting and with it provisioned the night before and turn of the propane at the start of the trip. It stays cold for a good 8 hours.
The Hawk

scalemaster · 04-10-2012, 05:47 PM

We always leave ours on auto. Never had a problem with the fridge and the beer is ice cold when we stop to camp. Its at the back so its at least 30 to 40 feet away from the fuel nozzle.

RustyFairmount · 04-10-2012, 06:10 PM

I use common sense. The fridge is over 25 feet away from my truck's fuel fill. Cars legally idling on the other side of the pump are less than 10 feet way from my truck's fuel fill. Cars legally idling behind my truck are less than 5 feet away from the fuel fill. I believe there's a greater risk of being blown up by another person's vehicle than there an RV fridge igniting gas fumes that are so many feet from their source.

If y'all see a 2011 X23B at a gas station, assume it's me and the fridge is on. ;-)

Jayco1101 · 05-16-2012, 06:20 AM

Never leave home without running mine on auto too, never a problem!!!

RaveOn · 05-16-2012, 07:54 AM

In Ontario it is legal to drive with the propane fridge running. You have to shut it off at the gas pumps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bertscampers

I asked our dealer and in our province there is a law against it butno one really cares. We have the same trailer and run propane.

Ladywendolyn · 05-16-2012, 08:00 AM

It seems to me that on our walkthrough our dealer said that our new fridge can run on 12 volt while driving... has anyone tried this.. we have always used propane?

RaveOn · 05-16-2012, 08:19 AM

Sure you can. Just keep on mind the duration that it will be on 12v. Tv will charge the TT battery while connected but it will put an extra tax on the tv alternator and may or may not be a big deal depending on load and duration. The biggest issue would leaving it on 12v while sitting in a Walmart parking lot for a long time unless you have dual quality batteries.

Just my $0.02

Cheers

Ladywendolyn · 05-16-2012, 08:42 AM

ok thanks.. We will keep it in mind if we are travelling somewhere that there is a big issue using propane while driving. We have never been stopped yet.. We used to have taxi's in our city that ran on propane..

Moving Target · 05-23-2012, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ladywendolyn

It seems to me that on our walkthrough our dealer said that our new fridge can run on 12 volt while driving... has anyone tried this.. we have always used propane?

I turn the fridge on with shore power at the house the day before.
I load up the food and stuff the day of traveling and after 3 or 4 hours to campsite, fridge is still cold.
I never use the propane unless I have too.

Hope this helps.

29BHS ECO · 05-23-2012, 06:55 PM

I don't even trust " AUTO" it's on gas whenever travelling, I want the the beers to be COLD ---Larry

Chakara · 05-25-2012, 10:05 AM

Oh, when running on DC - remember that the fridge pulls a LOT of power. The alternators and cabling on many tow vehicles can't keep up and you'll end up with a dead coach battery on arrival.....don't ask how I know this!

-Chak

chris.nelson12 · 06-28-2012, 10:44 PM

I have a 2000 watt pure sign wave inverter and run my fridge on electric while driving down the road

Larry G. · 06-28-2012, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moving Target

I turn the fridge on with shore power at the house the day before.
I load up the food and stuff the day of traveling and after 3 or 4 hours to campsite, fridge is still cold.
I never use the propane unless I have too..

Same.

Fridge stays cold enough where ice cubes don't even melt when we travel 3-4 hours.....and we live in Nevada.

TeamFoxy · 06-29-2012, 01:45 PM

I don't think that most RV's have a large enough battery bank or charging capacity to run a fridge on 12V for long. It might be OK for maintaining a cold fridge for short periods of time.

When we had our old Toyota Class C, we never operated the fridge on anything but propane. It hardly uses any gas at all for the fridge and the stove. We turned on the water heater before dinner and turned it off after the dishes and showers were done. There was always enough hot water for the breakfast and lunch dishes. No reason to run the water heater longer as it heats up very quickly. We had an 18# built in tank and could run 3+ weeks on a fill.

Of course if we ran the furnace gas would only last a weekend.

We drove a lot through the mountains and never had any issues with the fridge being off level while traveling. If we stopped and could not find a level spot to park, we turned the fridge off until we got going again. We follow the same routine with the TT.

Leroy2u · 06-29-2012, 10:40 PM

We also get our fridge cooled down at least 1 day in advance of departure and fill it up. We keep our fridge going on the propane while traveling, never had any issues. In fact most of our trips are 6 hours + with several going 12-14 hours. I use 2 class 27's in series and the batteries handle it no problem.

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