Keeping Refrigerator Cold When Towing

[alderhaha]

Hello, New to posting on the Forum.

I understand it is taboo to keep your propane on when towing your travel trailer. How do you keep your refrigerator cold when towing if the propane is off? Hoping my tow vehicle be able to provide the needed power. Thank you for your time..

[DKB]

Originally Posted by alderhaha

Hello, New to posting on the Forum.

I understand it is taboo to keep your propane on when towing your travel trailer. How do you keep your refrigerator cold when towing if the propane is off? Hoping my tow vehicle be able to provide the needed power. Thank you for your time..

I guess there’s lots of opinions on this but I’ve towed RV’s for years (on my fifth one now) and never had an issue with running the frig on propane while traveling. IMO, that’s what it’s made to do. This will need to be your choice in what you’re comfortable with.

[andrewat]

I always tow with my fridge running on propane. Never had an issue.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by DKB

I guess there’s lots of opinions on this but I’ve towed RV’s for years (on my fifth one now) and never had an issue with running the frig on propane while traveling. IMO, that’s what it’s made to do. This will need to be your choice in what you’re comfortable with.

X2

[2nOZ]

Originally Posted by andrewat

I always tow with my fridge running on propane. Never had an issue.

X2

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by andrewat

I always tow with my fridge running on propane. Never had an issue.

X-40 yrs.....

[videoarizona]

I'm a relative newbie, but after 6 months of having a good time with our trailer, I do keep the fridge on propane when we travel....and have had no issues.

That said, we do 2 things to make life easier and safer:

1: We freeze water bottles and cool everything before it goes in fridge. The fridge is turned on the evening before we load so it's ice cold when we start putting stuff in it. The water bottles keep the freezer and fridge cool as we load it...and since they do take a while to cool down again...this helps as well. Plus it's good to have just in case the propane stops.

2: On major hills...7% grade or more that are 5 to 10 miles long (we have a few in Arizona), I will pull off and turn off the fridge. The fridge will stay cold for a few hours without any help if all the food is already cold or frozen. I do this due to the nature of how the RV fridges work. They work on the heat principle...and the burners are only rated for a few degrees in each direction. (mine is 6 degrees and 3 degrees) I forget which way is which, but you get the idea. Anything past that angle for an "xxx" amount of time can cause the fridge burner to overheat and then you may have a fire. For some reason RV companies know this but refuse to do anything about it. Even Dometic seems to care less...Guess they don't think we pull up steep hills! I doubt most people will ever have these issues with long, steep hills...but it doesn't hurt to be proactive in your safety.

[NVGun40]

This topic pops up every now and then. It can stir up quite a debate. In the end, it will come down to YOUR personal preference.
I have had several RVs from tent pop ups to cabovers, to TT's, Class C's and 5ers. I have done it both ways (run it on propane when travelling, had it shut off when travelling). Something to note: some states have laws on the books which say propane tanks must be off when travelling. Whether those laws are enforced or not, I will not venture to opine on. Some states have long tunnels and have posted that propane tanks must be shut off while travelling through.
So, with that said, what do I do now? I travel with my propane off at all times. Why? it's not necessary IMHO.

The cabover camper I had back in the late 70s into the early 80s (a Tiltin Hiltin). The refrigerator it had was the old 'block ice' type. Meaning, it had a specific pocket to put a block of ice in it. That is what kept things cold. It did not run on electricity, it did not run on propane. It was essentially a fancy built in cooler with a drain hose that allowed melted water to run out on the ground. I used to hunt for up to 2 weeks out in the boondocks. Admittedly, I had to make a run into town at least once per WEEK to get a new block of ice but I managed to never have any issues keeping food and beverages cold. So what does this have to do with this topic you may wonder? Simply this -- it provided a great learning curve. Learning how to live with that type of fridge taught me how to better extend operations with the powered (propane or electric) fridges.

When prepping for a camping trip, I always pre-chill the refrigerator at least 24 hours prior (nowadays, I am lucky enough to have my TT parked at home where it is plugged in 24/7 so I have the luxury of leaving my refrigerator turned on and stocked at all times). Once loaded and hooked up, and power and propane are shut off, opening the refrigerator is taboo. I have taken long road trips, travelling as much as 10 hours per day. Everything stays cold 'enough' so as not to have any issue. Frankly, if a refrigerator cannot keep cold for 8 hours without power, then the insulating factors of that fridge are crappy and it isn't worth keeping. Even still, when I know I will be going a long time (more than 6 hours) without the fridge running, then I put frozen ice packs or water bottles inside to help keep things cold (one of the side lessens to having that old camper with the ice block fridge).
So in other words, based on my personal experience and my own personal opinion, travelling with the refrigerator running is not necessary. A little prep work and self discipline goes a long way.

[2edgesword]

After a day to allowing the frig and its contents to get cold I've traveled as long as eight hours with the fridge off and not had any serious warming or spoilage issues. The main thing is the frig seals have to be in good condition and you're not opening and closing the doors while traveling. If the frig and contents are cold at the start and after a couple of hours with the propane off the inside is warm then I would suspect a problem with the seals or the latch not engaging properly.

[Mustang65]

Originally Posted by NVGun40

cut..... So in other words, based on my personal experience and my own personal opinion, travelling with the refrigerator running is not necessary. A little prep work and self discipline goes a long way.

That is why I LOVE SOLAR, turn on the inverter, make sure the fridge is in 110VAC mode and drive on.

Also, what if the RV fridge manufactures incorporate GPS modules embedded in their circuit boards in the 2020 models, with pressure sensors , that tell the LP line to turn off when it senses movement, or it is unlevel and to conform to Federal rules and regulations. Don't worry that will probably happen after they start making us go through the STATE weight scales on the interstates and verify the TT/TV weight ratings against the scale weights. I just had to add this:-)

Do what ever you feel at ease doing, it is not illegal until you are caught or you blow everyone up around you in a gas station (another can of worms). Just do not go through tunnels with it on, wait they could incorporate Longitude/Latitudes in the GPS fridge circuit that turns them off automatically in tunnels and gas stations. What a novel idea! Then we would not have to worry about it, and everyone would be happy.
Don
My Registry

RVing with SOLAR

[Camper_bob]

No one seems to have addressed the "Tow vehicle" part of OP's question. Unless you have a residential fridge with an inverter (which it does NOT sound like you have as indicated by the propane aspect of your question), your tow vehicle will have virtually no affect on whether your fridge will run.

Your fridge can run in one of two conditions: 12V AND propane, OR shore power. If you have only 12V power available (such as when towing), your fridge needs propane to stay cold; the 12V runs the circuitry, burning propane cools the unit, and the TV charge on the battery should be able to keep up with that demand. The cooling process of the fridge does not run directly on 12V.

Even if your battery is not being charged by your tow vehicle, assuming a healthy battery, your fridge should run on propane for long enough for a day on the road with just the charge on the battery. But there are A LOT of factors that work into that.

The decision whether to run the fridge on propane while traveling has been widely covered here and elsewhere, so that decision is up to you. Personally, I run mine on propane in transit and always have. My fridge runs "end to end", meaning I keep it plugged into shore power at the house, run it on propane (or generator) in transit, and shore power/generator while camping. Same for the ride home. I don't turn it off until I have all the food out at the conclusion of a journey.

[wags999]

Always have run propane, a non issue. Propane is very difficult to ignite even if a leak occurs. It will only ignite at a mixture of air/propane from about 2.15% to 9.6%..higher or lower it won't ignite.

[DocBrown]

Depending on the size of the fridge, 6 cu and smaller don't really need to be running on a long trip unless you feel that you need to open it every time you stop. We've gone 12 hours and everything was still cold, and the ice in the freezer was fine. I'm not sure I'd go longer than that, but most of our trips are short, 4 hrs or less. I don't see the need to waste propane when everything stays cold.

The more packed the fridge is the longer it will stay cold without running it.

That said it's important to plug it in at least a day before. We usually plug it in a week before to load it.

[RogerR]

My prior trailer had a 110/LP/12 volt system. I tried for many trips and all I got from the 12 volt system was dead house batteries as my car would not push enough voltage to keep it up.

I tried running with LP, works like a charm. Now I stop for a rest area and can pop a can of coke, get a cold snack or some cold water bottles with confidence.

I do carry two quart size freezer packs in my fridge. I swap them out in our car ice chest when we go out for the day and always have cold drinks. We also use it to get milk and other cold food back to the RV. It would probably keep my stuff cold if the pilot blows out which is a nice bonus.

[Kim Gass]

Depends how big your fridge is
Ours stays cold with the help of two frozen bottles of water
and no propane use
Its a tiny fridge for a small RV
We leave ours off cause. we are cheap

[jimp]

I just towed for 450 miles/10 hrs with frozen water bottles in the freezer and fridge sections, the two in the freezer were still rock solid, the one in the fridge was about 90% frozen. Everything was as it should be, food still frozen and milk still cold to suit DW. No propane. We just don't open the fridge at breaks, which are usually gas stops and get a cold drink at the store.

We do this on our local trips as well, never lost any food due to spoilage.

[Bullitt6283]

I just run it. I let it switch between propane and AC power automatically.

The only time I'm concerned is when I get the onboard propane tank filled. I turn off the propane and the power at that time.
.

[EvilDoer]

Any story about the dangers of propane is just fake news. Any regulations requiring you to shut off propane when traveling is just government overeach. Plenty of people here have traveled with propane on and are not afraid to tell you it's okay.

Of course if there's an accident the best you'll get from those people is thoughts and prayers. But hey, if that's enough for you then travel with ignited propane.
Just do one favor for those of us who care about our families and our fellow travels, and stay the hell off our roads, bridges, tunnels, gas stations, and anywhere else there might be people.

[Bullitt6283]

Norcold manual:

"While the refrigerator should be level when the vehicle is stopped, performance during travel is not usually affected."

.

[Flyrotor]

Originally Posted by alderhaha

... I understand it is taboo to keep your propane on when towing your travel trailer..

It’s not taboo, there is nothing wrong with running your fridge on propane.

I always run the fridge on propane, unless a tunnel prohibits its use