About three weeks ago a two yr old winnebago, owned by a woman for three weeks burnt to the ground just north of the Threeways, NT.The fire started behind the fridge , attempts to put it out failed as it soon spread to the roof area. We spoke to the owner the next day at Mataranka c/park, she was travelling with a friend in her car/van when this happened, escaped with what she stood in.
The interesting thing is that she spoke of the fridge as being some three way fully auto system .saying that it auto changes to what ever power is available, I had not heard of this & thought she may have left it on gas.
I have since heard that this is now possible as they run a piliot light all the time . I do not know anything of this but if so sounds like a bit of a worry.
Would be a hard one to explain to the insurance company. If any one has one of these it may pay to find out a bit on how it works.
Wombat 280 said
10:45 PM Mar 29, 2010
This auto fuel/ power selection seems a bit off putting to say the least . One has to ask why it didn't just go over to 12 volt DC rather than go gas while under way.
Maybe it would be a good idea to turn the gas supply off at the bottle before moving off in the morning as most vanners do as a matter of pre-flight procedures
If there was an alternative I wouldn't have gas at all unless it's on a small gas stove that I can take well clear of my rig to do the snags and cook water
Peter_n_Margaret said
11:15 PM Mar 29, 2010
There was a recall recently on a popular 3 way fridge.
The fault was a potential gas leak and fire.
Seperate subject......
Auto selection of power has been available in the USA for many years.
They select (in order of availability) shore power (while plugged in), 12V (while driving), gas.
They have an automatic ignition system that does not require a pilot light.
Cheers,
Peter
Wonker said
05:41 AM Mar 30, 2010
I was looking at the new Talvor motorhomes www.talvor.com yesterday, they only use two way (mains power and 12V) compressor fridges, they do not work on gas at all. Maybe there is wisdom in doing so.
The gas is only used for the stove and hot water system. And the bottle for these should be turned off before moving as a safety precaution.
brickies said
08:31 AM Mar 30, 2010
Till we have facts we don't know what the cause of the fire is
Wombat 280 said
09:16 PM Mar 30, 2010
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
There was a recall recently on a popular 3 way fridge. The fault was a potential gas leak and fire.
Seperate subject...... Auto selection of power has been available in the USA for many years. They select (in order of availability) shore power (while plugged in), 12V (while driving), gas. They have an automatic ignition system that does not require a pilot light.
Cheers, Peter
Peter. Does the selection include gas or is it only auto switching from 240ac to 12dc and vise versa .
As most gas appliance require venting to outside atmosphere then I suspect it would be very difficult to keep the pilot light on while underway .
My boat has auto switching but only between the electrical circuits and it's some years old now built here in OZ .
I will follow this article with interest anything comes up please post
milo said
01:05 PM Apr 4, 2010
our motorhome has the 3 way fridge, automatically pics what ever power sorce is available at the time...
jonathan said
03:59 PM Apr 4, 2010
Hi Folks ..
My unit also has a 3-way fridge .. my choice was to have manual selection for the power source .. Rumours have been circulating for some time about the auto switching, but I have not seen factual proof that any 'fault' actually exists .. Merely my own choice ..
We spoke to the owner the next day at Mataranka c/park, she was travelling with a friend in her car/van when this happened, escaped with what she stood in.
The interesting thing is that she spoke of the fridge as being some three way fully auto system .saying that it auto changes to what ever power is available, I had not heard of this & thought she may have left it on gas.
I have since heard that this is now possible as they run a piliot light all the time .
I do not know anything of this but if so sounds like a bit of a worry.
Would be a hard one to explain to the insurance company. If any one has one of these it may pay to find out a bit on how it works.
Peter. Does the selection include gas or is it only auto switching from 240ac to 12dc and vise versa .
As most gas appliance require venting to outside atmosphere then I suspect it would be very difficult to keep the pilot light on while underway .
My boat has auto switching but only between the electrical circuits and it's some years old now built here in OZ .
I will follow this article with interest anything comes up please post
My unit also has a 3-way fridge .. my choice was to have manual selection for the power source ..
Rumours have been circulating for some time about the auto switching, but I have not seen factual proof that any 'fault' actually exists ..
Merely my own choice ..
Jon
(currently at Salmon Gums ..WA)