Caravan fridge on while travelling?

Golddetectornomad · Senior Member

Caravan fridge on while travelling?

greyhoundtom · Senior Member

I generally have the van fridge turned off while travelling as I managed to forget to switch it from 12 volt to LPG when I pulled up for the night a couple of times, and of course the car battery is as flat as a tack the next morning.

My brother when he was alive used to leave his van fridge on all the time on gas while he was travelling and never had any problems, but I worry about something catching on fire so I have not been game to do so.

Need a bit of advice about this whole situation.

Cheers,

Tom

Pete49 · Senior Member

probably ok while driving though I won't attempt it. could be a problem at a servo with all the fumes around. Not heard of it happening but again don't want to be the first to find out.
Pete

justcruisin01 · Guru

Fit a heavy duty relay or a soliniod to the car's power supply to the van fridge, these units will switch power to the van when you turn on the cars ignition & switch the power off when you turn the ignition off. Fool proof , low cost @ a few dollars & no flat batteries. As for running it on gas when travelling, I know many do this BUT the dangers involved I would never consider it & I'd imagine its illegal, if not then it should be, A fire waiting to happen.

JC.

jimricho · Guru

There are a couple of solutions to this issue...one is to install, or have an auto sparky install, a relay (aka solenoid) in the circuit from your car battery to the van so that the circuit is isolated when the engine is not running. This can be in the form of a "common or garden variety" relay that is operated from the vehicle's ignition switch (aux) circuit. Alternately if a voltage sensitive relay such as those used in dual battery systems is used (my preferred option) there is no need to cut into the vehicle's existing wiring. (eg Redarc "Smart Start")

Another solution is to install a "Fridge Switch" in the van's 12v fridge wiring. This detects motion and will cut off the supply to the fridge if the van is stationary.

http://rvelectronics.com.au/index.php?route=product/category&path=57

http://www.redarc.com.au/products/category/4wd-sbi-series-dual-battery-isolator/

jimricho · Guru

justcruisin01 wrote:
Fit a heavy duty relay or a soliniod to the car's power supply to the van fridge, these units will switch power to the van when you turn on the cars ignition & switch the power off when you turn the ignition off. Fool proof , low cost @ a few dollars & no flat batteries. As for running it on gas when travelling, I know many do this BUT the dangers involved I would never consider it & I'd imagine its illegal, if not then it should be, A fire waiting to happen.
JC.

You beat me to it Jim!
Hear! Hear! re using gas while travelling.

greyhoundtom · Senior Member

Thanks everyone some great solutions there

and I'm glad I'm not the only one that considers it dangerous to run the fridge on gas while moving.

Cheers,
Tom

petengail · Guru

My understanding is that it is illegal to run a caravan fridge on gas whilst the vehicle is underway. A naked pilot light and fuel vapour in a servo would be a recipie for disaster.

herbie · Guru

It is Illegal to run your fridge on gas while travelling, if you do don't expect your insurance to pay out for the damage if and when one's luck runs out doing this.And other thing i would hate to think of what a disarster if some thing went rong while filling up at a servo.

Scotty01 · Senior Member

Dont know if anything is available to do this on other fridges but my Dometic is fully auto, gives priority to 240v if available. if no 240 goes to 12v from car not house battery if that not avail lights gas itself. Plug in 240 or turn on engine and turns gas off and uses either. can you get an after market gadget that can do this? I never have to worry about remembering anything.

lizard · Veteran Member

herbie wrote:
It is Illegal to run your fridge on gas while travelling, if you do don't expect your insurance to pay out for the damage if and when one's luck runs out doing this.And other thing i would hate to think of what a disarster if some thing went rong while filling up at a servo.

Depending on your fridge , it is not illegal to travel running on gas , if your fridge shuts off the gas when pilot goes out it is legal ..... if it is one that attempts to relight - that is illegal ...... but you still have to turn it off before entering servos

Beth54 · Guru

Oh Goldy, what a horror story! And not a good start to the honeymoon either!

Golddetectornomad · Senior Member

Thanks Beth, I wonder what the headline would have been if I had simply been on a ""dirty"" weekend minus my wife?....Lol.....Lmao........I still have the Newspaper front page stored somewhere in my storage facility here in Bendigo...will dig it out and post photo....Caravan was gutted,thankfully my 4WD wasn't.......I am now meticulous and have the greatest respect for all things gas on our Jayco....we only summised the gas bottle must have been leaking ,it may well have been a problem with the gas fridge leaking in the New Van which had never been used previously....a pilot light on is something to always respect....similar with our Suburban HWS when on gas when Independant camping.....Hoo Roo

Beth54 · Guru

Talking about smelling gas, reminds me of when we were travelling in NT in '83 in our old old Land Rover..don't ask me what series, I never knew the difference...

We were on some bulldust track out towards Kings Canyon I think, and I kept saying I could smell fuel. Hubby of the time said he couldn't smell anything. He was a smoker and had had a broken nose a few years before, so I figured he'd have fat chance of smelling anything!

He finally pulled over to check, and that's when I found out the fuel thingy was under the passenger side seat...my seat! Sure enough, it was gushing! After that he always took my word for it if I said there was a smell.

Pays to listen to the missus! biggrin

-- Edited by Beth54 on Saturday 6th of April 2013 05:02:41 PM

GaryKelly · Guru

I like the bit about your wife still insisting she can smell gas, and you telling her it's only you. Hehe.

oldboar · Senior Member

Slightly off topic but very relevant to the topic. One of the first things I fitted to our new van was an LPG leakage alarm. Powered by 12V this little unit is mounted at floor level inside the van and screams it's head off if it detects gas. After I fitted it I checked its operation by cracking the tap on a small gas bottle I had (ensuring no pilot lights etc operating obviously), alarmed remarkably quickly. Since then the wife has learnt not to apply Aerogard spray in the van as it also detects that & takes a significant time to reset itself. My attitude was that if smoke detectors were a legal requirement then a gas detector had to be a good move given that vans are far more likely to blow up before burning down.

Darrell & Sandra

Sheba · Guru

The only Gas I have is the small Cannisters for the Camp-stove. I gave the Gas stove that was in the Hi-ace away to my nephew. My fridge runs on either 240, [haven't done that yet though] or 12 Volt. No way would I have a Fridge running on Gas.

CHeers,

Sheba.

GaryKelly · Guru

I grew up with gas appliances. Stove, fridge, bath heater. And so did everyone else in our suburb for donkey's years. God knows how many caravans and motorhomes there are travelling Oz at any given time fitted with gas fridges. Then, along comes a headline about a caravan fire and whammo, everyone freaks. I wonder what the stats would be if you compared fires caused by electrical faults with those caused by gas.

wendyv · Guru

Sheba, like you, would never have a gas fridge in van or bus. 12/240v electric fridge every time. The compressor ones work really well, too.

Gerty Dancer · Guru

wendyv wrote:
Sheba, like you, would never have a gas fridge in van or bus. 12/240v electric fridge every time. The compressor ones work really well, too.

Ditto. Gas only for cooking, and cylinder turned off before moving van.

Santa · Guru

I'm in the turn off cylinder before moving MH brigade, only use gas for cooking and hot water service, fridge is 12 volt.

This thread http://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/t43281368/tourist-bus-fire-kangaroo-island/ the post by Vic (with pics) about half way down page, fite directly attributable to petrol and fumes ignited by fridge pilot light.

-- Edited by Santa on Sunday 7th of April 2013 12:19:57 PM

Scotty01 · Senior Member

I dont mean to belittle the comments made here but I find it interesting the reaction of people to LPG. I ahve had many vans and campers over the years and have all had gas fridges and cookers. Have never had a problem and dont know of anyone with PERSONAl experiance of leak problems. Lots of third or more hand stories. Funnily enough all variations of the same thing. I am not saying there is no risk but normal maintenance and a little common sence and it just dosnt happen. I am also a licenced LPG fitter and the regulations are always being updated and concentrate on safety. If you compare LPG and petrol, which has very little in the way of restrictions. LPG has a much smaller ignition band than petrol IE: must have a more acurate air fuel mixture than petrol to ignite.

If common scence and normal maintenance observed I much prefer LPG to petrol any time. As has been said earlier in thread compare gas fires with those caused by electrical faults.

-- Edited by Scotty01 on Sunday 7th of April 2013 12:46:37 PM

Golddetectornomad · Senior Member

Scotty, I'll submit the photos and Newspaper as proof that LPG leak ignited by fridge pilot light, did in fact incinerate our rented Van as stated....not third hand story...it happened to us in 1984 in Bordertown S.A...and not caused by smoking in bed....that however did come later in the honeymoon mate...Hoo Roo

Scotty01 · Senior Member

Scotty01 wrote:
. I am not saying there is no risk but normal maintenance and a little common sence and it just dosnt happen.

-- Edited by Scotty01 on Sunday 7th of April 2013 12:46:37 PM

I didnt say it dosnt happen but very rare!

Santa · Guru

Scotty01 wrote:
Scotty01 wrote:
. I am not saying there is no risk but normal maintenance and a little common sence and it just dosnt happen.

-- Edited by Scotty01 on Sunday 7th of April 2013 12:46:37 PM
I didnt say it dosnt happen but very rare!

So is getting struck by lightning! but it still happens.

The reason regulations are in place is to protect people from them selves, of course regardless of legislation you simply cant protect some from their own stupidity.