LBR
Well-known member
If you have a residential refrigerator, an inverter is your best option.
If you don't have a residential type, what and how are you attempting to power it with your generator and cord?
Keeping a Refridgerator cold when driving
- Thread starter johnf
- Start date
If you don't have a residential type, what and how are you attempting to power it with your generator and cord?
Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn
Well-known member
There are thousands of RV going down the road with the fridge on LP and they have been doing that for many many years.
I see no reason to worry about it now.
If you really wanted to change your gas/electric fridge to not run on gas going down the road you could always install a invertor like we have to run our residential fridges going down the road.
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I see no reason to worry about it now.
If you really wanted to change your gas/electric fridge to not run on gas going down the road you could always install a invertor like we have to run our residential fridges going down the road.
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Well, that would be better except (and I hope I don't sound like I'm arguing, I'm just dialoguing so bear with me)...my emergency brake line caught on my coupler once when parking it. At first it seemed like the transmission had gone out in my 06 Dodge 2500 5.9, and I was nervous to say the least. Then someone noticed that the line for the brake was pulled out, therefore the brakes were locked. With that said, in that area of motion and wind and what not...propane would be best and uses less energy than the generator would.
(I have a thread where I'm overhauling the bathroom completely, please go ahead and give me your input there
avvidclif
Well-known member
Chicken Little said the sky was falling too. In over 40 yrs of RVing the fridge is on propane going down the road and electricity when parked. If near gas pumps I will turn it off until I get away from it. Some tunnels in the NE require propane to be turned off. Never been there, don't know.
Mine stays on auto, when I unplug I listen for the gas to kick on and go on. The arguments are probably 99% for and 1% chicken little.
Thanks, myla296. No worries. I appreciate the input. We are new RV'ers and appreciate your thoughts.Well, that would be better except (and I hope I don't sound like I'm arguing, I'm just dialoguing so bear with me)...my emergency brake line caught on my coupler once when parking it. At first it seemed like the transmission had gone out in my 06 Dodge 2500 5.9, and I was nervous to say the least. Then someone noticed that the line for the brake was pulled out, therefore the brakes were locked. With that said, in that area of motion and wind and what not...propane would be best and uses less energy than the generator would.
(I have a thread where I'm overhauling the bathroom completely, please go ahead and give me your input there
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It would appear that it is personal opinion to run fridge on propane while underway, and as a new fifth wheel owner and a retired 35 year firefighter, I wonder about this myself. Actually, the preowned Sundance trailer I purchased showed signs of having a previous tire blowout that took out some gas lines going up into the trailer. If those lines had been under pressure at the time of this mishap, odds are that after tire blew out there would be the bare wheel hitting the pavement causing sparks and a potential of serious damage and danger to anyone in the area. I've responded to many propane and natural gas leaks and explosions during my firefighter days, and it can be a very dangerous situation. Many can go for decades without any mishaps, but it only takes one time where the combination of rare events match up and cause havoc. That being said, my personal plans are to reroute and shield all gas (propane) lines well clear of tires and run with propane fridge on.
danemayer
Well-known member
I remember seeing a video about water heaters located in garages (of homes) and why it was dangerous. The water heater was gas, and sat on the floor in one corner of the garage. The garage was a typical size - about 20x20.
The demonstrator was filling the gas tank on a lawn mower at the other end of the garage and spilled a typical small amount of gas on the floor. The gasoline vapor traveled the distance to the water heater within a few seconds, ignited, and the flames ran back to the gas can and lawn mower. Within just a few seconds of the spill, the garage was aflame.
To reduce the risk, water heaters were raised about 12" above floor level. But the real recommendation was to not have a water heater in the garage.
So when I think about gasoline spills at the pump, and an open flame at the back of the RV refrigerator, I'm comforted that there's several feet between pavement and flame. But maybe less to a pump nozzle.
So we each get to read the warnings (see earlier post), and understand the issue, and then we each get to decide what to do.
The demonstrator was filling the gas tank on a lawn mower at the other end of the garage and spilled a typical small amount of gas on the floor. The gasoline vapor traveled the distance to the water heater within a few seconds, ignited, and the flames ran back to the gas can and lawn mower. Within just a few seconds of the spill, the garage was aflame.
To reduce the risk, water heaters were raised about 12" above floor level. But the real recommendation was to not have a water heater in the garage.
So when I think about gasoline spills at the pump, and an open flame at the back of the RV refrigerator, I'm comforted that there's several feet between pavement and flame. But maybe less to a pump nozzle.
So we each get to read the warnings (see earlier post), and understand the issue, and then we each get to decide what to do.
wdk450
Well-known member
The propane gas refrigerator has been historically the #1 cause of RV fires. There have been major lawsuits and refrigerator recalls addressing this problem. A lot of improvement has been made. Today, the propane supply to the refrigerator goes through a solenoid valve that is automatically closed if a thermal link is opened by fire. The modern propane tanks have valves that cut off gas flow if there is an excess flow rate (assumed to be due to a broken gas line).
I personally have encased the flexible rubber propane line to the kitchen slide in a thick wall polypropylene hose to try to prevent rupture from possible road/tire debris. I have also invested in a $270 self-deploying halon fire extinguisher that is mounted in the refrigerator exterior compartment. These are available on Mac the Fire Guy's website, or on the RVCoolingunit.com website. Anyone truly concerned with RV fire safety having an ammonia adsorption (propane) refrigerator ought to seriously consider purchasing and installing one of these extinguishers.
On Edit: It is also important to realize that the ammonia refrigerant itself is flammable. Road vibration does not have to be present to help cause an ammonia refrigerator fire. Last January I saw the remains of an expensive Class A coach that was said to have a fire starting at the ammonia refrigerator. This coach had been sitting on a leased site for over 3 years without moving.
I personally have encased the flexible rubber propane line to the kitchen slide in a thick wall polypropylene hose to try to prevent rupture from possible road/tire debris. I have also invested in a $270 self-deploying halon fire extinguisher that is mounted in the refrigerator exterior compartment. These are available on Mac the Fire Guy's website, or on the RVCoolingunit.com website. Anyone truly concerned with RV fire safety having an ammonia adsorption (propane) refrigerator ought to seriously consider purchasing and installing one of these extinguishers.
On Edit: It is also important to realize that the ammonia refrigerant itself is flammable. Road vibration does not have to be present to help cause an ammonia refrigerator fire. Last January I saw the remains of an expensive Class A coach that was said to have a fire starting at the ammonia refrigerator. This coach had been sitting on a leased site for over 3 years without moving.
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TxRoadWarrior362
Well-known member
I say, own a trailer with a generator and keep on, keeping on. Run down the open road with the purr of that generator keeping the steak and Miller Lite cold as a Colorado winter!
Lynn1130
Well-known member
We dry camp for periods up to 14 days. I wonder how flat the batteries would be at the end of that, even with the generator going at times. You never get a full charge into the batteries with the genny over that period of time so I would think the refrigerator would kill them after a few days.
Oregon_Camper
Well-known member
Solar power is the answer to this. We have gone 21 days straight with no power and our solar system kept the batteries at 100% the entire time
Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn
Well-known member
Is that with the residential fridge ???
That's awesome. I'm sure mine would do that too. I forget to plug it in one time when we came home. It ran 3 or 4 days before I realized it and when I checked they were at 100% but we weren't using anything else.
So I wasn't sure how long it could go.
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Oregon_Camper
Well-known member
No..we do not have the residential fridge. We were watching movies at night (off computer wirelessly sent to RV's TV) and running heater, so we were not limiting ourselves on power usage.
You can see the image in my signature below....that is where we spent 21 days and never had to run my Yamaha generator. I'm almost ready to leave the generator at home...no need to bring it anymore.
LBR
Well-known member
By the time we are 100% footloose and fancy free, I'll have +-1000 watts of panels on top and +-700 a/h of storage batteries. We plan to dry camp 2 weeks somewhere, RV park 1 night to dump and fill, then 2 weeks elsewhere. The umbilical cord won't get used much...Lol
This particular refrigerator is listed at 2.8 amps consumption....obviously that has to be after the compressor is started up, but with the problems many have complained about here with their gas refrigerators, I chose to go residential.
Lynn1130
Well-known member
How well does that work in the forest under heavy pine tree canopy? We seem to do quite well with just the generator running a few hours in the AM and PM. And just my personal feeling about camping in the woods, but I am very happy without the TV and electronics going all day and night. It also keeps the kids outdoors enjoying nature rather than with their faces in a phone, IPad or TV set.
I have been using gas through three trailers and 17 years and have not had an issue yet. But saying that probably jinxed me.
BigGuy82
Well-known member
Since you asked ... no. Don't do it. Not safe. Probably illegal somewhere somehow.
But that's just me.
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I say, own a trailer with a generator and keep on, keeping on. Run down the open road with the purr of that generator keeping the steak and Miller Lite cold as a Colorado winter!
If you're happy with the cost it's fine. Probably not bad for short trips, but if you're putting in long days on the road, it gets pricey. Running an RV fridge on propane costs pennies per hour and it keeps the fridge (at least mine) perfectly cold. Just curious why you would prefer this method over running it on propane?
Hi all; I may have missed a post that discussed plugging in your trailer to the truck, switch in the trailer on "by-pass" mode, and heading down the road. I have done this several times and the residential fridge we have is still cold, ice is still frozen and nothing is ruined. In fact, we don't fire up the Onan until the next morning to start coffee and charge phones, etc. then after about a half hour or so, Onan goes off and we're still good.
Doesn't the truck charge the batteries while hooked up going down the road and doesn't the batteries in turn power the refrigerator?
C
Doesn't the truck charge the batteries while hooked up going down the road and doesn't the batteries in turn power the refrigerator?
C
LBR
Well-known member
My exact scenario...ours has a 1000 watt dedicated inverter so, truck charges batteries, batteries powers inverter, inverter powers refrigerator.
