Propane on/off while traveling

[aatauses]

Hi everyone,
I know there was a question a while back asking how many travel with propane on or off. A friend of ours just had a blow out and the tire went up and shredded his propane line to the refer--he does not travel with propane on and now he knows why. Here is my question--for those who travel with propane off (and I do not) what happens when you stop---do you have air to deal with in the lines for the stove, refer, etc? Also, how does your refer do being off for 5-6 hours?
thanks
al
currently in St Louis

 

[Lynn1130]

Yes you have air in the lines but that is not a big issue. What is an issue for those of us who live where temps are 100+ 4 or 5 months a year is that you cannot store anything in the fridge if you travel any length of time with the propane off. Just a short trip from Phoenix to camping spots in the high country would leave spoiled food in the fridge if it is not cooled.

 

[JohnD]

We travel with the propane on keeping our fridge, food and BEER cold!

If I worried about having a tire blow out every time we pulled our trailer . . . we probably wouldn't own a trailer!

 

[branson4020]

When we first started rving we travelled with refer turned off, propane turned off. Never had a problem with air in the lines, but stuff in freezer was not solidly frozen after 6 hours in hot weather and refer was up to 45+ degrees. Also, don't want to hijack thread, but how dangerous would this accident have been if the propane had been on? It's very low pressure out of the regulator.

 

[JohnDar]

When we've pulled from our site in northern Michigan down to the Goshen rally, the propane was off, but the fridge remained cold during the 7 hour trip. Purging the air from the lines once set up is a simple matter of turning on a stove burner and letting it burn for a minute or two.

I recently pulled the rig home 200 miles for storage, with stuff still in the fridge and freezer. All still cold when I unpacked the fridge to bring the food home.

If you don't open it, it will remain cold for quite some time.

 

[branson4020]

One other thought about safety - Wouldn't a severed propane line trigger the excess flow protection valves built into the cylinders?

 

[Birchwood]

The only time I turn off propane is when I recharge the tanks.Its always ON!

 

[aatauses]

Thanks for the responses----branson4020----what can you (or others) tell me about the excess flow protection??
al

 

[JohnD]

When we've pulled from our site in northern Michigan down to the Goshen rally, the propane was off, but the fridge remained cold during the 7 hour trip. Purging the air from the lines once set up is a simple matter of turning on a stove burner and letting it burn for a minute or two.

I recently pulled the rig home 200 miles for storage, with stuff still in the fridge and freezer. All still cold when I unpacked the fridge to bring the food home.

If you don't open it, it will remain cold for quite some time.

Do you have the residential fridge in your trailer?

We have the Norcold RV fridge, which takes very little LP to keep cold while traveling.

One thing I do, however, is shut off the LP when I am fueling the truck, and restart it after I pull away from the gas pumps!

Very easy to do . . .

 

[JohnDar]

Nope, we have a DM2862.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nabo]

Before we got our new Landmark Key Largo, we always traveled with the propane on because of the refrig. Now that we have a residential refrig, we leave the propane totally off, using electric setting for the hot water heater. Only turned the propane on one time when we were on a 30 amp service needing to heat the hot water up quickly.

 

[JanAndBill]

Do you have the residential fridge in your trailer?

We have the Norcold RV fridge, which takes very little LP to keep cold while traveling.

One thing I do, however, is shut off the LP when I am fueling the truck, and restart it after I pull away from the gas pumps
Very easy to do . . .

I never really thought about this, but I guess for those with gas engines it might be a good idea. Last year I was at the local gas station/coffee shop one cold morning, when a young man pulled up to the pumps, put the nozzle in his truck and got back in to stay warm. When it got close to what he wanted, he jumped back out and as soon as his hand got close to the nozzle a static spark set off the vapors coming out of his tank. In an instant flames were shooting 20' into the air. The quick thinking clerk killed the power to the pumps, which stopped the vapors, and the flame went out before it could do any real damage. The lesson here is anytime you're working around an area that has the potential for any type of flammable gas vapor, it's a good idea to make sure you're grounded. Also, be aware that LP is heavier than air, so if there is a leak, will go to the lowest area it can find.

 

[Jim.Allison]

The brass adapter at your plumbing where the low pressure line connects will close as soon as a flow greater than 11 mm/cm/ ? is exceeded. It has a disc that shifts to block the flow. In Fact it sometimes will close when you install a new tank, but once the pressure on both sides equalizes it will open. So if you rupture your low pressure line this device will shut off the low pressure gas. look at the connection for a brass fiting between your line and the black pipe. Your tanks have a built in check valve for the high pressure side.

As far a traveling with them on, there is no problem. But in close proximity to gasoline, a danger does exist when the LP refer or water heater is operating and ESPECIALLY if you or someone else were to overfill the tank. At diesel pumps only, it not an issue.

You cannot get air in the lines unless you disconnect the lines.

Thanks for the responses----branson4020----what can you (or others) tell me about the excess flow protection??
al