Driving with the Propane on?

[dcrbtt]

Is it ok to drive with the Propane on?

 

[Gizmo100]

Is it ok to drive with the Propane on?

I leave it on to run the fridge. Never had a problem. Just make sure all your other LP items are turn off. Double check the heater my wife just turned it down one day and when I stopped for gas a couple hours later it was running

 

[NY_Dutch]

Many of us leave the propane on when underway to fuel the refrigerator and in cold weather, we may also run the furnace(s). Personally, we sometimes fire up the water heater 20-30 minutes before arriving at our campsite if we want to grab a shower after setting up. As said, make sure all propane appliances are off when refueling.

 

[Isaac-1]

I personally see nothing against it in a motorhome with iron propane plumbing, I however would not leave it on in a travel trailer that runs rubber propane lines near the wheel wells in case of a blow out.

 

[WILDEBILL308]

The only time I turn off my propane is where it is required like in a tunnel.
Bill

 

[Oldgator73]

I leave ours on for the fridge. It?s in the driveway now with it on. I have beer in the fridge.

 

[8Muddypaws]

I?ve see iron gas pipes destroyed by blowouts three times.  Once on our motorhome, once on our trailer, and once on our sons trailer. 

Plastic vs iron?  Tossup in my humble opinion.  Iron rusts and leaks, plastic cracks but is easy to repair.

 

[phil-t]

Ours is on ALL the time.  I think the only time it gets turned off is when the folks fill the tank.  I know because they rarely turn it back on.

 

[Prior member]

Lots of people will. I won't.

Jack L

 

[John From Detroit]

Insurance companies tell us don't do it.  (There is a very tiny danger.) but many do.  Frankly I am not convinced the greater danger is driving with it off.  But that is a longer post than I care to make.

But I'd much rather that if I'm going to have, say a Fridge fire, it happen on an open road than a packed FMCA rally. (On very old rigs there was a possibility of pilot blow out and bad things happening (Low but higher than with today's DSI systems).

 

[Dragginourbedaround]

We leave ours on all the time, except when at the gas pumps refueling.

 

[AStravelers]

We have traveled many, many miles over 45 years in a variety of RV with the propane system on, mainly to power the fridge.  No problems.

If you really want to be safe, don't get on the road.  30,000 to 40,000 people die and many hundreds of thousand are injured every year in auto/truck/RV highway crashes every year for the last 40-50 years.

And we worry about the very minor risk of leaving the propane on. 

 

[Roy M]

The only time I turned ours off was on ferries where it is required. At the cg I switch the fridge to shore power to conserve propane.

 

[KandT]

Don't know if it is safe but I did it a lot of miles.

 

[timjet]

FMCA ran an article about this a couple of years ago. Sorry I can't find it but if you're interested I would call them and let them research it for you. Their advise was to turn it off. I never leave mine on when traveling and many/most folks say it's not necessary to turn it off unless refueling.
I think it adds an extra layer of safety if you're in an accident. If you have an inverter, it will power the fridge while traveling if it's sized correctly.
Incidentally, we rarely use propane unless we boon dock with is probably less than 10% of the time. I'll admit I use our grill a lot. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I think it adds an extra layer of safety if you're in an accident.

No doubt that is true, but I think it takes the chances of an LP fire in an accident from something like 0.00002 to 0.00001.  As with so many things, each of us has to decide at what point a risk becomes insignificant and not worth worrying about.
The folks at the NFPA (standards authority for gas safety) and the fire marshals of all 50 states feel that the risk is not a significant cause of fires. That's good enough for me.

 

[viceprice]

FMCA ran an article about this a couple of years ago. Sorry I can't find it but if you're interested I would call them and let them research it for you. Their advise was to turn it off. I never leave mine on when traveling and many/most folks say it's not necessary to turn it off unless refueling.
I think it adds an extra layer of safety if you're in an accident. If you have an inverter, it will power the fridge while traveling if it's sized correctly.
Incidentally, we rarely use propane unless we boon dock with is probably less than 10% of the time. I'll admit I use our grill a lot.

I saved this link that I am certain I picked up here - pretty technical but very informative.

http://home.earthlink.net/~derekgore/rvroadiervfulltimingwhatisitreallylike/id44.html

 

[viceprice]

I do not want to incriminate myself...but after reading many threads here on this topic, I will just say that I make sure the propane and TT electrical are both off when at a fueling stop. Electrical turned off first followed by the propane as soon as I get out of the TV - I feel the electrical is a bigger concern. Having the electrical off prevents any possible sources of ignition of gas fumes that may be present around the gas pumps (from an appliance in the TT trying to start on propane ;D). I reverse the process of turning on the propane followed by the TT electric when I am clear of the fueling station (the next wide spot down the road...)

 

[NY_Dutch]

I'm less concerned about the 0.4 PSI propane lines in my RV than I am the ~50 PSI engine fuel lines. According to the insurance folks, about 75% of all vehicle fires are engine/driveline related.

 

[timjet]

I saved this link that I am certain I picked up here - pretty technical but very informative.

http://home.earthlink.net/~derekgore/rvroadiervfulltimingwhatisitreallylike/id44.html

Your article seems to validate what most people do. Thanks for posting.