Towing with gas turned on

Gary and Kerry · Guru

Towing with gas turned on

Ma · Guru

Don't know if it's legal or not guys, but it's not something I would do. Too many risks of igniting in my opinion. Will leave it to the "in the know" people to answer that one.

Rolly · Guru

There have been many reports of caravans and motorhomes coming to a fiery end as a result of not turning the gas off on the fridge.
Turn off the supply at the bottle, too.

dave06 · Guru

absolutely under no circumcisions should you drive with the fridge on gas, if you have a leak without a gas fuse then you're gone, a leak without a gas detector then you're gone

don't do it, the gas may build up in the van and one little source of ignition and you have a bomb

turn him on to 12 volt and save yourself the drama

Firefly · Guru

We always put ours back to 12V when we travel.

sgntbilko · Senior Member

BIG BIG no no, to travel with your gas turned on. Far too Dangerous. Do not know of any law covering this, however common sense comes into the equasion.

Use your 12 volt system when travelling. Only way to go.

Have a good one out there.

ibbo · Guru

Hi Garry and Kerry.It is not legal to refuel your vehicle if a naked flame is in your van.As all the other G/N's have said it is not something that you should do.All the answers have been spot.Safe travels to you both.Cheers.Ibbo

elliemike · Guru

Friend of ours was fuelling up the VW 4x4 camper in Perth a few years ago. Another VW camper was fuelling up on the other pump.   My mate and the other guy started talking about their VW conversions etc.
Then it came to gas cylinder location !!!!!

The guy told him about an incident he had some  years before.

At a Service station he was outside filling  up the camper.  He had the gas bottle fitted inside the homemade campervan.   Wife was still in the passenger seat. She, a non smoker idly pushed the cigarette lighter in to see if it was working!!

All the windows blew out and wife was burned. Not badly but still had some scars to show.

Hmmmmmm Gas in an enclosed space !!!!!

Regards
Mike and Ellie

xina · Guru

That's why I won't have gas [except for a butane Camp Stove ] in the High-ace. Gave the other stove and bottles to my nephew. Fridge runs on 12V all the time.
Cheers,
xina.

kenmarg · Veteran Member

give your insurance company a ring,but i am sure you are not covered ????

dave06 · Guru

gas is a great thing and I wouldnt be without it, but we all must give it the respect it deserves or pay the price

jimricho · Guru

Digressing a little from the thread but still relevant to operating the fridge while travelling, I have fitted a voltage booster to the 12v fridge circuit. This boosts the voltage from the car to over 14 volts (nominal voltage for a 12v system). The unit was purchased from Hybralec in Melbourne and is capable of boosting voltages at or above 9 volts to a regulated 14 volt output, current capacity is 20 amps output. Absorption type fridges (most caravan fridges) aren't very efficient and draw considerable current on "12 volts" causing significant voltage drop in the wiring unless wired with very heavy gauge cable. it is also highly advisable to have a relay or solenoid switch in the fridge circuit as it doesn't take very long to discharge the vehicle's battery when the engine is not running.

xina · Guru

Hi Jimricho, I forgot to say I have a Solar panel on the roof. That's what runs my fridge.
Cheers,
xina.

jimricho · Guru

xina wrote:

Hi Jimricho, I forgot to say I have a Solar panel on the roof. That's what runs my fridge.
Cheers,
xina.

Hi Xina, I assumed Gary and Kerry's reason for leaving the gas on is to run the fridge while travelling. I guess that if you are able to satisfactorily run your fridge off a solar panel/battery combination that it would be a compressor type fridge and not an absorption type (any fridge that can run on gas is an absorption type). I don't have the "hands on" experience with solar that many members of this forum would have, but theoretically it would require a seriously large solar panel array to power and absorption fridge as these draw about 4 to 6 times (or more) the power of a compressor unit. Compressor fridges are generally a much better option to absorption units if you don't need the facility to run on gas.

I took the opportunity to add the note about the voltage booster (not applicable to solar systems) for the general interest of forum members.

regards, Jim

PS: I commend Gary and Kerry for seeking advice in this subject.