Traveling with a refrigerator

Originally posted by jato +2  I have spent a fair amount of time in an attempt to get to the bottom of this controversy and have not found any evidence or legal documentation to support the "illegal or prohibited propane flame" theory.  Still looking, but with the lack of any supporting documentation I will continue to use propane where ever I travel UNLESS I see a sign stating otherwise, which I have never seen . . . . . yet . . .  .as I travel this great country.

Jato your post is a big +3! I aAbsolutely agree! If I have to turn my frig off propane to go through a tunnel or travel on a bridge I will other wise gas stations and such forget about it. If the refrigerator police want to pull me over let them come and get me! If you want to run your refrigerator on your vehicle 12vdc system more power to you. Though if you do please don't cry about it when turn off your vehicle and go away from it for awhile and come back to hear your ignition just go "click" an nothing else when you turn your switch.

Let's keep in mind that gasoline, kerosene, diesel and the like are heavier than air so they spread out along the ground like water seeking the lowest point.  As long as the vapors are uninhibited they spread laterally.  Since the flame of the refrigerator is higher I think there is little chance of ignition.  Can it happen, maybe.  There is a range of ignition, too little vapors (too lean) no ignition, too much vapor (too rich) and there is no ignition.  In 33 years of investigating fires for their origin and cause I have never run across or heard from another investigator of an RV refrigerator igniting a fire while the RV or its tow vehicle being refueled.

+2  I have spent a fair amount of time in an attempt to get to the bottom of this controversy and have not found any evidence or legal documentation to support the "illegal or prohibited propane flame" theory.  Still looking, but with the lack of any supporting documentation I will continue to use propane where ever I travel UNLESS I see a sign stating otherwise, which I have never seen . . . . . yet . . .  .as I travel this great country.

Can anyone point to a state or federal regulation that says it is illegal to run an fridge on LP at a gas station?  I've come fairly close; one site (and I don't recall if it was "official") said IF there is a sign posted at the pump saying it is prohibited, then it's a misdemeanor to have an open flame within 20 feet of the pump.  This brings up what I think is a valid question: what is an open flame?  Or more specifically, is the flame enclosed in a refrigerator an "open flame"?  My attempts to answer that so far seem to indicate that it is not.

I'd really like a genuine answer as to whether it is illegal to run a fridge on propane at a gas station.  A million people saying it is, maybe because 999,999 other people say it, doesn't make it so.  And legal or not, there is still the fear a lot of people have about this.  I have no doubt that is a real fear -- although I've yet to find any evidence that the fear is justified.  Actually, the evidence seems to lean the other way.

TT

According to the wiring diagrams for our NorCold, to run the fridge on battery power, one is supposed to hook up a separate heavy wire from the TV battery (seem to me it was 8 or 10 awg, but I can't remember) and have it on a separate circuit.  It was just too much bother when I replaced the fridge, so we run on either AC or gas.