Running the fridge while driving

Welcome to the group!

Most every rig you see going down the road is running the fridge on propane. The problem with running the fridge on 12 volts is that the wiring harness going back to the Pod's battery has too small of a conductor and DC drops quickly with distance. The fridge draws more amps than is delivered by the tow vehicle.

We always run the fridge on 12V when driving.

As you see, opinions vary to the extremes on both sides. So I'll restate arguments for propane:

1. Propane is absolutely safe while driving. Modern propane bottles have built in safety valves to restrict flow in case of line rupture. The flow will actually be stopped if a rupture occurs.
2. Running the fridge on 12V while driving will hog most or all of the charging current available from the towing vehicle (TV). At best the battery charge will only be maintained; at worst the battery will be discharged as you drive.
   
3. All refrigerators larger 5 cu ft do not even have a 12V option. They must run on propane while traveling or not at all. This means most of the RVs you see on the road are running the fridge on propane.

I think you'll find most PODers run on propane while driving, switching to 120V when shore power is available.

Thanks to everyone for all the quick replies and thoughtful perspectives.  And for making us feel welcome in the forum.  I'm relieved that running on propane while driving isn't nearly scary as my dealer tried to make it out to be.   I get their caution (an overly sensitive world of ever-evolving liability) but the arguments you all laid out make sense.  Thanks again for the thoughtful replies!

We are "ambicoolers". Have gone both ways over the years.. Our tv does send about 30A to the trailer.

Running on 12v in scorching temps, 7 hour pull to a pod rally, arrived with fridge at 36F, battery fully charged. So know ours will do fine on 12v. Our Airstream doesn't have a 12v option, like nearly all rigs out there, so it runs propane. As pointed out before.. you can either believe all those bigger TT's are running down the road with warm beer and spoiled bacon... or that running on propane just isn't as dangerous as some would claim. Most bigger class C's and A's run the fridge on 120v and just run the genny. 95% of the hours on my dads on-board are traveling, not camping.. and even then, he only runs in 120v if he thinks propane availability or supply might be an issue.

As a side note, our little fridge's use very little propane. If that was all you had running/using, no one would call you a liar if you said it ran 6 to 8 weeks on one 20 pounder.