Siting of gas bottle/tank LPG filling valve .. (1 Viewer)

[scotjimland]

Read this news story about a man in the US who suffered horrific burns from a gas explosion while filling an RV with LPG ..

The reason for posting was to alert others to the potential danger from a lit fridge and a poorly sited LPG filling valve..

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Refillable bottles and tanks and becoming more popular... so please consider where the refill valve is sited... and if close to an ignition source ... reconsider..

The jury will be asked to determine whether the motorhome had a design defect by having a refrigerator burner and ignition directly above the tank filler valve.

 

[GJH]

An important "heads up" Jim, thanks. But why was the fridge lit when he was filling the bottle? One of the things Dave stressed after he fitted our bottle was that the gas has to be turned off when refilling it.

 

[scotjimland]

An important "heads up" Jim, thanks. But why was the fridge lit when he was filling the bottle? One of the things Dave stressed after he fitted our bottle was that the gas has to be turned off when refilling it.

I presume so Graham .. most yank fridges don't have 12v so are lit while traveling ..

I was one of the worst offenders, never turned my fridge off when refueling diesel.. however, in my defense, the diesel fill point was on the opposite side of the RV from the fridge vents ..however, still 'at risk' from others refueling petrol close by..

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[JeanLuc]

An important warning and thanks for posting, but is this not why AES fridges have a time delay before switching to LPG? So that they will not switch to gas during a short break with the engine switched off. I thought it was illegal to have a gas appliance running whilst at a filling station. Not sure where this leaves the modern crop of motorhomes with Secumotion gas regulators.

 

[makems]

I agree with Philip - our Dometic fridge has a delay on switching to gas (15 or 20 mins I think) to ensure that it does not ignite while filling up (diesel/petrol/LPG).
But I do also turn off the gas bottles when filling up with LPG.
I definitely don't want to end up fried to a crisp!

 

[Reallyretired]

Yes would probably normally only be a problem on an RV as Euro vans are not designed to run on gas while travelling.

My gas filler is only about 3ft from my lower fridge vent, and although it should not be a problem because of 15min delay after stopping it's worth considering because by the time you've got the sticking cap off, fiddled about with adaptors (in foreign parts) and have got the pump authorised, and then filled, you could be just in time for the gas to have relit when you disconnect the pump. (the only time there should be any release of gas)

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[aba]

Its not the gas

the problem is not with the gas bottles being turned off

the fridge, boiler, heating can all try to ignite whilst you are filling up if they are not switched off

 

[Geordie and the Dragon]

Siting of gas bottle/tank LPG filling valve

Not so Realleyretired ! ours is an Euro van and the gas can be used to run the heating while travelling in the Winter but we prefer not to risk it and dress warm instead. oh:

 

[TheBig1]

theres no cure for stupidity

anyone that thinks its ok to have a flame burning in their motorhome whilst filling up with LPG etc is playing russian roulette with everyone around them at risk

secumotion makes it safer to have the heater on whilst driving, not whilst filling up at a petrol station. two different scenarios entirely

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[gorsty]

while we toured the states every time we filled the lpg i allways turned of the fridge but also i was allways asked if i had turned it of the yanks do love a good lawsuit :Sad:

 

[pappajohn]

LPG fill front near side (UK) behind wheel....petrol fill near side (UK) rear below bed window.
fridge and furnace vents on off side (UK) centre....still turn gas off though and it takes two seconds, a flick of a switch, from inside the RV