fridge on or off on gas while driving ? (1 Viewer)

ralphman

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were off to france on saturday for 10 days, my husband said dont bring too much fridge/freezer stuff as the fridge will be off while driving. we normally turn off the gas as i invisage us going up in a ball of flames should we have a crash ! my question is what do you all do while driving, do you have the fridge on using gas or just power it up while parked ?

thanks sam :)
 
Dec 6, 2011
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are you sure your fridge does not work on 12v while driving? it may be a manual switch over at the controls on the fridge.

also

certain gas regulators are designed so that gas can be used while driving and have an auto cut off in event of an incident. we have such a regulator and i quite often do not turn the gas off at the bottles.
 

DP+JAY

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Surely it's on 12v whilst driving?

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were off to france on saturday for 10 days, my husband said dont bring too much fridge/freezer stuff as the fridge will be off while driving. we normally turn off the gas as i invisage us going up in a ball of flames should we have a crash ! my question is what do you all do while driving, do you have the fridge on using gas or just power it up while parked ?

thanks sam :)

Is it not a three way fridge
Ie gas /12 volt /240 volt

While traveling use 12 volt . gas off at bottle just in case .:Eeek:

On site 240 volt electric hook up if available ! otherwise gas

parking up in a hide away wildcamping gas

Traveling with the gas on and alight in my view isn't a safe practice
Obviously not everyone will agree


:thumb::thumb::thumb:
 

jhorsf

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If your van does not have a 12 volt fridge you could put some frozen ice packs in the freezer part this would keep the temp down in the fridge:thumb:
 
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ralphman

ralphman

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yes it is a 3way fridge, i think my husband thought it wld drain the leisure battery as it does when on 12v paked up(we only made that mistake once of using it on 12v) ok so is it my understanding then that the 12v comes off the engine battery or the leisure battery comes runs from the engine battery ? so it will not drain all the time you are driving ?

thanks for all the answers so far :)

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stcyr

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While driving, on 12v, the fridge works off the engine battery. :thumb:

With an engine battery which had seen better days, and a tired alternator, the red charging light has come on sometimes if driving with headlights,wipers & demister on, on ours (which is identical to the Hymer)...
 
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ralphman

ralphman

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arh thank you thats cleared that up nicely ::bigsmile: i thought people couldnt have their fridges turned off for long drives

thanks again :thumb:
 
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My Hymer has a 3 way fridge, I leave both the 12v and Mains switch in the on position at all times. When driving it works of the 12v through the engine, and on hook up it works of the mains.
It never works of 12v when not on hook up, it then has to be put on gas. It should never drain the leisure batteries, that's the way I understand it.

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Techno

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Many people including myself start their journey on gas as the 12 volts is only good for maintaining the temperature rather than reducing it. Once the fridge is cold I then operate as normal for the rest of my tour/holiday
 

Minxy

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I suggest you get hold of a copy of "The Motorcaravan Manual" (3rd edition) by John Wickersham published by Haynes as it explains how things in your motorhome work as it would appear that both you and your husband need some 'gaps' in your knowledge filling. :Smile:

This is the cheapest I've seen:

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hilldweller

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arh thank you thats cleared that up nicely ::bigsmile: i thought people couldnt have their fridges turned off for long drives

thanks again :thumb:

No quite !

You said the fridge drained the leisure battery once. I've never heard of one connected to the engine battery and the leisure battery.

The "normal" way is for a 12V feed from the engine battery only when the engine is running.

Also "normal" is for the engine to charge the leisure battery when running.

But are you normal ?

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ralphman

ralphman

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my mistake, just wasnt sure how & where 12v ran off of i usually leave all the turning on of things to my husband. in our old van on our first ever trip we had the fridge on 12v and drained the leisure battery and what i was trying to say in a roundabout way was that the engine battery was connected to the leisure battery ie for charging but didnt say it obviously correctly
i am 'normal' in that i didn't know something and asked others who may know the answer to something i found confusing,

i shall go to bed now and pray that once i too become a fountain of motorhome knowledge i shall not make others feel stupid asking for help on a motorhome forum
 
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no way the fridge shgould drain the leisure battery you shouldnt be able to run it on 12v with the engine off if your fridge has a light in this will run from the leisure battery but is so small it shouldnt have much impact also the gas igniter is run from leisure battery but once the fridge is lit on gas there is no further current drawn
 

wivvy's dad

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Fridge checklist for going away....

1) Run fridge on gas for a couple of hours before setting off
2) Put stuff from the home freezer into fridge, as well as normal items
3) Before setting off, switch gas off, and run fridge from 12v supply, which will only maintain level of cold but will not reduce it
4) Arrive at destination. Run fridge on gas if no EHU available, and on electric 240v if EHU available
5) Open alcoholic beverage of choice
6) Chill..................................:winky:

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Ridgeway

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Fridge checklist for going away....

1) Run fridge on gas for a couple of hours before setting off
2) Put stuff from the home freezer into fridge, as well as normal items
3) Before setting off, switch gas off, and run fridge from 12v supply, which will only maintain level of cold but will not reduce it
4) Arrive at destination. Run fridge on gas if no EHU available, and on electric 240v if EHU available
5) Open alcoholic beverage of choice
6) Chill..................................:winky:

Pretty much the same here although as I bring the MH to the house the night before we go I tend to use the EHU and 230v to bring the fridge down to temp. I do find that 12v really struggles to even maintain any reasonable temp when it's hot outside and sometimes resort to gas for general running.
 

ukbill

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my fridge does not run on my leisure battery only the engine battery
so its
gas
240v
12v engine
hope this helps
as for waking up full of motorhome knowledge good luck you will have a long wait or sleep :ROFLMAO:
 

ukbill

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I suggest you get hold of a copy of "The Motorcaravan Manual" (3rd edition) by John Wickersham published by Haynes as it explains how things in your motorhome work as it would appear that both you and your husband need some 'gaps' in your knowledge filling. :Smile:

This is the cheapest I've seen:

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is this good for all motorhomes as they are all different they all have diff ways of working so is this really a good buy because if so i need 1 i reckon :Smile:

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scotjimland

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(snip) ..

i am 'normal' in that i didn't know something and asked others who may know the answer to something i found confusing,

i shall go to bed now and pray that once i too become a fountain of motorhome knowledge i shall not make others feel stupid asking for help on a motorhome forum


Sam, there is absolutely no such thing as a stupid question... only stupid replies.

On a number of occasions it has been suggested that we have an FAQs section, but this was rejected as it would reduce the number of forum questions.. it's questions like yours that keep this forum alive..

If we all knew everything there would be no need of a forum. So keep on asking.

Confucius said. "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance" ...
 
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Armytwowheels

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my mistake, just wasnt sure how & where 12v ran off of i usually leave all the turning on of things to my husband. in our old van on our first ever trip we had the fridge on 12v and drained the leisure battery and what i was trying to say in a roundabout way was that the engine battery was connected to the leisure battery ie for charging but didnt say it obviously correctly
i am 'normal' in that i didn't know something and asked others who may know the answer to something i found confusing,

i shall go to bed now and pray that once i too become a fountain of motorhome knowledge i shall not make others feel stupid asking for help on a motorhome forum

Hi Ralphman

Your question wasn't stupid and I really don't think Hilldweller was insinuating that you were. I think he meant is your van normal! Motorhomes get tinkered with and changerd overtime, wiring gets changed, layouts get redone, all sorts of stuff, so some vans are barely recognisable compared to when they left the factory. We have an 18 year old van with an original manual, but some of the wiring bears little resemblance to what's in the manual.

I also understand that us non-technical girls can have a hard time trying to explain what we mean when it comes to this sort of stuff. :thumb:

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WynandJean

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Traveling with the gas on and alight in my view isn't a safe practice
Obviously not everyone will agree
:thumb::thumb::thumb:

When considering his advice you may wish to take into account why TOFO has the username he has! :ROFLMAO:

Wyn
 
Jan 27, 2013
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When I bought my first motorhome the dealer told me that the 12v system on the fridge would only maintain temperature. I did question him at the time but he couldn't back this up with any useful information.

He wasn't right and I can only guess this was based on old equipment.

The 12v system on modern fridges gives at least 90% of the cooling capacity when on mains. The 12v system draws up to 15 amps on the largest fridge/freezers so this is hooked up to the vehicle electrics. Smaller fridges in smaller van conversions may only work on 12v that's why some of these vehicles have a leisure battery bigger than anything you'll find in a coach-built MH.

Best practice is to think of the fridge like a thermos flask. If you pre-heat a Thermos it keeps the beverage hotter for longer.

So if you're setting off from home run the fridge before filling it up on 230v to get it nice and cool.

I guess if your MH is in storage you could go the day before and put the fridge on gas (I don't know if this is generally allowed by the owners of these places - I've haven't used these facilities).

:Smile:
 
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Jan 27, 2013
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As for gas on or off

My New MH has a Drivesafe regulator and pig-tail. The Swift manual suggests...

If your Motorhome has a factory fitted habitation en-route LPG heating system that can be used whilst travelling. Fig 1 shows the two safety valves features that are part of the system, these are there for your safety whilst using the system when travelling. When in use ensure all other gas appliances are separately isolated.



Quite why they feel other appliances should be switched off is unexplained. I imagine this is something to do with the National Caravan Council. Who also feel you should not have 12v power in the rear while driving.

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ralphman

ralphman

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thank you all very much for your replies, now it all makes sense. We do normally put the fridge on overnight via a 240 hook up at home so as long as it maintains the coolness between aires etc i shall be happy.

Feel free to keep the thread going for others in a similarly confused state ::bigsmile:

sam x
 

jhorsf

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Ok I cannot hold back any longer who is Mrs Napkinhead (sig pic) ?

my guess Sam a few years ago ?
 

Minxy

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When I bought my first motorhome the dealer told me that the 12v system on the fridge would only maintain temperature. I did question him at the time but he couldn't back this up with any useful information.

He wasn't right and I can only guess this was based on old equipment.

The 12v system on modern fridges gives at least 90% of the cooling capacity when on mains. The 12v system draws up to 15 amps on the largest fridge/freezers so this is hooked up to the vehicle electrics.
I'm not sure why you're saying the dealer was wrong when he said that the 12v system only maintains temperature as I believe that IS the case when it is ONLY being run from the engine which is producing the 12v power. However, when the fridge is running on mains, then it is controllable as a normal domestic 'home' fridge would be. :Smile:

Smaller fridges in smaller van conversions may only work on 12v that's why some of these vehicles have a leisure battery bigger than anything you'll find in a coach-built MH.
I assume you're referring to the Waeco type fridges? Just to avoid causing confusion for 'newbies', these are completely different to the 3-way type fridges which can run on 12v, mains and gas.

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Jan 27, 2013
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Sure as eggs is eggs :thumb:

15 amps at 12v = 180 watts

0.8 amps at 230v = 184 watts


And you can get fridges that run only on 12v. These include full blown 50 litre plus fridges not coolers.

Do you want to see my City & Guilds F GAS and ODS Regulations (2079) certificate?
 

Spenders

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Ok I cannot hold back any longer who is Mrs Napkinhead (sig pic) ?

my guess Sam a few years ago ?


Is it the lovely Marilu Henner, one time romantic interest in the American sitcom 'Taxi' and wife of John Travolta if memory serves?

Simon
 
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I have found the effectiveness of 12v operation is quite variable between MHs, even with identical fridges, because of mounting positions etc. On my present MH the temperature in both the fridge and freezer is maintained a degree or two lower on 12v as opposed to mains, probably due to there being no thermostat on 12v operation. I have a external readout thermometer on both fridge and freezer.
On my previous MH it was necessary to turn off the fridge for parts of a long drive or the milk would freeze, it was so effective on 12v.
My theory on this was that the way it was mounted, the lower vent was in the side wall at the back, and the top vent in the rear wall, the fridge being in the corner of the van, so that when in motion there was a strong air current around the back of the fridge producing extra efficient cooling.
That said I have also had MHs where the 12 v cooling was barely adequate to maintain a reasonable temperature, so it cannot be assumed that they will all behave the same.

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