Trailer fridges blowing up

[Wonder05]

We were reading that there are rv trailer blowing up. I believe they said when it was on gas? Should you replace them or is there a safe way to keep them in electric?

 

[tiggerdad]

As a fireman of 18 years and avid camper I can tell that we were specifically taught that the most common place of a fire in ANY camper is the refrigerator. This has been a long standing fact, and follows the same principle as using an open flame furnace. The difference is that the furnace usually does not run continuously as does the flame on the refrigerator. Sometimes the temp can go up and cause stress on the coil system and thus lead to a leak of the gas.

When hooked to shore power the refrigerator should automatically default to electricity, a few models need to be manually changed. Primarily the only time they run on gas is when in transport or if you have no source of power. Norcold and Dometic are the primary manufacturers of most RV fridges.

The key here is keep an extinguisher handy at all times. There is no posted increased incidents of these that I have heard of, at least not any more than has been happening for many years. I did know that in 2016 a law firm was supposedly looking into possible lawsuits on the two companies however. There was this item that is listed to help shut down the boilers on the refrigerators should their temp get too high. https://www.arprv.com

Did you read this in an article by chance and if so could you post a link. Might be some good information for everyone here.

 

[Wonder05]

My mom actually read it. I'll ask her. Thanks! Is there a way to Only use the electric? I'd like to avoid using the gas for it. We wouldn't need it durning transport.

 

[tiggerdad]

Here's the deal, this has actually been known to happen whether running on the gas or electric. Depends on which law firm website you read.

This problem is long standing, recalls have been known from the early 2000's on up. The problem is the coil system and some claim that it is built thinner, thus allowing better chance of a leak to develop and if this happens any spark has potential to cause a fire. This is RARE mind you.

Some people opt for the compressor refrigerators and avoid the absorption refrigerator, requiring a generator or inverter to run on the road. In very basic terms, your absorption RV refrigerator works like this. It uses heat, and a combination of ammonia, hydrogen gas, and water. These chemicals react and go through various tubes, and the evaporation and condensation process of these chemicals are what cools the refrigerator. In the case of using shore power or a generator, the heat is produced by an element. When electricity is not available, an open flame from the L.P. gas is what is used to heat up the chemicals.

If you want to help decrease the chance then all you have to do is turn the switch to "off".

That simple.

I did some looking around and didn't find anything new on recent fires in RV's that was anything different than what we've seen. The difference is you're seeing more law firms posting about possible lawsuits. Some people don't ever run theirs on gas, even when going down the road because there is also a small chance of an explosion at the gas pump with the open flame back in the fridge while you're filling up the tow vehicle.

Just select to turn it off when not hooked to shore power and problem solved.

In theory...

 

[Teamubr]

TiggerDad nailed it pretty well.

In summary, lawyers trying to make money.

Can an RV refrigerator catch on fire? Sure. But then you need to do the 0.1% test. (That's 1 in a thousand). If this was a common problem or the epidemic you may read about, you would likely see many RVs on the road, burning to the ground, all originating from the refrigerator. In my many years of driving the highways and dry camping with literally thousands of other RVs at races, I have seen exactly 1 camper fire obviously from the refrigerator. It was a very old TT, at least 20 years and in terrible condition.

Doesn't pass the smell test (pun intended) for this to be a huge problem.

I wouldn't worry about it. I travel with mine on propane unless I forget to open the bottles before I go. 8-12 hours on the road would ruin a lot of food if I didn't.

j

 

[tiggerdad]

Agree completely.

 

[North of Mouse]

We've never turned our fridges off on our many trips in 48 years. The convenience factor is one reason for us having RV's. Not saying they haven't caught fire, not saying ours can't, for sure, but we do run ours for days on the road.

Also, have heard of water heaters blowing up, but again, we will always use our water heater while parked - no need while running. We never say 'can't' for any disasters, just hope everything works as intended.

 

[John VN]

Might this help.....

http://www.thetford.com/customer-support/recall-information/

 

[team bradfield]

Dometic had the same issue about 10 years ago, they sent us a "shield" to install around the burner

 

[StormyCA]

We actually travel (10-12 hrs/day) with our fridge off and the propane off. DH and I both have 'propane paranoia'. We turn it on when we arrive at our boondocking spot or campground for the night. As a matter of fact we did this all the way from No Calif to WDW, and the same on the return trip, only running the fridge overnight. Our only concession is that we try not to open the fridge and just stand there (think first about what you want, then in and out quickly) and we put a few frozen water bottles (drinking size) in the freezer & fridge compartments. We've never yet lost any food to spoilage.

 

[DryCreek]

Having an RV is an exercise in preventative maintenance. Always inspect the cooling unit before use, just like checking your tires air pressure and condition. We always keep our on during travel, and turn it off before refueling. Once we pull a safe enough distance away we will restart it on gas.

 

[tiggerdad]

Having an RV is an exercise in preventative maintenance.

Amen to this

 

[Marshel]

They do make 2 way 12v/120v fridges that are compressor based (I assume they have a built in inverter) but they are generally smaller and quite expensive. The problem with installing a compressor refrigerator designed for home use is A, they are not designed to handle the vibrations and other stresses of going down the road, and B, they tend to draw lots of current so will drain a battery quickly when running of an inverter on 12 volts. The ones specifically designed for rvs have compressors designed to draw less current and to be able to endure road stress, which is why they tend to be expensive.

 

[PaHunter]

They do make 2 way 12v/120v fridges that are compressor based (I assume they have a built in inverter) but they are generally smaller and quite expensive. The problem with installing a compressor refrigerator designed for home use is A, they are not designed to handle the vibrations and other stresses of going down the road, and B, they tend to draw lots of current so will drain a battery quickly when running of an inverter on 12 volts. The ones specifically designed for rvs have compressors designed to draw less current and to be able to endure road stress, which is why they tend to be expensive.

Our unit has a residential fridge unit, no gas option. The inverter is not built in, but it in the compartment that my batteries are located. I have heard from others, as we have not done it yet, a maximum of 8 hours while boondocking with fridge on. We cool ours down and load it before the trip starts. Some blue ice packs help keep it cooled down, until we arrive, then they are placed back in the freezer.

 

[tigger92662]

Having an RV is an exercise in preventative maintenance.

Every spring with all other maintenance, I inspect the fridge outside and blow it out with air compressor just to make sure no one (bugs or critters) had decided to make it their winter home.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

We had a truck catch fire at work due to a refrigerant line break from a wire that was shorting on it. So... it can happen anywhere. This was a fire rescue truck inside a fire station. Fortunately we caught it right away and put it out, thus avoiding the embarrassment of burning down our truck and the station it was sitting in.

 

[StormyCA]

Our unit has a residential fridge unit, no gas option. The inverter is not built in, but it in the compartment that my batteries are located. I have heard from others, as we have not done it yet, a maximum of 8 hours while boondocking with fridge on. We cool ours down and load it before the trip starts. Some blue ice packs help keep it cooled down, until we arrive, then they are placed back in the freezer.

Wait, you mean that when dry camping you can only power the fridge for 8 hours, period? That's kind of a big down side for people who do a lot of camping with no shore power (like us). I'm assuming you can power it with a generator, but even so, you can't run a generator 24/7.

 

[StormyCA]

Every spring with all other maintenance, I inspect the fridge outside and blow it out with air compressor just to make sure no one (bugs or critters) had decided to make it their winter home.

Yep. nDH (non-Disney Husband) forgot to blow out the water heater compartment and the doo-dad sparker thingy (technical term there) sparked a spider web and blew out. Luckily no fire, just no water heater and some burnt stuff in the outside compartment.

 

[PaHunter]

Yep. nDH (non-Disney Husband) forgot to blow out the water heater compartment and the doo-dad sparker thingy (technical term there) sparked a spider web and blew out. Luckily no fire, just no water heater and some burnt stuff in the outside compartment.

Well glad it did not result in a fire. See just one more reason we do not really need spiders on earth.