Turn fridge LP off at gas pump - another warning!

[kginder]

I see there are more threads about traveling with the fridge on LP. I do. My class c fridge is always on except, ahhh 98 percent of the time, when fueling.

This actually happened to me this past weekend in MD at a gas station. I was filling up the thirsty giant and watching the dollars tick away when a Harley pulled into the pump, the same pump as mine on the opposite side. He proceeded to fill up. I suddenly heard one of the loudest f bombs I've ever heard in my life. The gas pump did not auto-shutoff when the Harley was full. Gas shot out of the tank with an explosive force sending gas into the air, all over the Harley, the rider, the gas pump, the ground etc. It had covered an area of about 10~15 feet around. This guy was upset! I was still fueling but stopped the flow and went over to help. After I asked him if he had a match (kinda got smile out of him) he got some paper towels and proceeded to clean up. I finished fueling grabbed my multi-hundred dollar receipt and got into the RV.

I HAD LEFT THE FRIDGE ON AND COULD HERE IT BURNING!

If the Harley had pulled into the pump across from me instead of the opposite side, y'all would be reading about our dental records on the news.

I'm going to have a reminder plaque made up to put on my dash "Turn the @#$*&^%$ fridge off before fueling you idiot!"

[Rbertalotto]

I can't believe there is an argument about leaving a lit pilot burning away IN ANY POSITION around a gas pump. I'm shocked there are not more explosions around gas pumps and RVers if everyone simply disregards this fellows advice.

[rhagfo]

Dog Folks wrote:
If you don't run the refrigerator when traveling, you won't have to worry about it.

Diesel isn't as bad a gas, but still good practice to shut off for fueling.

[msmith1199]

remoandiris wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:

remoandiris wrote:

OH48Lt wrote:
X2. Never use the auto shut-off when filling a MC. NEVER. Only an inexperienced rider would do that.

I guess my 23+ years and 300K+ miles across North America and Europe makes me an inexperienced rider. Do I use the auto shut off when filling my bike? Yes. Do I top off the tank on my bike? Yes. Do I walk away from my bike while pumping gas? No, I stand there beside my bike until the the auto shut off clicks, then I top it off.

Oh, the humanity!

BTW, I don't turn off the propane either. Stay far away from me at the pumps.

So you stick the gas nozzle in your bike tank and start filling and simply trust that the auto-shut off is going to work properly when it's full? You must spill a lot of gas on your tank and down onto your engine.

Nope. Never have. NEVER. If you can't properly insert a nozzle into your tank, maybe it is YOU who has issues.

How some people can turn a simple task as filling a gas tank into a complicated process that needs a checklist and gubment oversight, I'll never know.

Gubment oversight? Huh? Sorry I'm not a perfect pump operator like you, but the pumps I have used will spill gas all over your bike if you're not careful. If you've ridden 300k miles and all that time simply put the nozzle in your motorcycle gas tank and just stood back and waited for the auto shut off to tell it's full and never spilled a drop of gas in all that time, then you are the only one in the Country ever to do so and you should be given an award to recognize your skills.

[popeyemth]

Francesca Knowles wrote:

BCSnob wrote:
Show us an example of a fuel station fire/explosion caused by an RV fridge.

Okay...no "explosion", though. Hopefully the propane tank just flared off 'til empty like it's supposed to when exposed to a fire.

RV owner wrote:
Binder, 73, said the blaze started as he prepared to fill up the Roadtrek recreational vehicle and the nozzle spewed gasoline, igniting when it came into contact with a pilot light on the RV.

The light is accessible through a vent on the RV and connected to a propane tank that powers a refrigerator, he said.

"...Houma Fire Inspector Mike Millet said he was able to recreate how Binder explained the gas spill, and said it was possible. But Millet noted that’s a first for the department and he’s unsure if that’s how the fire started...."
I think the fire inspector not agreeing with the elderly owner speaks volumes.
Of particular interest is the claim the hose started spewing gas before he touched it and "jumped out of the holder"
I'm with the inspector I don't believe it either.

Link to original story

[BurbMan]

Then there's this.

[wny_pat1]

BCSnob wrote:
The recommendation to shut of the fridge at a fuel station is not to prevent a propane fire/explosion (like the one in FL) it is to prevent a fuel fire ignited by the propane flame. Show us an example of a fuel station fire/explosion caused by an RV fridge.

Having retired from hauling petroleum products, I can tell you all kinds of stupid things I have seen people do at gas station pumps that turned into horror stories. And if you search google images, you can see the results of some of those things. Stupid can't be cured!! Therefore I am extremely careful around gas stations!!! One never knows if stupid is going to be there, but the odds are in favor of them being there.

[2oldman]

Francesca Knowles wrote:
doesn't every gas pump island in North America have a label saying to "extinguish all flames???

Actually, no. They do say 'No Smoking' and 'Turn off your engine', and then these dire warnings about cell phones and static electricity from getting in and out of the vehicle.

Now, when was the last time a CELL PHONE caused a gas station fire??

[Francesca_Knowl]

2oldman wrote:


It's the fumes which are not hard to ignite.

Exactly right- which in my opinion is most likely what happened here. The flames in the picture posted are obviously burning spilled liquid fuel, but I think original ignition was contact of vapors with the lit pilot flame.

I'm really surprised that turning pilots off at gas stations is in any way controversial- doesn't every gas pump island in North America have a label saying to "extinguish all flames???

I see no difference between a pilot flame and a lit cigarette. Either can ignite the notoriously flammable gasoline vapor.

[remoandiris]

msmith1199 wrote:

remoandiris wrote:

OH48Lt wrote:
X2. Never use the auto shut-off when filling a MC. NEVER. Only an inexperienced rider would do that.

I guess my 23+ years and 300K+ miles across North America and Europe makes me an inexperienced rider. Do I use the auto shut off when filling my bike? Yes. Do I top off the tank on my bike? Yes. Do I walk away from my bike while pumping gas? No, I stand there beside my bike until the the auto shut off clicks, then I top it off.

Oh, the humanity!

BTW, I don't turn off the propane either. Stay far away from me at the pumps.

So you stick the gas nozzle in your bike tank and start filling and simply trust that the auto-shut off is going to work properly when it's full? You must spill a lot of gas on your tank and down onto your engine.

Nope. Never have. NEVER. If you can't properly insert a nozzle into your tank, maybe it is YOU who has issues.

How some people can turn a simple task as filling a gas tank into a complicated process that needs a checklist and gubment oversight, I'll never know.

[msmith1199]

remoandiris wrote:

OH48Lt wrote:
X2. Never use the auto shut-off when filling a MC. NEVER. Only an inexperienced rider would do that.

I guess my 23+ years and 300K+ miles across North America and Europe makes me an inexperienced rider. Do I use the auto shut off when filling my bike? Yes. Do I top off the tank on my bike? Yes. Do I walk away from my bike while pumping gas? No, I stand there beside my bike until the the auto shut off clicks, then I top it off.

Oh, the humanity!

BTW, I don't turn off the propane either. Stay far away from me at the pumps.

So you stick the gas nozzle in your bike tank and start filling and simply trust that the auto-shut off is going to work properly when it's full? You must spill a lot of gas on your tank and down onto your engine.

[2oldman]

msmith1199 wrote:
chances of an RV explosion while filling gas from a pilot light are almost non-existent unless you shoot gas directly onto the pilot light.

And that would probably extinguish the burner flame.

Gasoline is harder to light than most people think. The movie scene where somebody flips a cigarette onto a pool of gas and it catches fire is not true. It just puts out the cig.

It's the fumes which are not hard to ignite.

[msmith1199]

Francesca Knowles wrote:

msmith1199 wrote:
From the article about the Class B fire posted above:

"Houma Fire Inspector Mike Millet said he was able to recreate how Binder explained the gas spill, and said it was possible. But Millet noted that’s a first for the department and he’s unsure if that’s how the fire started.“It is possible what he said happened,” he said. “It was a freak accident. Nobody in the Fire Department has seen that happen before.”

Tom Freeman, the gas station’s owner, said he doubts Binder’s account. The pumps are regularly serviced and customers have never reported a problem with the one Binder used."

I don't know make/model year of the Roadtrek in the story, but there have been a number of owner reports/complaints regarding difficulty of filling some Roadtrek gas tanks. There seems to be some kind of airlock that happens, causing nozzles to shut off, even to the point of making it almost impossible to fill the rig.
Here's one example.

I once had a similar problem with a diesel truck- I had to sorta hang the nozzle on the edge of the filltube and "feed" fuel at a certain rate or couldn't fill the truck at all. I got so could "set" the lever just right to keep fuel flowing. BUT...I found out the hard way that all those contortions would prevent the nozzle auto-shutoff from working. In my case I just had diesel spewing all over the ground while the nozzle stayed on the truck.

If the Roadtrek owner was doing something like that and the air lock occurred, I could see gas overflowing and fumes at least getting to the fridge flame. I'm skeptical that the nozzle fell out- though if it was barely in the port to begin with I guess it's possible.

All of that aside, it's worth noting that the Fire Chief only questioned the "faulty nozzle" part of the story. There doesn't seem to be any question that the ignition source was the fridge flame, which is really the point of this thread.

The reason I pointed it out is because this type of fire is an extremely rare occurrence. And the RV in question was a small class B and it sounds as if the fridge vent had to at least have been very close to the fuel fill. Most RV's are not like that. The chances of an RV explosion while filling gas from a pilot light are almost non-existent unless you shoot gas directly onto the pilot light. Now the chances of a fire simply starting in the fridge compartment are not rare, but those are not related to filling with fuel. I have never shut my refrigerator off when fueling and have yet to blow up my motorhome.

[tatest]

You do have to think about more than your own fueling accidents. I've seen one other video of gasoline sprayed into the flame (not a pilot) of a LPG fridge, wasn't the RV owner who lost control of the nozzle and gasoline stream, rather the person fueling a car on the other side of him.

My RV fridge is on opposite side to filler, so I can't really spray it myself, but do shut it off in case someone else makes a mistake. Since we've all gone self service, I've seen a lot of fuel dumped on the sides of cars and the pavement around the pumps.

[MrWizard]

i make it a point to stay at the pump
manual or auto (depending on the amount of fuel i'm buying) ... i Always STAY at the pump
i even keep my hand on the pump even If its on auto 'just in case' of trouble

'Common Sense' does'nt seem to be too common any more !

cleaning windows or anything else can wait until i'm done pumping the fuel

[remoandiris]

OH48Lt wrote:
X2. Never use the auto shut-off when filling a MC. NEVER. Only an inexperienced rider would do that.

I guess my 23+ years and 300K+ miles across North America and Europe makes me an inexperienced rider. Do I use the auto shut off when filling my bike? Yes. Do I top off the tank on my bike? Yes. Do I walk away from my bike while pumping gas? No, I stand there beside my bike until the the auto shut off clicks, then I top it off.

Oh, the humanity!

BTW, I don't turn off the propane either. Stay far away from me at the pumps.