sandalwood Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Had nasty flashback when filling up with LPG. Found out from National Caravan Council vehicles bought before 2013 need to have fuel filler moved as too near gas flame! You can get the specification from the NCC. Was advised MUST get the modification done. In process. Many many thanks to Chris Wise. Autogas 200 in Thirsk for his time and valuable information. Also many many thanks to the support / service from CHRIS at Southern Motorhome centre for doing the modification! IH now putting LPG gas filler on opposite side of vehicle. V nasty scare when flames shot out, did not know about the new specifications from NCC. Would advise getting advice if you own a vehicle with filler near fridge flame. Make sure your modification is done by NCC approved and LPG qualifications. Can now sleep safely. Thanks to all members who read previous thread and replied! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Glad you've got it sorted. Although it's worth pointing out that a fridge's gas flame should not be alight whilst in a filling station forecourt,irrespective of where the filler is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witzend Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 pepe63 - 2019-05-03 7:10 PM Although it's worth pointing out that a fridge's gas flame should not be alight whilst in a filling station forecourt,irrespective of where the filler is. Yes a Big no no. I never drive with the gas turned on either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 I wonder if, with an AES fridge, there's a chance that it might try to ignite in gas mode even with the gas off, hence producing a spark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandalwood Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 Yes there is chance fridge can flip to gas, so we going to have the gas filler outlet moved to other side of vehicle for safety purposes! S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Steve928 - 2019-05-06 3:51 PM I wonder if, with an AES fridge, there's a chance that it might try to ignite in gas mode even with the gas off, hence producing a spark? If a ‘smart’ fridge is in automatic-mode, the appliance should switch between gas, 12V or 240V operation depending on what type of power-supply is available. When the fridge has been operating on 12V (which should be when the motorhome was being driven) and the 12V supply ceases to be present (ie. when the motorhome’’s motor is turned off) there should be a 10-15 minute delay before the fridge switches itself to gas operation. This delay is intended to allow safe refuelling of a motorhome at a service-station, but might be insufficient if (say) the motorhome’s driver decided to refuel the motorhome and then refill its LPG tank/bottle. If a motorhome’s gas-supply is turned off, if a smart fridge selects gas operation not only will there be a spark, but there will probaby be enough gas and pressure within the pipework leading to the fridge for the fridge’s gas-burner to ignite and burn for a short period. (That’s certainly so with my Rapido’s Thetford SES fridge.) Even if there’s no gas/pressure in the pipework, the fridge will attempt to light its burner (ie. will produce sparks at the the burner) before ‘diagnosing’ that the burner won’t light and going into error-state. Whatever caused the ‘flashback’ problem, the risk of this happening was exacerbated by the hare-brained installation where the LPG refilling-point was between the fridge ventilation-grilles. Although (presumably) a fire did not occur until 7 years after Sandalwood’s IHM Tio was built, it was always an accident waiting to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 Thanks Derek. I wonder why manufacturers went for AES - ease of use at the expense of perceived risk? It was hardly hardship using the manual approach. In the 90s, we did not have the automatic fridge in our vans. We switched the fridge on/off and set the power source manually. Switching off the 12V supply meant no spark. In those day filling stations sold fuel and perhaps Yorkie bars rather than the current approach of selling a week or more's groceries and fuel. With that in mind, supermarkets with 'pay at pump' seem a good option as maybe reverting to the manual system. My fridge manual has a section which makes it clear the switchover to gas is at 15 minutes but that I must switch off the fridge before that happens at a fuel station. I had to read the manual again to find that out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandalwood Posted May 19, 2019 Author Share Posted May 19, 2019 We now having fuel filler moved to other side of van, it was always an “ accident waiting to happen”. Thank goodness it happened before filling up in France. Terrible experience! S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deffheads Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 Please excuse my ignorance, but what is IH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 19, 2019 Share Posted May 19, 2019 Deffheads - 2019-05-19 4:44 PM Please excuse my ignorance, but what is IH? http://www.ihmotorhomes.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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