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macintyre

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On 11/28/2017 at 9:33 AM, macintyre said:

Has anyone had their propane furnace operating while moving down the road.

I have but with this Fifth wheel I have now I do not run the furnace with the slides in.  With the slides in about 65% of my ducts are covered with the slide floors. I don't feel the system was designed for that operation. I have turned the furnace off, put the slides in and then traveled in a temperature inversion (28 Degrees) for 2 hours with the internal temperature still above freezing. No frozen pipes but I did keep the hot water heater on. The sun was starting to break through so drove on without concern.

Clay 2016 DRV MS 38PS3

 

Clay & Marcie Too old to play in the snow

Diesel pusher and previously 2 FW and small Class C

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    I (NO LP Gas expert) found this topic so interesting I took the time to research it a bit further and found a few (of the literally hundreds) "interesting" articles  (NOT by me, its their opinion NOT necessarily mine) I've linked below. As I always say when it comes to decisions regarding life safety and risks (and their degree and probability) its a persons RV, its their life, and its THEIR OWN FREE CHOICE WHICH I SUPPORT concerning how they choose to operate their RV. If anyone disagrees with these articles take it up with the authors NOT ME, I'm only the messenger. I make my OWN informed decisions regarding life safety and hope others do the same. To each their OWN choices, who are these people or even "experts" to tell us how to operate our RV's !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its my life NOT theirs !!!!!!!!!

 

https://rvshare.com/blog/dangerous-use-propane-gas/

https://www.aisinsurance.com/products/recreational-vehicle/rv-articles/traveling-with-propane.aspx

http://www.doityourselfrv.com/is-it-dangerous-to-run-an-rv-propane-refrigerator-while-driving-your-rv/

http://roadtreking.com/rt62-need-know-propane-driving-rv/

http://www.rvdoctor.com/2010/12/propane-on-while-driving-rv-oh-boy.html

 

Hope these help, I for one found them (as well as several others not listed here) quite informative and interesting.

 

Best wishes and God Bless all, keep safe now especially over the CHRISTmas holiday driving season

 

John T

 

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12 hours ago, Ray,IN said:

Did whoever told you that about not running the LP water heater provide any references? I've ran the water heater, furnace, refrigerator many times while driving over the past 40 years, haven't had a fire yet. The world is full of unsubstantiated yarns, always ask for documentation.

I only mentioned what this newbie was told by the sales staff that sold me my camper and now I feel like I have been slammed for it.  Did I not mention I was interested in knowing about it?  This will probably be the last time I post on here, thanks for taking the opportunity to teach me.  You are not the first one to slam me about it so don't take it personally, or do.  What-ever.  I will keep reading the post on this site as SOME are informative, but will never post here again.  Thank you.   BTW, the person I dealt with has a camper and has camped most his adult life and he's not young.  He was not a salesman as they were all gone for the day.  This was a finance guy who only helped me to be nice instead of asking me to come back later.  He helped us even though we had cash, he only gets commissions from the finance/loan side.  L8r

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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43 minutes ago, NDBirdman said:

I only mentioned what this newbie was told by the sales staff that sold me my camper and now I feel like I have been slammed for it. 

Please don't feel that way. I think that the point of it all was to caution you and others not to put too much faith in things told you by dealers, especially by salespeople. It does not reflect on you, as all of us learned the same way. You would be hard-pressed to find an experienced RV owner who was never misled by sales folks. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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1 hour ago, NDBirdman said:

I only mentioned what this newbie was told by the sales staff that sold me my camper and now I feel like I have been slammed for it.  Did I not mention I was interested in knowing about it?  This will probably be the last time I post on here, thanks for taking the opportunity to teach me.  You are not the first one to slam me about it so don't take it personally, or do.  What-ever.  I will keep reading the post on this site as SOME are informative, but will never post here again.  Thank you.   BTW, the person I dealt with has a camper and has camped most his adult life and he's not young.  He was not a salesman as they were all gone for the day.  This was a finance guy who only helped me to be nice instead of asking me to come back later.  He helped us even though we had cash, he only gets commissions from the finance/loan side.  L8r

Amazing . Talk about thin skinned . 

You must have led an extremely sheltered life . 

Goes around , comes around .

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3 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

I only mentioned what this newbie was told by the sales staff that sold me my camper and now I feel like I have been slammed for it.  Did I not mention I was interested in knowing about it?  This will probably be the last time I post on here, thanks for taking the opportunity to teach me.  You are not the first one to slam me about it so don't take it personally, or do.  What-ever.  I will keep reading the post on this site as SOME are informative, but will never post here again.  Thank you.   BTW, the person I dealt with has a camper and has camped most his adult life and he's not young.  He was not a salesman as they were all gone for the day.  This was a finance guy who only helped me to be nice instead of asking me to come back later.  He helped us even though we had cash, he only gets commissions from the finance/loan side.  L8r

Nothing negative intended, sorry you feel this way. Kirk said what I meant in a more polite way. I do get tired of some folks who work at an RV dealership saying things that are not according to owners manuals, but instead their opinion. If you read your owners manual it should state it's alright to operate your water heater while driving.

 

2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom USQ40JD, ISC 8.3 Cummins 350, Spartan MM Chassis. USA IN 1SG retired;Good Sam Life member,FMCA ." And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.  John F. Kennedy 20 Jan 1961

 

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59 minutes ago, Ray,IN said:

Nothing negative intended, sorry you feel this way. Kirk said what I meant in a more polite way. I do get tired of some folks who work at an RV dealership saying things that are not according to owners manuals, but instead their opinion. If you read your owners manual it should state it's alright to operate your water heater while driving.

My apologies, my replies were before coffee.... bad addiction.  I'll read the owners manual again, did not see anything about running with appliances on.  It just made referrals to appliance owner manuals which did not come with the camper.  And your right about salesmen, I have never believed anything told me by stealerships, they tell you what B.S. they think will help them make a sale.

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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3 hours ago, Pat & Pete said:

Amazing . Talk about thin skinned . 

You must have led an extremely sheltered life . 

Umm... I'd prefer not to get into a pissing match by calling ppl names, you were not in the conversation.  You have no idea who I am or about the hell I went through growing up.  Until you do, I invite you to stay out of my conversations.

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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4 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

Please don't feel that way. I think that the point of it all was to caution you and others not to put too much faith in things told you by dealers, especially by salespeople. It does not reflect on you, as all of us learned the same way. You would be hard-pressed to find an experienced RV owner who was never misled by sales folks. 

My apologies, you were right.

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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1 hour ago, NDBirdman said:

My apologies, my replies were before coffee.... bad addiction.  I'll read the owners manual again, did not see anything about running with appliances on.  It just made referrals to appliance owner manuals which did not come with the camper.  And your right about salesmen, I have never believed anything told me by stealerships, they tell you what B.S. they think will help them make a sale.

The appliance owners manuals were what I meant. You may download appliance owners and service manuals from BryantRV.com

 There are many folks who use an RV who do not run any LP appliance while traveling, that is their choice, as it is mine to run any LP appliance I choose while traveling.

 

2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom USQ40JD, ISC 8.3 Cummins 350, Spartan MM Chassis. USA IN 1SG retired;Good Sam Life member,FMCA ." And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.  John F. Kennedy 20 Jan 1961

 

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4 minutes ago, Ray,IN said:

The appliance owners manuals were what I meant. You may download appliance owners and service manuals from BryantRV.com

 There are many folks who use an RV who do not run any LP appliance while traveling, that is their choice, as it is mine to run any LP appliance I choose while traveling.

Thank you!  What I was specifically warned about was the hot water heater.  It's in the back, passengers side of the camper.  I was told it was burned out, they said common occurrence in the spring when folks bring them out of storage for first time summer use and replaced by a bigger 12 gallon heater/tank.  I will have to see if I can figure out what manufacture replacement they used.  This I was told was a fire starter if left running on gas going down the road.

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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By far, the most common cause of faulty operation/failure of an LP appliance is lack of annual maintenance; ie: disassembly, cleaning, reassembly and adjustment as described in the service manual. My observation - As long as the LP appliance is operating, some folks never bother with the previous sentence, when the appliance quits or causes a problem they tend to bad-mouth the mfgr. of the appliance.

 

2000 Winnebago Ultimate Freedom USQ40JD, ISC 8.3 Cummins 350, Spartan MM Chassis. USA IN 1SG retired;Good Sam Life member,FMCA ." And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.  John F. Kennedy 20 Jan 1961

 

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NDBirdman, as long as you have water in your water heater you can run it. You can run your furnace any time you want. The exception to this is certain tunnels you are required to turn off the propane at the tanks. What I was eluding to in my first reply was more for a trailer with slides. They are not the most air tight with 60+ mph winds. I have run with the fridge on every time I took my other trailer anywhere with absolutely no issue. Do what you think is the right way FOR YOU and don't be concerned about asking questions. Everyone here will be happy to give you all the advice you want plus a bit more!

Tom

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On 11/28/2017 at 9:33 AM, macintyre said:

Has anyone had their propane furnace operating while moving down the road.

I have not seen this addressed in prior topics.

Leaving from cold climate in January and heading warm, thought about putting furnace on an hour or so prior to stopping. I am pulling a 5ver.

Back to the original post-

If 4+ years I've never turned off our propane intentionally.   We have run out though.  In cold climates, we have run with the furnace on, set on 50 or so.  This was traveling in below freezing temps for long durations.  We ran the furnaces so that we didn't have to winterize.  I have left the water heater on propane as well with no issues.  

Alie & Jim + 8 paws

2017 DRV Memphis 

BART- 1998 Volvo 610

Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins

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9 hours ago, Pat & Pete said:

Amazing . Talk about thin skinned . 

You must have led an extremely sheltered life . 

5 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

Umm... I'd prefer not to get into a pissing match by calling ppl names, you were not in the conversation.  You have no idea who I am or about the hell I went through growing up.  Until you do, I invite you to stay out of my conversations.

No pissing match intended . I simply pointed something out  . It matters not how or what you grew up with or if I know you in the absolute least . 

I suppose I should be ashamed of stating the obvious .

As for being 'in the conversation' , this is a public forum , just in case you didn't know . 

 

Goes around , comes around .

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12 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

It's in the back, passengers side of the camper.  I was told it was burned out, they said common occurrence in the spring when folks bring them out of storage for first time summer use and replaced by a bigger 12 gallon heater/tank.  I will have to see if I can figure out what manufacture replacement they used. 

That is an interesting story. If it were true I would expect to see some signs of having had a fire there. I do agree that any RV water heater should be carefully checked out after it has sat unused for any extended period, but I remain a skeptic about that having been an accurate story. Was the storyteller by any chance a salesperson?  And what make & model is the RV we are discussing? If your water heater is 12 gallon then it is probably from Suburban as I don't think that  Atwood makes one larger than 10 gallons and those two brands are the only common tank type water heaters found in most US made RVs. 

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

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Perhaps he was referring to a burned out heating element, which may be a common occurrence if left on without water in the tank.

2019 Airstream Flying Cloud 27FB
2011 Ford F350 CC SRW
 

"Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for."       Will Rogers        

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49 minutes ago, dzwiss said:

Perhaps he was referring to a burned out heating element, which may be a common occurrence if left on without water in the tank.

dzwiss, that's a possibility as with no water present to extract and transfer heat off the heating element IT CAN OVERHEAT BIG TIME and if its turned on as in the spring BEFORE filled with water OUCH lol            A person could describe that as being  "burned out" I guess .........

 That tracks with what NDbirdnam was told     "I was told it was burned out, they said common occurrence in the spring when folks bring them out of storage for first time summer use "

That does "possibly" sound like a BURNED OUT ELEMENT versus a "fire" but its hard to say based on limited information, so darn if I know ???? I'm NOT saying one way or the other, I wasn't there lol

Very fun and informative thread ...............

John T

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5 hours ago, dzwiss said:

Perhaps he was referring to a burned out heating element, which may be a common occurrence if left on without water in the tank.

Bingo!  LOL, my bad for not being more specific.  They said the element in the tank (?) burned out when fired up/no water in tank.  That's why the new tank.  I suspect the rest of the water system/heater is original, I guess I don't know.  >>Newbie<<  guilty.  This camper is going to be used to get us back out there camping as I'm too out of shape/disabled to get back into tents.  When wife retires in a couple years, I'm thinking a toy hauler as we like to boon dock and take a utv to run around in with us.  As far as the camper, 2002 Park Avenue.  Being older, it is heavy, 14,080 GVW, for a 32 footer.  The truck is a new Ram 3500 DRW so no problem pulling it or the next bigger RV.  Yes, the RV is old but we saw it brought into the dealership from original owner.  Funny as it sounds, it belonged (bought new) to a rancher that kept it in heated storage, took it out once a year for camping.  This thing is spotless, outside looks new, inside actually looks like it's from the factory, can't even tell the stove/oven has been lit little lone used.  Otherwise, would not have bought one this old.  I wonder if the comments about the possible fire is because of the age of the RV?  I just don't know.  Teach me.

Anyways, being new/back into camping, I'm going to err on the side of caution.  I won't leave any LP fired up when going down the road, probably turn off the 2 tanks too.  I read some of ya'll leave yours on, personal choice.  I'm a chicken and proud of it.  I only plan on owning this 2 or 3 years at the most.  Hopefully I will have more knowledge from experience and reading on here to go into the next stealership loaded for bear (with questions).

Thank you to all those with helpful comments.

 

(Looked, it's an Atwood, original 10 gallon, was told it's now 12 but don't know if that's true or not.)

2002 Fifth Avenue RV (RIP) 2015 Ram 3500 Mega-cab DRW(38k miles), 6.7L Cummins Diesel, A668RFE, 3.73, 14,000 GVWR, 5,630 Payload, 27,300 GCWR, 18,460 Max Trailer Weight Rating(For Sale) , living in the frigid north, ND.

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2 hours ago, bigjim said:

I seriously question why this type of comment is necessary or usefull.  JMO

Good to see that you and I are so much alike . 

Both of us use the same forum for stating the obvious . I guess you feel ashamed , too . 

Sorry  about side hacking your thread , Birdman . 

Goes around , comes around .

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1 hour ago, NDBirdman said:

Not my thread, OP is macintyre.

I'm just trying to learn, like him.

We all have to use some common sense. Most rv's of all types are made for 4 season living. Very very few are well insulated well enough to maintain above freezing temps in the north in the winter time. Travel for 10 hours in sub 0 weather will freeze even the best insulated tank or water line, especially when you have a 70 mph breeze. Remember, insulation only slows down heat loss, not stops it. On that note, it seems obvious to me water heaters and furnaces are made to run when your are driving. Fridges also. [Propane fridges have got a bad, (burst into flames!} rap because of the design of the ammonia side, not the propane side]. Do not know a lot about trailers, but every class a I have had, states in the manual, it is okay to run propane to supplement engine heat when travelling, Bays [tanks, piping etc] are not normally heated by engine heat, so pretty much a necessity.

Foretravel 40ft tag 500hp Cummins ISM  1455 watts on the roof, 600 a/h's lithium in the basement.

 

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6 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

Anyways, being new/back into camping, I'm going to err on the side of caution.  I won't leave any LP fired up when going down the road, probably turn off the 2 tanks too.  I read some of ya'll leave yours on, personal choice.  I'm a chicken and proud of it. 

ND, I fully support your (even if over safe) decision and likewise other decisions. As a 47 year RV user, engineer and an attorney who has been made aware of all sorts of accidents and liability, I'm pretty much "wired" the same way as you and many RV users, better safe and even OVERsafe then sorry.

Welcome here, best wishes and God Bless.

John T

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