Hmm, bad day in Paradise

[Lou Schneider]

The 12/120 volt refrigerators use a compressor like home units - or a Peltier solid state cooling module. These use significantly less power than the heating element required to run a propane absorption refrigerator on electricity.

 

If an absorption refrigerator has a 12 volt mode, it usually has less cooling power than running the fridge on propane or 120 volt electricity. This is because of the limited power available from the 12 volt electrical system. Running an absorption refrigerator on 12 volts not only puts a heavy demand on the 12 volt electrical system but gives reduced cooling capacity compared to the other modes.

 

RV refrigerator fires happen when the flammable hydrogen-ammonia coolant leaks out from a flaw in the cooling system and then ignites. Not running the refrigerator on propane does eliminate the ignition source from the flame, but there are numerous other places that can ignite the leakage such as anywhere there's a spark from a switch or relay. There is no fire danger from the propane flame itself - if you look inside the boiler assembly you'll see it's just a small flame, similar to the pilot light on a gas stove, and there's no way for it to get outside of the flamebox.

[phoenix2013]

Found my 2009 travel album and downloaded it to Picasa. This was the year when "the other event" took place, so here are the pictures I promised. At the time the rig had around 40-50,000 miles between my travels and the previous owner.

Here's the first lesson for you guys. "if you buy or own a rig with some miles (or years), HAVE A LOOK AND SERVICE OR REPAIR YOUR WHEEL BEARINGS". This goes along with Jack's presentation and the statistics that 20% of the RV fires start in the wheels and by the time you catch it it's usually too late. The Lord was on my side again that I spotted it before it got "really going", actually on the on-ramp to the interstate. This was the culprit, the bearing cage

and the inner race (new replacement bearing on the right).

The busted bearing chewed up the axle spindle, overheated the wheel

and started a nice fire on the inner side of the wheel (ignore the dates on the camera counter, it was screwed up, it was 2009)

So what started burning? Even outstanding companies like Dexter Axle occasionally screw up. What ignited was the dust shield on the back of the brakes, very nice(?) injection molded disk made from plastic. I ordered new dust shields (for all the brakes) and guess what, these are now stamped out of sheet metal. Since I didn't tell them, I'm assuming that my fire was not the only one and made Dexter rethink their strategy what these parts should be made from.

In the process the brake assembly became a toast (pun intended)

the brake drum wasn't too healthy either with all those roller bearings chewing on it in the spindle area.

So what happened next, actually a lot and it makes for a good story and an "adventure".

 

Here it goes.

 

Not only was Almighty looking over me, he was also instrumental in placing Vern (Working RVer) servicing rigs in the park where we towed the stricken fifth.

Vern does not believe in half assed work and he does no believe that able bodied owners should siting on their arses and watch him work. So he made few "executive decisions". He was gonna fix that axle and we were going to look at all the wheels (six of them) and do what needs to be done. While Vern was doing the "skilled work" I was given the "unskilled tasks"

like removing the brake assemblies off the axles with the help of a breaker bar and five feet of pipe.

Kechup was converted to a "field shop" on the project.

Vern determined that the spindle was "salvageable", otherwise a whole axle needed to be procured from Dexter.

He used emery cloth and fine files to bring the spindle to a "respectable condition",

then we purchased stainless steel spindle repair sleeve.

The sleeve needed to go in the area where a pristine surface was needed so that the bearing grease seal would seal properly rotating over it rather than the chewed up spindle surface.

Note the brake hydraulic line just snipped off. This went with Vern's "philosophy" of no half assed jobs. After the brakes were redone we replaced all the hydraulic lines from all the six wheels all the way back to the BluDot system.

The rig has six 8,000 pounds self adjusting hydraulic drum brakes.

When serviced and properly adjusted they have no problem with my 22,500 rig when driven by BluDot air over hydraulic system.

We ended replacing couple of the brakes completely, Vern re-honed others and we dealt with all the bearing in the six wheels.

The wallet was significantly lighter after all this work, but it would would have been much lighter still if the whole rig went up in flames. It's a one of a kind and not replaceable.

One other lesson I want you guys to remember. I said earlier that my wife never saw me move so fast with the fire extinguisher. It was the one attached to the driver's seat in the Volvo. I grabbed it dove under the rig, pulled the pin and squeezed the handle. Almighty was involved here again, I never checked it, it just HAPPENED TO BE FULL AND OPERATIONAL. I have three of them now, brand new and in different places where I can grab them.

There was one other "surprise". I extinguished the fire, we were standing around contemplating our luck and guess what the damn fire reignited, fortunately I didn't empty the powder in the extinguisher completely.

[Nuke-E]

If a fire ever gets going in one of my wheel wells, I'll be glad I don't turn the water pump off. The water lines just above the wheels will be ready to supply 300 gallons of fresh water when they burst to put out the fire. Or, if the failure is violent enough, that freshwater would be needed to rinse off whatever came out when the holding tanks (also above the wheels, but closer) get ripped open.

 

I know that's wishful thinking...I'd probably end up slipping on the wet floors trying to get an extinguisher, and the whole thing would go up!

 

For the record, I always travel with the fridge running on propane (meaning I don't do anything when I unplug), and the water pump and inverter are always on. It's too bad the "smart" smoke detectors (e.g. the one made by Nest) have to be internet connected to alert you.

[phoenix2013]

Looking at old pictures often creates a "new perspective", 2009 vs. 2014

 

2009 Rally.

2014 Rally

 

iRod 2009, dipping his toes in, trying to learn what this HDT thing is all about.

 

iRod 2014

 

 

 

Alicia 2009, first time in the left seat, sporting this HDT driving grin

 

 

2014, she was teaching other Ladies how to drive.

 

2009, visiting (only) and dreaming about living in Paradise,

away from this.

2014, moving to Paradise.

[Jack Mayer]

The thing about extinguishers and our setups is that you really want a foam extinguisher. You will have "little" chance of putting out a tire or aggressive fire with a dry chemical one. And re-flash, as Henry noted above, is a bigger problem without the foam. Buy the GOOD extinguishers, and hope you never need them. This is one place not to "cheap out". I have sources in my presentation linked to above.

[phoenix2013]

The thing about extinguishers and our setups is that you really want a foam extinguisher. You will have "little" chance of putting out a tire or aggressive fire with a dry chemical one. And re-flash, as Henry noted above, is a bigger problem without the foam. Buy the GOOD extinguishers, and hope you never need them. This is one place not to "cheap out". I have sources in my presentation linked to above.

Remember that picture from the beginning of this thread.

 

I have a new one for you, same spot, it's a towing company's back yard.

 

Hard to miss it, it's right off I-95 in my area. There was a lot of excitement when it happened on Florida turnpike http://www.wptv.com/news/region-martin-county/car-carrier-truck-fire-shuts-down-florida-turnpike-southbound-near-palm-beachmartin-county-line

As usual the local news were big on "excitement" short on details. The details were as follows: the fire started as as a brake fire and then as a tire fire, by the time fire department arrived and set up there wasn't much to save. They were able to save two cars (probably on top of the puller itself). Oh, one other "detail", all of the cars were new cars being delivered to the local Mercedes dealer, ouch!

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

So you're saying my new Mercedes is gonna need a little buffing?

[phoenix2013]

The blue one in the back me thinks is a Cabriolet http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/class/class-E/bodystyle-CAB ouch, ouch!

[Scrap]

Holy monster twin steer rotator! Keep their number in memory, he could be one of the best neighbors to have!

 

[Phil D]

Admit it, Scrap -- you just posted that picture so that everybody would see that it was a Kenworth doing the dirty work.

[Scrap]

King of the road baby! It took Peterbilt 5 years to catch up and be able to build a truck like that. Seriously though, watching the video he's got it on the 3rd stage and dropping a car over the (extended) cab of a rollback. That's a serious machine that they just started building a couple years ago. He could pick the bed off your truck and never have to enter your driveway!

[spindrift]

I just read a report out of Dallas where a young woman and her two children are all in critical condition after a probable electrical fire burned down their RV.

 

http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/2015/01/15/mom-kids-children-injured-fire-house-blaze/21827933/

 

Time for a good extinguisher.

[skp51443]

And a reminder that it may have been a while since you checked all your 120 volt outlets and breakers to insure the screws were tight. Checking the high-amp 12 volt stuff at the same time is a good idea too.

[spindrift]

And a reminder that it may have been a while since you checked all your 120 volt outlets and breakers to insure the screws were tight. Checking the high-amp 12 volt stuff at the same time is a good idea too.

 

Good idea...It's always an especially good idea to check the shore power connection on the RV because of use. Must admit, I've never checked the interior 120V/12V stuff.