Using calor gas bottle stored on it's side. Is it a problem?

Many a time in the far east i've smoked on petrol station forecourts and it's quite normal to do so. I'd be interested to hear of the exploding tesco.
I am a bit obsessive with my gas though it's always off when the truck is moving.
 
It was the same when I was in South Africa.

An Afrikaaner would pull in for petrol while smoking a fag and order the black petrol pump attendant to fill the tank while he flicked his ash out of the window.:eek:

I never heard of an incident of fire or explosion though. The temperatures were quite high and the petrol would vapourise much easier.
 
Just to fan the flames & up the ante a little ;) Mate of mine used to do a nice little trick on the garage forecourt whereby he would fill the tank on his bike to the point of overflowing. Then he'd put his fag out by sticking it in the fuel before putting the filler cap on & going inside to pay for the fuel :eek:

We were'nt mates for long ;)

D.
 
that one is def iffy but when i worked in a garage in leeds we used to smoke when working on the cars fuel system never had any probs petrol wont burn its only the fumes that will ,and even then it is surprising how hard it is to cause a fire when you look at the internal combustion engine if you do not have the proper compression and a nice fat jucey spark you wont ignite the mixture as we all know
 
so there you have it .dont fill up in a tesco garage .they catch fire .thanks Malc ,i,ll try to remember that. hee heee cheers alan.
 
vindiboy said:
If you go into a filling station for petrol with your fridge burning gas you could cause an explosion due to petrol vapours entering your fridge vents and BANG, you would incur a huge bill to rebuild the garage and for any other damage caused and your insurance company would NOT foot the bill. This happened at our local TESCO store a few years ago, BE WARNED.:(:(:(
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The argument was Running with your gas on.

I do, my van was designed to do so. As stated, the auto selector on my fridge will not switch the gas on until 15 mins. after the engine is switched off. No pilot light, nothing burning, perfectly legal and up to the notoriously high German standards.

Don't the Brits just love being P.C. about such things?:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
think of all the sparks a petrol engine need s .every time the distributer sparks it could set fire to petrol fumes .also if you have a bleed off for filling with gas, i have a calor tank here that as a bleed off for filling .you open it slightly ,gas comes out ,when its nearly full liquid comes out .turn off supply ,shut valve. its been around since the 70,s its safe .thats what calor use on the tank in my garden same system. if fumes were that bad we would have to manually push cars on and off forecourts . accidents do happen but normally they arent accidents but stupidity. i dont sqirt gas or petrol neaer my fridge vents . neither would you,i hope. actually i use a compressor 240volt fridge now no vents needed . cheers alan
 
This is an interesting subject.
I've never had a gas fridge but will be installing one in my present self build project. Was always under the impression though that when driving, the fridge should be running on 12v.
I have a question too:
What is it normal to do when one is on a long ferry, say to Amsterdam? is the fridge left on gas?
 
some fridges only have gas . as for ferries never been asked or told not to have it on. .certainly if you are on a 24hr to spain crossing the last thing you want is fridge on 12v flats your battery very quick.
the biggest trouble with that type of fridge is when the weather is good and gets over 32c they start to not work. by 36c its dead as they cant get rid of the heat. thats why i changed to a compressor fridge .i use a 240 through an inverter . or you can get 12v .because they come on get to temp then switch off they use alot less power ,and keep going even in hot climates. cheers alan.
 
On the ferries & eurotunnel you have to turn the gas off. In eurotunnels case they check to make sure it's off & you board last if you are carrying LPG. You should use the van on 12 volts while driving on many new motorhomes they have an auto setting that switches to 12 volts while travelling.

That said I run my fridge on gas all the time unless we have a hook up, I DO have the trauma securmotion fitted, according to the manuals I have it is ok to run the heating on gas while driving :rolleyes:.

I wonder how good the auto switch over system is on the fridges :confused: it says that there should be a delay of 10 minutes before the fridge switches back to gas. I've been stuck for over 10 minutes waiting at a pump either to get in to fill or pay. Isn't it more dangerous that the fridge is trying to light or the fridge is already alight :confused:

Also in reality if an electric spark was likely to cause an explosion at a petrol station then what happens when we start the motor :eek: have you ever seen how much a starter motor sparks :rolleyes:
 
In the good old days of top loading fuel tankers (open hatch with a hose/spear dangling down inside (puts teeth back in)) you'd be able to see the static electricity sparking over the surface of the fuel, its was an eerie sight to be perched up there with all the petrol vapours coming out of the hatch. The plus was that inside the tanker the vapour/air mixture was too rich for the sparks to cause an explosion/fire. BUT - plenty of fires over the years when static sparks jumped around at the hatches - quite often caused by the hatches becoming electrically insulated from the rest of the tanker. We used to have to stop loading if storm cloud was in the area as the risk of a static spark became too great with the hatches all wide open and vapour gushing out.

Diesel was worse than petrol and kerosene was worse than diesel for producing static - we had special procedures for switch loading (loading diesel over petrol) - load 100 litres in each compartment then drive round the yard 10 ten times!!

Nowadays with bottom loading, vapour recovery and all controlled by computers the drivers miss out on the excitement of watching the sparks fly!!

Fuel companies are very anal when it comes to safety on their properties - main reason why the no smoking, no flames, no mobile phones etc etc. They have access to worldwide data and just one incident may trigger a worldwide ban - the philosophy being a mix of risk management for their customers and "they shall not sue" for their bottom lines.

There are good safety reasons for not having the gas on whilst the vehicle is in motion, an even better one for not having the gas pilots alight. The risk of any fuel leaking in accident is always going to be there - having a naked flame may just push the risks a bit too far more my liking.
 
vwalan said:
the biggest trouble with that type of fridge is when the weather is good and gets over 32c they start to not work. by 36c its dead as they cant get rid of the heat.
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II was not aware of this. I have always suspected that these 3 way fridges were useless and this has merely confirmed my worst suspicions.
I've always used 12v compressor fridges until getting a 3 way Electrolux that changes automatically to what ever power source is available. ie if you are driving, it automatically goes to 12vDC, if you are on a hook-up it goes to 240vAC and if you are enjoying your camping, sorry wilding it :D it goes onto gas.
I hate the thing: It is one of the worst items I have ever bought. If the van is not absolutely level, the B thing refuses to work and I waste loads of time rolling pencils around, putting builders levels across the cab etc

Apologies for going off topic
 
baloothebear said:
II was not aware of this. I have always suspected that these 3 way fridges were useless and this has merely confirmed my worst suspicions.
I've always used 12v compressor fridges until getting a 3 way Electrolux that changes automatically to what ever power source is available. ie if you are driving, it automatically goes to 12vDC, if you are on a hook-up it goes to 240vAC and if you are enjoying your camping, sorry wilding it :D it goes onto gas.
I hate the thing: It is one of the worst items I have ever bought. If the van is not absolutely level, the B thing refuses to work and I waste loads of time rolling pencils around, putting builders levels across the cab etc

Apologies for going off topic
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But surely, if one's desire is to wild camp nearly all of the time and so hardly ever to be on hook up, then it would only be a matter of time before the 12v compressor fridge totally drained the leisure batteries, even if you used several?
 
Samson said:
But surely, if one's desire is to wild camp nearly all of the time and so hardly ever to be on hook up, then it would only be a matter of time before the 12v compressor fridge totally drained the leisure batteries, even if you used several?
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The batteries would be recharged when driving, and/or by solar panels. The recharging capacity, and the power consumption of the fridge, need to be factored in when designing the system.

We have a Waeco MDC-110 compressor fridge, I reckon it uses around 40Ah per day which our solar panels can keep up with in the summer. There are certainly smaller, more efficient, 12V fridges around but if you want to reduce electricity consumption to a minimum you would have to use a gas/3-way fridge.

AndyC
 
yes you can drain your batteries with a compressor fridge. we have 3 x80wt panels on the roof 600amps battery .in dec /jan .in spain n portugal we ran the fridge in the day switched it off in the night. it still kept frozen in the d,freeze bit. later as it got more sunny we left it on all 24hr a day. it is a 110wt 240 house fridge run through a 2 kw ring inverter.
at the moment i run an extention lead into the house and keep the house fridge running for free . if it stays sunny we use other things from the extention .but as you open the fridge door its easy to see the light if its not on plug into mains.
gas and 3 way fridges are a really pain as we go south into hot climatesin summer or as i do venture into africa. with the set up i use if we go maroc or further down batteries are full by 12mid day. vacum cleaners food mixers twin tub washing machines are used frequently all run by the sun.
read your instructions on gas fridges as it gets hot forget them its only a cupboard for food.
cheapest way is a proper evaporation cool box .they were a chalk construction you put water i the top as it evaporates the box became cold .the hotter it is more water needed the cooler it becomes .never reezes but keep milk and cools beer.
cheers alan.
 
tobeornot2be

i once pulled a woman from an overturned camper ,the gas was not turned off ,the pipe was severed and the liquid gas was spewing everwhere .easy done .
 
Canalsman said:
It is not safe to drive with the gas turned on.

In the event of an accident, and the possible fracture of gas lines - BANG!

Don't do it - EVER
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I fully agree with Canalsman your insurance may well will be void just ask them .,
IT IS VERY DANGEROUS IN THE EVENT OF ACCIDENT FIRE YES FIRE
YOU HAVE WARNED
 
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