PROPANE Part 1

Unless you have one of the new all-electric Roadtreks, you have a propane tank installed on your Roadtrek. The propane is used for heating your hot water, heating your Roadtrek with your furnace, running your refrigerator if you have a three way standard Roadtrek Dometic fridge, and cooking on your stove. If you have a Sprinter Roadtrek your electric generator is also powered by propane. This article will give you some basics about the propane system in your Roadtrek.

First I will share some very basic knowledge about propane. Propane is also called LP Gas. The L P is simply Liquid Propane. When propane is compressed it condenses into a liquid form. It is a property of propane that when uncompressed it changes into a gas. This is what makes it possible for propane to be carried in a tank. Natural gas cannot do this. So - basic number one - the propane in your propane tank is a LIQUID UNDER PRESSURE.

The propane tank in all Roadtreks that I am aware of is located in the rear, under the van chassis, behind the rear bumper.  A reader has shared that in older Roadtreks the propane tank is under the driver's seat floor with access to the fill and gauge is under the flip up step. At some point in change of year, Roadtrek moved the tank and access to the back of the van. To turn on the propane there is a valve located behind a cover right in the middle over the bumper. The valve that you see is a grey knob and like most valves is turned to the right to turn off and to the left to open. Clockwise to turn OFF. Counterclockwise to turn ON. In the compartment behind that cover there will be other components of the system - other than the on/off knob and a connection on a flexible hose to allow you to attach a portable gas grill to the Roadtrek's propane tank for outside barbecuing, don't touch anything else that is there. You will see an analog dial meter that will tell you how much gas is in the tank - though you can also find this out inside your Roadtrek on your monitor panel on the wall. There will be a place for a certified propane person to fill the tank and a pressure relief valve used when filling the tank. Propane is highly combustible. This is not something to fool with.

Let's take a tour of the propane system.

Here is where to look for the propane valve ->

 It is behind this cover ->

Open the cover by turning the white tab on each side to clear the cutout on the cover.
Here is everything "propane" for your Roadtrek ->

What you are looking at above is where to turn on the propane to use it in your Roadtrek and where a certified propane distributor will fill your propane tank for you. The yellow cap is the connection for the propane fill - DO NOT TOUCH THIS.  The red ring to the middle right is the overflow pressure relief valve for the propane. DO NOT TOUCH THIS. The grey it all goes into is the propane tank. What is not seen in this photo is the auxiliary barbecue connection hose which is to the left side and in this photo is tucked down behind the bumper. THE VALVE THAT YOU TURN IS IN THE VERY MIDDLE WITH THE BLUE LABEL.

Here is the ON/OFF VALVE that you will turn ->

Let's get to the systems that you have on your Roadtrek that use propane and what you need to do to get them to operate.

The first thing that you are going to do whenever you first turn on your propane is to light the stove to make sure that the propane is actually flowing through the system. You always want to do this so that you know that the propane has filled all of the gas lines. It is only at the stove that you can actually see the result of this first hand. So we will start with the stove.

STOVE

The stove is the only appliance without a self-lighting pilot light. You must light the stove with a flame that you produce with a match or a lighter. The best thing to get to light the stove is one of the extended reach butane lighters used for barbecues. This lets you get close without getting too close.

Open the glass cover that is over the two gas stove burners. Each has a knob. Look around the edge of each burner and you will see a small, thin brass tube coming up. This tube will be the pilot that will ignite the burner.  With the propane valve on in the rear of the Roadtrek, light the lighter in your hand. You only want a small flame. Turn on either one of the burners by turning and pushing its knob. Bring the flame to where that brass tube is (you will probably hear and smell gas flowing) and the gas should ignite. Adjust the knob to a low flame and let go. The burner is lit. Let it burn for a few seconds and then shut it off. Light the other burner the same way. Your propane is flowing through all of the propane system in your Roadtrek. Turn off the stove. Of course, if you are planning to cook right then and there, your stove is lit and ready to cook. In any case, when you are ready to cook on the stove, do the same thing to light it.

Let me just repeat again why this is done each time you turn on the propane. If you do not do this and go to start your hot water heater or start your 3 way fridge on propane, you cannot see the burner that lights with the burning propane. If the water does not get hot or the refrigerator does not start to cool (most likely with an ignition trouble light on the fridge control panel) you will not know why. By lighting the stove first you eliminate the problem that the propane may not be flowing. Once the stove lights you can be sure that there are no clogs along the propane line. Do be aware that this tells you nothing about leaks.

REFRIGERATOR

Most Roadtreks come with a Dometic three way absorption refrigerator. These work using propane, 12 volt battery power, or 110 volt shore power. Since I do not have this type of refrigerator I can not tell you any details about its operation. A detailed manual should have been included with your Roadtrek just for the refrigerator. I can tell you that this refrigerator does not work like your fridge at home which is a condenser system. An absorption refrigerator has ammonia running through it that must be heated and one of the ways it is heated is with a propane flame burner. To ignite that flame you need to have battery power and you should put your battery switch on before trying to turn on the fridge even when using propane. Do read the manual for your refrigerator. If you don't have one, you can download one for your model fridge on the Dometic website.


END OF PART 1
PART 2 NEXT WEEK

Our Almost Stumbling Block

I had indicated in the first article that as we were going along shopping and in planning our purchase of the Roadtrek that something happened health-wise in April 2010 that became an issue in purchasing a Roadtrek - as it comes. What I found out that April was that I had to begin a nightly insulin for my Type 2 Diabetes and the unstarted insulin pens had to be kept at about 40 degrees at all times until they were started. An insulin pen once started lasts me for about a week and a half and those can remain at room temperature. On short trips there was no problem, but on longer trips - several weeks - I would need to have several insulin pens - unstarted pens with me in the Roadtrek.

Now anyone who knows these vans will say what is the big deal. The Roadtrek comes with a refrigerator as standard equipment. And yes, that is very true, but the type of refrigerator that is standard to Class B vans and most RVs is an ammonia gas refrigerator - known as a three-way. It will run on propane, battery power from the on-board battery bank, or plugged into 110 volt AC current supplied by the campgrounds. See - three power sources - three-way. This is a problem in that it when we take the RV out to touring attractions, amusement parks, festivals, etc. we will have to have that refrigerator running all of the time when there is insulin inside. It will run fine on the propane - burning propane by the way - but the nature of the cooling mechanism on these types of refrigerator's requires that the refrigerator be kept very close to level at all time for it to work properly.

Let me explain the difference in this refrigerator to the common one that you have in your kitchen. Many, many years ago when the idea of refrigerators was new, the first refrigerators worked on a principal of the exchange of heat through heated gas - in particular and in the case of the three-way fridge - ammonia gas. There is ammonia flowing through the walls of these refrigerators and that ammonia must be hot. It is heated either electrically or by the burning propane gas. Now that is pretty much the extent of my understanding of these refrigerators in how they work and please do not ask me to explain the physics of it all. For this system to work as it is supposed to, it must be kept level for the ammonia to flow as it has to. Running on battery or electricity it still must be kept close to level. If it is not it will both not cool properly and the system will burn out eventually. Also the system will drain batteries quickly. Now, your house refrigerator runs with a condenser. There is still a substance flowing through pipes in the walls but it does not have to be heated. And it is such that it does not need to be level. A condenser refrigerator would work fine in an RV if there is sufficient battery power or you are plugged in. But at that point - way back in 2010 - I did not know if such a thing existed for an RV.

Let me throw in another issue about the 3-way and leveling the RV that would be a problem for us. We travel to a lot of places where the parking is either on a hill or you are directed into a space on a field where many cars are being parked at one time. There is no way to pick a space more level than another and no opportunity to take time to start placing blocks under tires and moving back and forth to get level. We tend to go to many places like this and this had to be a consideration for any use of the Roadtrek.

I quickly learned, through the help of some very helpful folks on RV.net an on-line RV forum, that of course such a thing existed - it is called a "two-way" and it will run on 12 volt battery power or 110 volt AC. These units are common on boats - because a boat is rarely level. And I learned that it was possible to retro-fit one into an Roadtrek where the original refrigerator goes.

At that point, I thought, problem solved. But it was not that easy. First, I could not install this myself. Second, I had to make sure that whatever dealer I went to was going to get me the refrigerator and install it - without adding more to the price of the RV than I could afford.

When we headed off to the first dealer, I presented what I wanted. A two-way to replace the three-way refrigerator in the stock Roadtrek. He was not thrown by this, but raised the concern that the battery bank might not be enough to keep the fridge running between battery recharges. He suggested adding two additional six volt "golf cart" batteries to the battery bank. (An aside, golf-cart batteries are not small as one would imagine given the size of a golf cart, in fact they are larger than car batteries. Also two 6 volt batteries of this type give longer lasting power than two 12 volt batteries of the same type.) He suggested a model AC/DC refrigerator that he could get. When I got home I looked up the specifications and found out that it was about half the size of the Roadtrek fridge and would leave a large gap in the cabinet that it would be installed into. This was not good. I had to look on my own for what would fit and not lose much if any capacity.

I discovered - again with the help of great people at RV.net - that a company called Nova Kool makes an ac/dc refrigerator that is almost an exact outer dimension match the Roadtrek's fridge with just fractions of an inch smaller difference and it has a large interior capacity. I got the model number. One of the Roadtrek owners on the forum had recorded the installation of his refrigerator in his Roadtrek in photographs and a text narrative and I printed this all out to bring to the dealers with me to show them what needed to be done and what the best way to do it is.
The second dealer, also, had no problem with the switch, told me he could install it and it would be an even exchange for the stock fridge that would come with the Roadtrek. He also suggested one 12 volt battery instead of the two sixes. Now, no one was quite sure where to put these extra batteries.

The third dealer - the dealer we purchased from - also had no problem with the plan - at first. The minor problem came later. Just before it was getting to be the time to order the Roadtrek so that we would have it in mid-April after the thaw, I started emailing in detail to the dealer about planning for the refrigerator. I explained again the suggested need for the additional battery and asked him to find out from their service center where it could be installed. He went one better than that and went directly to the Roadtrek engineers. He was told by Roadtrek - NO, NO, NO! They told him that adding batteries into the battery bank would create a fire hazard and that the existing wiring could not handle it. He told me this and I went, "Oh, boy - now what?" If the refrigerator needed that extra battery to run what were we going to do now?

Again, I went back to the forums and started asking questions. Would the two six volt AGM batteries in the Roadtrek battery bank that power the interior of the RV carry the refrigerator for a full day when parked and still be of any use to us at night if we could not use our generator or hook up to land power? I got a number of opinions and several calculations to do to figure this out. Most important I had others who have a similar set up tell me that the batteries should carry for three days. That is more than enough and my concerns were once again put to ease.

Another bump came when the dealer suggested that I should obtain the Nova Kool refrigerator on my own, have it shipped to him, and he would put it in. I started a search to find one and discovered that retailers were not anywhere near by and that dealers would ship but I would be buying something from an unknown source and if there was any problem with the unit that was sent out, it would get complicated and costly to return it for another. I contacted the Nova Kool company directly and found them to be very pleasant and cooperative. They told me that they would work with my dealer and get a unit to him without the dealer needing to open a business account with them. I put the dealer and the Nova Kool salesman together and they worked out the details to get the refrigerator. All of the parts were now in place.

When we went to order the Roadtrek I asked about the original refrigerator that was coming with the RV. I had been told that I would be credited for the unit. I was told that Roadtrek agreed to ship the RV without any refrigerator but completely prepped for one with all connections in place. The price I had now from the dealer included the credit for the original fridge. Fair enough.

We are now all set. When we are away for any extend time I can put the insulin pens in the refrigerator running on battery power while we travel and while we are parked. When we have land power we can switch it to 110 volt AC power and at the same time the batteries will recharge. The insulin will stay at the necessary below 40 degrees F - and anything that we want to remain cold in the fridge will also get the benefit. No need to level (I was not looking forward to leveling this anyway.) A permanent solution that would not take up any valuable space inside - as opposed to stand alone, 12 volt powered ice chests as some had suggested.

Several experienced RV'ers who I have told about this refrigerator are impressed by the idea. The condenser fridge cools down faster than a three-way. This all seems good!