# How do you remember to turn the fridge to gas when stopped?



## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Hi,

We have post-it reminders on the steering wheel, in front of the passenger, on the exit door, the fridge, even above the toilet roll in the loo - and we STILL forget to turn the fridge to gas when we stop!!

It's not so much an issue in the cool weather but so many times we've gone off for a wander locally and forgotten to turn the fridge to gas.

I have hung a 'bracelet' thing on the heki rooflight but only thought of that when the weather was cooling so I don't know if it would be effective - we usually _would_ remember to open the skylight immediately on stopping in summer, because we'd be feeling the heat.

Does anyone else have this memory-lapse problem, and how do you get round it?


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## DABurleigh (May 9, 2005)

Well we can't have a cuppa until the gas is turned on, so the fridge is simply an integral habitual part of the gas on, fridge switch, kettle on routine 

Dave


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

You could always get into a routine, and it then becomes second nature.

We used a notebook to begin with, when we were caravanning, so when we changed to the MH, easy really


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## EJB (Aug 25, 2007)

We never turn it to gas during our travels. It stays cold/frozen for quite a few hours without problem. :wink:


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

I sympathise with you here ! We have all sorts of laminated reminders to hang on various parts of the van but familiarity breeds contempt and we don't see them after a bit.

Best I can advise is to have a newer fridge, as we now have, which does the switching automatically. All we now have to remember is to switch the gas on when we stop......and to switch it off before we move off again.

If you see a van in front of you pull into a layby and a harrassed looking man get out and rush round the side then it'll be us, turning off the gas. 

G


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

We've got the secumotion pipes so we no longer turn off the gas at the bottle.

We have a good routine for striking camp; but we just never remember to go through a checklist when we stop!


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## JeanLuc (Jan 13, 2007)

It just becomes part of the process of stopping / levelling if required / turning on gas.

Bigger problem for me is remembering to switch it to 12V before we drive off. (There is often that b*gg*r moment, after a few miles of travelling.)

Philip


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## sideways (Jun 2, 2008)

invariably putting the kettle on is managements responsibility when pitching up so the laminated reminder is on the sink cover so you see it when filling kettle.


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Simple . Stop turn gas on, turn fridge on put kettle on turn water heater on.

Reverse procedure on setting off.

I do have a GAS ON reminder that I stick on the steering wheel when we stop.

I have done a check list for daughter, just to be on the safe side.

dave p


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## bognormike (May 10, 2005)

ours is an old style fridge with a yellow "clicking" switch / warning light. We try to leave this on, and as soon as we switch on the control panel it "clicks" at us to remember to light the gas :wink: 

The thing then is when we've been on hook-up to remember to put the yellow switch on :roll: 8)


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## navigator (Aug 31, 2006)

Interesting! I'm obviously doing something wrong here.

When we set off on a trip, I switch the gas on at the tank. When we come home and unload, I switch it off. Is there something I should know?

When we stop en-route, I know that the fridge automatically switches to gas, and when I start the engine, it reverts to 12 volts. On hook-up, it uses 240 volts.

We have a 2000 Bessacarr E745 with two 6kg propane cylinders. Are we not following best practice?


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

Isn't it all part of the fun of camping, walking backward and forward over the same track because you've forgot this or that. 

I think the worst is getting all pitched up and then the boss says, we're out of water,----1T. Then finding that the ------- tap is a hose length + 4 feet away.
  

Wobby

Or is this just another senior moment


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

navigator said:


> We have a 2000 Bessacarr E745 with two 6kg propane cylinders. Are we not following best practice?


As i understand it there are 2 kinds of set up.

Most vans older than about 2 years simply have a gas pipe and branches running from the bottle to the various appliances. This can be switched on and off at the bottle. It is usually advised that you switch it off when travelling to prevent any flow of gas if one of the supply pipes ruptures during an accident or because of strain. Not everyone does this and 99.999% of the time there is no accident so it does not matter.

The second system, generally fitted to newer / continental or more expensive vans - or by request, makes use of a secumotion system. This is designed apparently so that, in the event of a crash, the gas will automatically switch off at the bottle. With this system it is apparently safe to run the heating and so on from gas while you travel and you do not have to switch off the gas when you move off.

Most newer vans have fridges that will "look" for the available energy source and switch to it automatically. There is a 20 minute lag from stopping ( when you have been using 12v) to the gas switching on, so that, if you stopped to refuel, you don't have a flame burning in the fridge when you are filling up with fuel.

I assume the secumotion system has similar safeguards.

G


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## pippin (Nov 15, 2007)

Dave

_I have done a check list for daughter_

Is that in case you forget your daughter and leave her behind?!!


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Hi Navigator, 
DO NOT DO THAT.

For the sake of safety have the gas turned off when travelling.
When it is turned on you are driving a bomb ready to go off.

Just for a second imagine a clot running into your vehicle, smashing into the gas locker and dislodging the pipe from the tank.
Gas ,hot engine, sparks from battery= BOOOOOM


dave p


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Nah Pippin, she justs asks me to check Bessie over fill her up with diesel and Kerry and hubby drive off. Bessie comes home ready to be fueled up
and washed. The joy`s of having a daughter.


Dave p


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## mygalnme (Jul 12, 2009)

For travelling we put ours on automatic when stopping for cuppa etc, hubby puts gas on to mash,er boil kettle but there is a flashing blue light on fridge if for some reason it doesn't go over and as someone mentioned would stay cold anyway. We often get "tracking" before remember to switch gas off....definately a "senior" thing  But we have a check list for departure from a long stay so hopefully don't drive off with aerial up,roof vents, hook up attached etc  Oh the joys of camping :lol:


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## navigator (Aug 31, 2006)

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> Hi Navigator,
> DO NOT DO THAT.
> 
> For the sake of safety have the gas turned off when travelling.
> ...


Ok. From now on there are new rules. Thanks for the common sense injection!

Regards,

Ian


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

JeanLuc said:


> It just becomes part of the process of stopping / levelling if required / turning on gas.


Hi JeanLuc,

I wish it did - we're just coming to the end of a whole 6 months in the van and we still haven't managed to crack this one!


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## hogan (Oct 31, 2006)

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> Hi Navigator,
> DO NOT DO THAT.
> 
> For the sake of safety have the gas turned off when travelling.
> ...


We leave our gas on when traveling ,whats the difference in a accident whether the gas tank ruptures or the fuel tank ruptures they will both explode.And we dont have fuel tank taps anymore.


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

We leave our gas on all the time even when traveling but our van has one of THESE Fitted. It is safe to leave the gas one if you have a Drive Safe Regulator.

We have no problems with our fridge now as we just leave it on Auto. But in our last van with a manual fridge we regularly forgot but in this country you can lave the fridge of for a few hours and the stuff inside seems ok.

Richard...


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## Jean-Luc (Jul 21, 2005)

My Rapido (2005) changes to gas automatically about 10 minutes after I witch off the engine, as grizzly said this is a safety feature in case the stop is in a garage forecourt.
However if I manually select 'gas' it will light immediately.
It suggests that, Rapido and others who employ the system, and the fridge manufacturer, assume/accept that the gas is always on :!:

BTW there is no 'caution notice' in any of my bumph about turning off the gas while travelling.


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## steco1958 (Mar 5, 2009)

[/quote=hogan]We leave our gas on when traveling ,whats the difference in a accident whether the gas tank ruptures or the fuel tank ruptures they will both explode.And we dont have fuel tank taps anymore.[/quote]

You have been watching far too many American films, how many accidents / crashes happen in the UK? How many of these accidents / crashes does the petrol / diesel tank explode ?

Come on get real, turn your gas taps off, unless they are the type that can be left on by design.


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

I totally disagree hogan

It just needs that bit of rubber to be dislodged.

A rare occurance maybe. 

Turn gas off at the tank.

You would have to when travelling thro channell tunnell

dave p


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## Pudsey_Bear (Sep 25, 2008)

We only turn our gas off to change the bottle, and the fridge gets turned on when we remember, if it's not opened too much it'll stay cool enough, but we try to not leave it off overnight.

Kev

PS, I just had a brain wave, if you were to make something to fit over the milk bottle/container maybe you could write a reminder on to that, if you had to remove it to open the bottle/container it should solve the problem


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## Phillip (Jul 20, 2009)

DTPCHEMICALS said:


> You would have to when travelling thro channell tunnell


Only one way it seems. We wen't through the tunnel from UK to France a few weeks ago and was checked at the UK port and was told to turn the gas off. On our return in the French port we were checked and I said to the girl "my gas is on should I turn it off?" and she replied "don't worry, it's not necessary" 8O

I turned it off anyway :lol:


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## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

Every person in charge of a motor home containing a conected and turned on gas cylinders should asses the Health and Safety position that they are putting themselves and other members of the public in.

Dave p


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## barryd (May 9, 2008)

Easy! Mrs D's Job. If she forgets and I have warm beer its a dam good spanking for her!

I leave our gas on all the time. The GasLow bloke told me to so it must be ok! (probably).


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## jiwawa (Jun 22, 2007)

Well, we cracked it!

On our most recent 4-month trip we hardly ever forgot to turn on the fridge gas. How?

I replaced the little bracelet thing I had hanging from the Heki handle with a much longer 'hang round your neck' lanyard. It's almost impossible to walk past it without getting smacked up the face!

Funny how we never forget to go through our 'Leaving site' checklist, which makes sure the lanyard is hung.

So, good to know the brain cells are not quite dead - or we still have enough to figure a way round it!


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## PeterandLinda (Feb 21, 2009)

Hi

At the risk of being offensive, anyone who doesn't have 'Secumotion' or similar fitted and deliberately chooses to drive with the LPG tanks turned on is an irresponsible idiot, if not criminally negligent!

P&L


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## griffly16 (Jul 6, 2006)

Just for clarification here, are people talking about :

1) turning off the gas at the top of the gas bottle (pigtail/connector hose) 

or

2) leaving that open and turning the 'flow' valve mounted elsewhere in the van to 'off'?

We travel with with 2) - only turn the gas off at the bottle when changing cylinders.

Griff


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## Zozzer (Aug 13, 2006)

We don't have a problem with putting the fridge on, as it's part of the Gas on, Fridge on, Kettle on routine

but we do sometimes forget to turn it off. Luckily we haven't go off a site before we have remembered.

Have thought of doing a customised splash screen for the Tom Tom
to remind us to turn it off, whenever the Tom Tom is switched on.
I suppose a similar one could be generated to remind people to switch the gas on whenever you turn the Tom Tom off.


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## MEES (Apr 20, 2006)

*gas on?*

This forum is fabulous it has just answered another niggle...
We have the gas secumotion and the book with it explains you can drive with gas on/heating on if desired.
Our newish fridge freezer has an autosetting. 
Have not been using auto 'cause have noticed that when we stop it does not switch immediately to gas.
So have been switching manually from 12v to gas.
Needless to say have forgotton several times and flattened battery.
This is exciting at 4am when warning lights are beeping and you dont know how to stop the dam things.
Now I will switch to auto and trust it!
We have also had fridge on gas when on mains hook up.
Brain dead or what..


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

*Re: gas on?*



MEES said:


> .
> Have not been using auto 'cause have noticed that when we stop it does not switch immediately to gas.
> ..


This is a feature not a fault. I understand it is to make sure that your fridge does not switch to gas when you stop to fill up at a petrol station. There is about a 10 minute delay on ours.

G


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## MEES (Apr 20, 2006)

Thanks Grizzly have got it now! funny how user error can be mistaken for a fault :lol:


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## Hezbez (Feb 7, 2009)

This would make a good poll - what percentage drive with their gas on and off.


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## philoaks (Sep 2, 2008)

*Re: gas on?*



MEES said:


> So have been switching manually from 12v to gas.
> Needless to say have forgotton several times and flattened battery.
> This is exciting at 4am when warning lights are beeping and you dont know how to stop the dam things.


Sounds like you may have some sort of fault on your system. As far as I know, even if you manually select 12v it shouldn't work unless the engine is running. This is to prevent accidental flattening of the battery.


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## flyingpig (Jan 14, 2009)

Normally, when our feet get wet :lol: :lol:
Seriously, it's down to getting into the 'Motorhome Habit'...Check, check and check again, every time you park up or move on. Good luck  :wink:


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## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

MEES said:


> Thanks Grizzly have got it now! funny how user error can be mistaken for a fault :lol:


Oh Mees, there are so many systems on the average motorhome that are totally counter-intuitive that it is hard to know sometimes just what is working properly !

G


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## Tan-all-over (Jun 26, 2010)

Had to laugh Jww, we do that every time we stop, always seem to forget the fridge till about an hour after stoping. To busy talking to people. Nice to know its not just us. Intesting topic


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## 96706 (Nov 13, 2005)

We have notices everywhere to remind us to do the checks - but there are very few times we manage to drive off from a stop without having to stop again in 100 yards because we've not turned the gas off, not turned the fridge to 12v, not locked one or more of the lockers or not put the heki down, etc. etc. Weirdly when we had a van where we had an external gas locker we never ever forgot to turn off the gas, now this van has an internal locker and we don't have to go outside, we often forget. Perhaps it's just old age 8O 

Notices don't work - you get used to seeing them there and look through them.

Mrs. D


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