Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

http://www.1strespondernews.com/webpage ... 4896d6d637
talk about waking up with a bang! this is from my hometown less than a mile from my house, hope the campers involved come through ok!
I know most of us don't have this much gas in our trailers, but even the 1 lb bottles can ruin your day.

OUCH!!!!

That is valid reason for always putting any fuel gas plumbing under chassis and not inside camper structure, and only make a "entrance" where appliance is located... It minimizes amount of fitting that may be lleaking inside structure but does not eliminate possibility of leaks at appliance connection itself...

Remember propane gas is heavier the air (specific gravity) and will always "flow" down ward.... Hence , put all piping "UNDER TRAILER" so any leaking fitting will allow gas to dilute in atmosphere and become harmless...

Dale

I took a few different steps to try and avoid this. Like mentioned above run the main supply line from bottles under the trailer and come up through the floor at your appliances.. All my stuff is packed into one small cabinet so I have several fittings in the trailer. I placed a shut off right where the line comes into the floor so if I ever detect a leak I can shut the gas off right there with out having to go outside. I also have a gas dector installed with in a foot or so of all the connections. On top of that where I have a plumbing pipe coming through the floor beside the gas line I did not seal up around the pipe. I did this so if there ever was a gas leak the propane had a place to escape through the floor. Like Dale said it is heavier then air so it will fall to the floor. Its a good idea to have a vent in the floor so the gas will escape outside and not just keep filling up the cabinet.

I'll be honest though I do not check for leaks constantly.. I installed all my lines, Checked for leaks. I left a spray bottle with some soap in it under the cabinet and on our first couple of trips I gave all the connections a quick check. Since then I have not rechecked. Course that was just last year.. Its probably a good idea to check your connections once a year or so just to make sure nothing has shook loose on the road..

BTW I've first hand seen a trailer that was damaged due to a gas leak. The stove top was not installed correctly and had a leak.. The guy did not know it and with him in the door way of the trailer the gas was ignited. It knocked him out the door and to the ground and damaged the trailer pretty good. Its not like what you see in the movies. Its just a quick pop.. The damage is more from the sudden expansion then the fire. His trailer did not burn at all. It singed the hair on the carpet, ect. But the walls looked like someone had sealed the trailer off and then pumped it full of air like a ballon. Everything was pushed out from the pressure.. Pretty wild