propane tank with battery

[CarlS]

Is it a bad idea to combine the battery with the propane tank in the front field box?
Carl

[Arne]

not if you are happy with open flames and sticks of dynamite......

reality is if you have a separator and vent them to different sides it is probably ok... but I would not recommend it. one chance in a million is what have killed people...

Of course, this note will be followed by 999,999 people who have done it with no problem.. but you are dealing with a possible propane leak at the same time you get a spark from the battery... highly unlikely... I would probably do it, if as mentioned, they each had their own vent on opposing sides of the box.

[Ageless]

I agree; keep them seperate

[Gary and Cheri]

One other thing to remember, the more you put on the tongue the quicker you reach the maximum capacity of your trailer hitch. Mine will only handle 200 lbs and with the natural forward weight of the trailer I was over with a small box and battery. Check your weight before attaching anything permanently.

Gary

[Shadow Catcher]

Unless you are using an AGM battery you are putting a hydrogen source (think Hindenburg) with a bomb. You will need to ventilate the box if either one is present let alone both.

[Larwyn]

Seperation and venitlation will take care of it, even if they are in the same box. If the hydrogen gas is a concern, I think you will find it very difficult to seperate the source of the gas from the sourse of the spark as the battery is the source in both cases. The hydrogen gas from a battery is lighter than air so needs to be vented at the highest point while propane gas is heavier than air and needs to be vented at the lowest point. Of course they both need an intake vent at the opposite end, so provide vents at both top and bottom. Every time this comes up I am reminded that the 5th wheel I had was set up at the factory with the propane tanks in the forward compartment under the bed on the left side and the battery was also in that same compartment on the right side. The battery was mouted high with a side access door but the compartment was open to the same one that contained two 30 pound propane tanks. In addition there was a micorswitch mounted on the auto transfer regulator to turn on an indicating light in trailer. This switch was mounted directly to the regulator above the tanks. The floor of this compartment was well vented below the tanks and the little battery compartment was vented at the top. As far as the "Hindenburg" effect, during the 8 years I had that trailer it never floated away or exploded.

[Rusty drop]

you might want to add a extiguisher in there... if it blows up, the extinguisher will also blow up and may extinguish the fire automatically... my two cents...

[Cutterpup]

Silly me I thought you found a battery operated propane tank? Wire it up and it make propane gas.

Just looking on the bright side of life

Dan

[wannabefree]

Hmm, it's only a bad idea if you're going to have a propane leak at the same time as a spark. Looking at the probabilities,
Pexplosion = Pleak * Pspark, or in English, the probability of an explosion is the product of the probability of a leak and the probability of a spark.

So it really depends on how good an electrician and plumber you are. My experience is that good plumbers make bad electricians and good electricians make bad plumbers.

Of course, your experience may differ.

[Corwin C]

My opinion ... Neither the battery nor the propane should be stored in an unventilated area. Either one alone has the potential to cause issues if an ignition source is present. If you are getting sparks from any source other than a 12v switch, relay, or brushed motor, then you are having problems with your electrical system which needs to be corrected. That being said I can't see an issue with having both in a well ventilated compartment (both upwards for the hydrogen from the battery and downwards for the propane) with NO switches, relays, motors, etc.

Also, considering the construction of propane tanks, and automotive batteries, I can't see a situation when the presence of one would dramatically affect the results if you have an incident with the other. Either way, it would be a BAD day.

Corwin