Posted on 05/12/2022 6:35:56 PM PDT by dynachrome
Eight RV manufacturers, 37 models and 22,021 RVs from model years 2021 and 2022 have dangerous RV cracked and porous LP gas fittings that can lead to a fire, and they don’t know it. Worse yet, almost all of the RV factories say they will not send notices to tell dealers or the public about it until July 1st.
The recalls were quietly announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but virtually all factory warning letters to the RV dealers and owners of these RVs will not go out until July 2022, according to filings with federal safety regulators. Meanwhile, they say 100% of certain models of Cruiser RV, DRV, Heartland, Highland Ridge, Jayco, KZRV, Thor, and Starcraft have cracked gas fittings on recall.
Federal Recall personnel at NHTSA, the federal agency in charge of vehicle safety recalls, announced the fittings were made by Texas-based Flex Tech, which has a plant in Goshen, Indiana, with contaminated brass that can result in LP gas leaks, which can lead to a fire.
(Excerpt) Read more at rvtravel.com ...
Why fix it yourself if it’s under warranty? Just don’t use your propane in the meantime.
“Why fix it yourself if it’s under warranty? Just don’t use your propane in the meantime.”
Normally that would be the right answer, and I’ve done that with cars and back when I bought a new house. However, with RVs it’s a bit different and is more like getting repairs on a Tesla, where you have to be patient, very very patient, as parts can take a very long time for the dealer to obtain - so often it’s better to simply fix yourself, or in this case, only use the propane for cooking and shut it off at the tank when not in use.
I live in DC. Years ago, on 4th of July we were hiking in the park in DC and heard a really loud boom. We thought it was fireworks. Later walking home we passed by the remains of a house that had exploded because of a NG leak. Fortunately or unfortunately no one was home. I say unfortunately only because if they had been there they probably would have smelled the gas before it go to an explosive level.
I had a friend who had a malfunction scuba diving and, while he lived, was never the same mentally.
It’s probably a stress crack. It might not show up for 5 or 6 loosenings and tightenings.
Yikes 😳
Some of the people here are recalling incidents that took place a very long time ago. This article should be a good reminder that if you smell gas in your RV that you should figure out where it is coming from. I have various detectors and most of them were not expensive.
I cannot tell you how many natural gas and propane leaks that I responded to during my career. Many were actually odors coming from rotting garbage, but a few of the big ones required us to evacuate a lot of people, until we and/or the gas company could get things under control.
I’ve owned an RV for years and years. Camped out in some pretty extreme temperatures once in a while, but I can only remember one time going to sleep with the propane heater on. It just made me nervous.
Most of my RVing is done at RV parks and state parks. With electricity. So why use propane when you can plug-in a little electric heater and be roasty toasty all night without fear of a propane leak?
One time the family and I were camping at the beach. Have you ever tried to light a gas furnace with 20 mile an hour sustained winds? I finally got that pilot lit. Shortly there after I bought an electric adapter for hot water purposes.
I am just not a fan of propane.
For many if my old neighbors who got burned out as I did in the Alameda fire and are still living in FEMA RVs, they have no choice.
Makes sense to me!
A professional grade handheld fuel-gas detector cost me about $125. I used it when plumbing my old farmhouse for a propane stove. The sensitivity is so high that it will trigger on the un-burned gas that escapes as I light the stove, from two rooms away. Far more sensitive than your nose.
A good investment if you have one of these campers.
Nice, I have a plug-in unit, but at 120V not the best for an RV.
Add in a 20°F Temperature to Your specs and I will say YES I HAVE !!!
I would have been thrilled to be doing it at the Beach.
I got a vaxxine and while I lived am mentally not the same.
Sorry to thread disrupt:)
50 years ago, a regular house several blocks from us blew up from a natural gas leak. When I heard and felt the boom, my first thought was that the very ill-tempered, 300 pound woman who lived downstairs from us had had a tantrum, and slammed her refrigerator to the floor!
A couple days after I moved into my house I installed a CO detector.
The next night it went off.
I didn’t smell anything but called the FD and asked for a sensor.
It turned out to be a defective CO detector.
“This article should be a good reminder that if you smell gas in your RV that you should figure out where it is coming from.”
I would offer another course of action if you smell gas in your RV. GET TF OUT! If it’s not too bad turn off your bottles as you run by them and then figure out what to do next.
“Most of my RVing is done at RV parks and state parks. With electricity. So why use propane when you can plug-in a little electric heater and be roasty toasty all night without fear of a propane leak?”
I met a guy at a campground one time who was a permanent RVer due to travelling for his job. He gave me your idea. I even bought an induction cook plate to cut down on the use of propane. Why use my gas when I can use the campground electricity that I’m paying for?
Yes, I have met many people just like you on the 1000s false gas leak calls that I responded to over 25 years. Typically, it was the outside air, because I worked in what is affectionately referred to as one of the armpits of the Puget Sound. But they also freaked out because they left something rotting in the garbage pale in their RV or in their kitchen or in the outside garbage can. Or one of the family members took a particularly smelly poo in one of their bathrooms. Sometimes someone just farted in their presence and did not take credit for it and it cleared up before our arrival.
Every bad smell is not a gas leak. It might be better to take a few seconds to figure out what the actual source of the smell is, instead of panicking and making a fool out of yourself. Fortunately, that is what most people do, with a few exceptions.
If you think you smell gas, open the doors and windows and ventilate the suspected area. That will save time and allow those who respond to actually find the leak, if there is one when they arrive. But the most important thing you can do in any perceived emergency situation is to keep your head and not freak out... Sorry if that is news to you.
“Yes, I have met many people just like you on the 1000s false gas leak calls that I responded to over 25 years. Typically, it was the outside air, because I worked in what is affectionately referred to as one of the armpits of the Puget Sound. But they also freaked out because they left something rotting in the garbage pale in their RV or in their kitchen or in the outside garbage can. Or one of the family members took a particularly smelly poo in one of their bathrooms. Sometimes someone just farted in their presence and did not take credit for it and it cleared up before our arrival.
Every bad smell is not a gas leak. It might be better to take a few seconds to figure out what the actual source othe smell is, instead of panicking and making a fool out of yourself. Fortunately, that is what most people do, with a few exceptions.
If you think you smell gas, open the doors and windows and ventilate the suspected area. That will save time and allow those who respond to actually find the leak, if there is one when they arrive. But the most important thing you can do in any perceived emergency situation is to keep your head and not freak out... Sorry if that is news to you.”
Come on, are you really a fireman? I’m not. The people “just like me” are people who were safety managers in a shipyard. We used natural gas for burning fuel. I know what gas smells like. I trained people for 20 years that if they smelled gas (inside the vessel), get out, shut down the source, and ventilate the space. If you are a fireman, you know that one little spark, with a sufficient concentration of gas, especially in a small, confined space like a trailer, you’re dead or burned to a crisp and wish you were dead. All it would take is for your water heater or central to heat come on. But, to you, I guess that’s better than being embarrassed. I didn’t say panic, I said get out. Have you ever see the results of a gas explosion? I have. It ain’t pretty.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.