Is your van a time bomb?

COMMENT

It seemed like an isolated incident, but when a blast destroyed a 21ft Lotus caravan at Kidman's Camp near Bourke mid this year it lifted the lid on a caravan industry problem that’s effectively turning many innocent-looking vans into mobile time bombs.

The Bourke blast that blew out the sink and stove, two Four Seasons hatches, forced open two windows each secured by four locks and tore cupboards and other items off the kitchen and bedroom walls, was caused by a simple gas leak.

But what made the news deadly is that many caravans have since been found to be susceptible to the same problem, prompting the Australian-owned Swift Group to issue a recall notice for some models of its 500 series cookers with ovens up to five years old and this has affected not just Lotus, but many other Australian caravan manufacturers.

It’s not fair to point the finger of blame just at Swift, though.

A year earlier, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s Product Safety Recalls Australia website posted a product recall for Thetford’s Triplex Plus Oven/Grill cooking appliance fitted to many Jaycos because the gas control valve could be misaligned and thus stick open, leading to gas build up and a similar explosion.

Jurgens caravans and pop-tops were subject to a recall in July this year because incorrect wiring during installation of their Dometic fridges could create a spark when the tow vehicle’s ignition was turned off, potentially causing an explosion when refuelling.

In Dometic’s and Jurgens’ case, the faults were specific, but the explosion in the Lotus unmasked a much bigger problem faced by many in the industry relating to the poor installation of gas appliances and the ignorance of caravan owners.

Our recent article pointing out how many caravanners fail to reduce tyre pressures when travelling off-road contained a clue to the problem: most of us have no idea of the mayhem going on inside our caravans and the stress transmitted to just the caravan structure, but more specifically its appliances.

It’s just plain ignorance. Off-road custom builder Trakmaster even told me a story of a customer who ordered its Trak-Air air suspension in the belief that this removed his obligation to lower tyre pressures on corrugations!

The relatively few Australian caravan manufacturers including Bailey Australia and Jayco who subject their products to pre-production ‘destruction testing’ can be counted on the fingers of one mutilated hand.

Most simply put their products into the field and make changes when owners draw shortcomings to their attention. In a way, the caravan public is their after-sales and R&D department.

I’ve been pushing for some time for a pro-active company to take over real-world component testing on behalf of the industry, perhaps subjecting a range of appliances, suspension systems and so on to a specific series of endurance tests on a proving ground where conditions can be replicated and therefore mandated.

I’m still waiting...

Even those manufacturers responsible enough to do this expensive, rigorous testing can’t keep up with the myriad of layouts and appliances that may be fitted to subsequent models.

So while one model fridge or cooker may stay put, its larger, heavier replacement model may not, particularly when fully laden.  

I saw one fridge literally fall on its face during extended rough road testing at one test facility, while in another, the entire kitchen cabinetry came adrift from its wall mountings.

It’s not uncommon for the ‘feet’ of microwave ovens to be pounded flat, or for cookers to break free of their self-tapping screws within their cabinet slots.

So you can imagine what happens to gas pipes and electrical connections when this happens.

Ask any repair shop in Birdsville and Alice Springs and they will reel off the horror stories of caravans literally shaking apart from within.

Quite simply, people are towing them too fast, too heavily laden and with much too high tyre pressures on poor roads, and they are blissfully unaware of this from the serenity of their much better sprung tow car.

The problem with the Swift appliances appears to be that in some new caravans they were not properly supported as per their installation instructions and the requirements of AS/NZS 5601.

Now of course you religiously turn off the tap on your gas bottle before you tow – don’t you?  But many people don’t.

What can you do? Well, for a start, if you plan to travel long distances regularly – and they include rough roads – you should have a licensed gas fitter check that the base of your cooker has been supported properly and the top is braced to prevent flexing.

In particular, check below the cooker to ensure the base of the oven is resting on a shelf and isn’t hanging freely.

If you find that the cooker isn’t supported properly, you should contact the caravan manufacturer to have this fixed and then insist they have the appliance checked by a licensed gas fitter for any damage and leaks that have resulted from this lack of support.

The Swift Appliance Group is also advising that a gas leak detector (such as the unit from dLUXX that they also market) be fitted to all caravans. This is in line with USA and Canada where they are mandating that all caravans be fitted with gas leak detectors.

The Australian Standard Committee is also considering the fitting of leak detectors. Or you can take your chances…