# 26rs Warning - Another Blowout



## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

Well another story of a blowout but this time I wanted to let other 26RS owners know about a potential for damage to the propane line that goes to the stove/oven. Last week we were about 100 miles from home and about halfway to the campground when I felt a strange rumble for about 2 seconds. I couldn't see anything but decided to stop and take a look. When I got over to the right side of the trailer I noticed a copper tube sticking out just in front of the tires and propane rushing out of the broken fitting. I guickly pulled the cover off of the propane bottles and closed the valves. I then went back and noted that the tread had come completely off of the right front tire but it was still holding air. I had never really noticed it before but the propane line for the stove runs just in front of the tires and then goes up into the trailer and connects to the stove. Apparently when the tread came off it grabbed the copper propane line and broke it off from the line under the trailer and pulled it down from the stove. It was still connected to the stove but you could see where it had been pulled so hard that it was completely flat where it had bent down around the back of the stove.

I changed the tire and then headed down the road to the next town (Lone Pine, CA) and stopped at Millers Tire where they replaced the failed tire with a new one. They were nice and even told me that the only tire they had was almost 2 years old. I bought it anyway (not much choice) and they knocked some off the price. With stem, disposal, mounting and balanced it was $82. They also told me where in town I could get some copper tubing to replace the damaged propane line. With a new tire I went to Gardners True Value Hardware and they were very helpful and nice. They had the copper tubing I needed and they let me borrow a tube cutter, flaring tool and tube bender to make up a new line. About an hour later and another $20 I had the line repaired and was able to restart the fridge and get the stove back in working order. So all told this cost me about $100 and we got to the campground about 3 hours late.

So a couple of suggestions/lessons.

1. If you've got a 26RS and maybe some others check around the right wheel well and see where the propane line for the stove is routed. I haven't figured out how to reroute the line so it's not vulnerable but when I do I'll post details. If possible move the line and carry a cap so you can stop the flow and still run most of the other propane appliances.

2. Check the date of your tires!! It's the last 4 digits of the DOT serial number and the format is week and year of manufacture. So if they were made in the first week of 2005 it would be 0105. The tire that failed was a Goodyear Marthon radial (215 75-14 Load Range C) that I had bought 2 years ago and it had been it the spare position for most of the last 2 years. The guy that changed the tire showed me the date and the tire was over 5 years old. I guess the tire shop in Lovelock NV that sold me the tire had it sitting around for over 3 years before I showed up needing a tire. From what I've picked up you should not buy tires if they are much more than a year old. This usually isn't a problem with passenger tires since they go through their stock pretty fast. Trailer tires tend to sit around more waiting for someone to show up needing new ones.

Overall it was a good trip even with the extra hassle on the way to the campground.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

From the number of tire failures you hear about you would think that tire stores could not keep them in stock as they go through them so often.

Sounds like you recovered well and hopefully had a good weekend.

As for the tires - I personally think that the C range 14" tire are not acceptable for trailers with load ratings over 5000 pounds. The 1825 load rating per tire is okay on paper but is too close to 100% rating on most of the Outbacks. When I had my 28rss I blew a tire with just 300 miles on the trailer and that prompted me to replace them with 15" D rated tires with a 2540 load rating per tire.


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## Dreamtimers (Mar 7, 2005)

CamperAndy said:


> From the number of tire failures you hear about you would think that tire stores could not keep them in stock as they go through them so often.
> 
> Sounds like you recovered well and hopefully had a good weekend.
> 
> As for the tires - I personally think that the C range 14" tire are not acceptable for trailers with load ratings over 5000 pounds. The 1825 load rating per tire is okay on paper but is too close to 100% rating on most of the Outbacks. When I had my 28rss I blew a tire with just 300 miles on the trailer and that prompted me to replace them with 15" D rated tires with a 2540 load rating per tire.


Did you do the axle flip, or would the 15" tires/rims fit?


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Ok, so the 26RS runs the propane in front and the 28 RSDS behind. Why on earth do they insist on running lines around wheels unprotected?!?!


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## ColoradoChip (Jan 21, 2008)

Nathan said:


> Ok, so the 26RS runs the propane in front and the 28 RSDS behind. Why on earth do they insist on running lines around wheels unprotected?!?!


I haven't looked at mine, but would it help to maybe cover the gas line with a half piece of PVC tubing, and then attach it







to the underbelly just as some added protection?


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## kjp1969 (Apr 25, 2004)

ColoradoChip said:


> Ok, so the 26RS runs the propane in front and the 28 RSDS behind. Why on earth do they insist on running lines around wheels unprotected?!?!


I haven't looked at mine, but would it help to maybe cover the gas line with a half piece of PVC tubing, and then attach it







to the underbelly just as some added protection?
[/quote]

Copper tubing? That sounds like a poor idea for flammable gas- I always thought the gas piping underneath was threaded iron pipe.


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## Dreamtimers (Mar 7, 2005)

kjp1969 said:


> Ok, so the 26RS runs the propane in front and the 28 RSDS behind. Why on earth do they insist on running lines around wheels unprotected?!?!


I haven't looked at mine, but would it help to maybe cover the gas line with a half piece of PVC tubing, and then attach it







to the underbelly just as some added protection?
[/quote]

Copper tubing? That sounds like a poor idea for flammable gas- I always thought the gas piping underneath was threaded iron pipe.
[/quote]
The run is iron pipe, the ends are copper pipe from the tank, & up to the device. I think that if the tire tread will break copper pipe, PVC would provide little protection. How about a piece of plate steel attached to the frame acting as a shield?


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

On my 2006 26RS, the propane line to the outside stove is in the same position as Mark's: in front of the front tire, fully exposed. On the other side of the camper, the propane line to the furnace is just behind the rear tire, similar to the earlier post about the 28 RSDS.









That brings up the old and tired argument about traveling with the propane on for the refrigerator's cooling. Propane on, then you have a potential fire hazard in addition to your tire blowout.

Dometic is doing the right thing with their refrigerator recall; seems like Keystone should step up to the safety plate and design a retrofit or fix for this poor and potentially hazardous waiting-for-a-lawsuit design.

Are you listening Keystone ?????


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## ColoradoChip (Jan 21, 2008)

GoVols said:


> On my 2006 26RS, the propane line to the outside stove is in the same position as Mark's: in front of the front tire, fully exposed. On the other side of the camper, the propane line to the furnace is just behind the rear tire, similar to the earlier post about the 28 RSDS.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


No doubt. I can see it now. Running down the highway at 60 MPH, tire blows and breake the gas line, tire comes off, and wheel starts sparting down the road... Sparks ignite the propane that's leaking, and travel up to the 60 lbs of propane that's sitting right behind the tow vehicle. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.


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## kjp1969 (Apr 25, 2004)

ColoradoChip said:


> No doubt. I can see it now. Running down the highway at 60 MPH, tire blows and breake the gas line, tire comes off, and wheel starts sparting down the road... Sparks ignite the propane that's leaking, and travel up to the 60 lbs of propane that's sitting right behind the tow vehicle. I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.


Well it wouldn't be quite that bad- the fire wouldn't travel up the pipe and blow anything up, but it would sure be good little blaze at the location of the pipe break. It would also be a race to get the propane valves shut off before the fire consumed the entire camper and then the TV.

We almost always travel with the propane on, keeping the fridge running. Guess this is yet another reason to rethink that practice.


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

kjp1969 said:


> We almost always travel with the propane on, keeping the fridge running. Guess this is yet another reason to rethink that practice.


We have travelled with the propane off almost from day one. Read that it is a bit safer to do it that way. Have travelled in pretty hot weater and our ice cream and ice cubes are still frozen when we plug in.


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

Lady Di said:


> Have travelled in pretty hot weater and our ice cream and ice cubes are still frozen when we plug in.


Very interesting. Mine must not be insulated very well because the temp comes up real quick if it is not running on propane or electric.


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## bradnjess (Mar 25, 2007)

I'm impressed! What sounds like almost a near catastrophe you fixed in only three hours. I'm glad it wasn't any worse and that no one was hurt. I guess you found a down side to that beast of a pulling machine you've got, it's hard to tell if anything is going wrong back there. You could probably drag that trailer with no tires and still be at 1600 rpm's







. Anyway I'll be checking my tires for the date when I get home tonight. Ive got Durros, they don't have any signs of wear but after this and all the other post lately I hope to replace them at the end of the season. As far as leaving the propane on while traveling, if were heading west we encounter tunnels and can't leave the tanks on through those. I'll usually turn them on at the next rest stop, about an hour from home. I haven't noticed anything melting so maybe I'll see just how far we can go next time, I guess you can't be too safe.

I'm glad it all turned out well and I hope your trip was as good time.

Brad


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

kjp1969 said:


> Well it wouldn't be quite that bad- the fire wouldn't travel up the pipe and blow anything up, but it would sure be good little blaze at the location of the pipe break. It would also be a race to get the propane valves shut off before the fire consumed the entire camper and then the TV.


This is acutally a feature. The flames tell you that you might have lost a tire.









After I tore up my propane on my trip this summer, I ran the lines pretty close to the frame to provide a little more protection. I then wrapped them in flashing for around windows. It's a thick roll of tar like rubber, self adhesive on one side, plastic on the other. I figured the wraping would protect the lines from rubbing on the frame and also provide as a little bit of added security. My flat tire ripped apart the wheel well







, so I concur that steel plate is probably a minimum to really protect things...


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Any significant leak would result in the tank valve automatically shutting. Not only are the new tanks designed to prevent over filling they also shut off the gas on high flow.

The question about my axles being flipped. No I did not need to as the 28rss has plenty of room.


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

CamperAndy said:


> Any significant leak would result in the tank valve automatically shutting. Not only are the new tanks designed to prevent over filling they also shut off the gas on high flow.


Good point Andy

My lines were crushed and cracked, but weren't completely separated.


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## dwest369 (Feb 2, 2004)

Hi to Everyone:

I just wanted to add my two-cents. While headed south on I-35, I experienced a blow-out on a passenger side trailer tire. The blowout not only took out the tire beside it, but also heavily damaged the tire well and gas lines to the inside stove and refrigerator. Two side skirts were also damaged and will have to be replaced. 
The trailer is now at the dealer for an estimate on repairs. I'm sure it will not be cheap. I've replaced both the tires and wheel rims for a total cost of close to four hundred dollars. Replacing the gas lines, the side skirts, and rebuilding the wheel well will take some time to do. I have Progressive Auto Insurance and I must say they have been just great about processing the claim. 
Had I left the gas on, I can only image what might have happened with two lines open to the air and a possible spark from the rim running on the pavement. Lesson learned! I will NEVER travel with the gas lines on. It's a call everyone has to make on their own. 
I'm not sure who the manufacturer of the tire was, but I do know it was made in China. The replacements are Goodyear Marathons.


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