CO detector going off

[SidecarFlip]

Kind of strange, not all the time. Sometimes it goes off and quits and is silent for a week, other times it goes off, quits and goes off again in an hour. No rhyme or reason. All propane fittings are tight and this happens when the propane is off and the camper is sitting in the yard, camper is not occupied. It's 2 years old.

I'm thinking the detector is on the way out and needs replaced. Opinions please?

[Bobbo]

mobeewan wrote:
My house has natural gas for the water heater and the gas pack. Why does the gument not require it to have a natural gas detector?

When your house starts bouncing down the road every day, they probably will.

If my house survived a severe earthquake, I would have the natural gas lines tested, "gument" required or not.

[Almot]

SidecarFlip wrote:

It's the one with the LED light that is either solid green or blinking red and t's hardwired into the system. Not the smoke detector on the ceiling, the other one and I only have 2, the smoke detector which is fine and this one, which isn't.

If combined CO/LP detector has no means to tell whether it was a propane or CO event, I would think twice before spending even 5 bucks on it, not to mention 50.

Your description could also mean that you don't have any CO detector, - only LP detector. Though, this would be odd.

[mobeewan]

My house has natural gas for the water heater and the gas pack. Why does the gument not require it to have a natural gas detector?

[GordonThree]

Sidecar you have the safety Sam's all fired up. How many more pages of lectures will this thread receive?

[Gdetrailer]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Other than meeting the RIVA recommendation, I don't see the need for it actually. Smoke detector maybe but that irritating thing, no way.

The day you wake up dead, you will regret not having a working CO detector.. Once dead, there is no coming back to fix the problem.

While CO, smoke and LP alarms seem to be "optional", in reality, properly working units DO save lives.

Your RV is equipped with plenty of devices which can and do emit CO, can emit unlit LP gas, can malfunction to cause a fire (IE furnace, fridge, water heater).

I like to think for a small minor inconvenience of false alarms and occasional replacements it IS a very small cost to prevent a potentially fatal event with myself and my family.

Properly working CO detectors should never false alarm, I never have once heard on of mine go off that didn't have a READING (which is why I like the ones that display the reading). I typically catch mine BEFORE it alarms (I run a wood burner in my home) and take action well before any possible harm can happen..

Just had to replace one of my home units, started reading something other than zero a few days ago, moved it beside a second one in a different room to verify that it was malfunctioning..

That unit had a manufacturer date of 1996, it HAS given me good service and a long, long life for $30..

[SidecarFlip]

Ordered a new one a while ago. In the meantime the old one stays disconnected. Not using the camper right now anyway. Won't until the end of ext month.

[Bobbo]

beemerphile1 wrote:
Disabling a safety device makes about as much sense as saying "my brakes were squealing so I cut the hydraulic hoses". :B

My EX told me her brakes were squealing and asked me to check them. I cut the hydraulic hoses. :B

[beemerphile1]

Disabling a safety device makes about as much sense as saying "my brakes were squealing so I cut the hydraulic hoses". :B

[naturist]

Permit me to explain why the rig’s manufacturer was required to put in a CO/propane alarm. It is to save your life. Fire isn’t the only hazard you face in the small enclosed space of an RV. A small propane leak in the right place can fill you RV with an explosive level of propane in a short time, an hour perhaps. The odorant used to make it stink has the side effect of numbing the nerves in your nose so it is quite easy to reach explosive levels without your smelling it, and when you light the stove or flip the wrong switch, your whole rig explodes like a bomb.

A spider or wasp nest of just the right size and placement in the burner tube of your fridge, water heater, furnace, or even stove can result in bad combustion that fills your rig with poison gas. Because the enclosed space is small, it doesn’t take much to kill you.

So please do not even think of just removing that alarm. The life you save just might be your own.

[wa8yxm]

Just because the Rig is 2 years does not mean the detector can not be older

Is the Detctor "Self Powered" after 2 years it needs new batteries
or is it 12 volt house powered.. Above comments about low batteries.

Now. Each detector has multiple alarm patterns. For example on common brand

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CO Smoke or Explosive Gas depending on the detector

Beep (long pause) Beep (long pause) BEEP continuing forever
Low battery or internal issue detected or TOO OLD.

NOTE that is ONE BRAND. other brands may code differently.

[SidecarFlip]

Other than meeting the RIVA recommendation, I don't see the need for it actually. Smoke detector maybe but that irritating thing, no way.

[SidecarFlip]

HadEnough wrote:
Yes. The CO detector will go off when it detects hydrogen from battery charging also. Important to know.

Both my batteries are enclosed and vented but that could be it. The batteries are close to the detector.

Don't matter, I cut it's water a few hours ago. All quiet now. I'll get a new on and put it elsewhere.

[HadEnough]

Yes. The CO detector will go off when it detects hydrogen from battery charging also. Important to know.

[SidecarFlip]

Bobbo wrote:
We had a Class C. Driving to Yellowstone, it went off about Denver. We figured it needed replacement (the MH was 4 years old), so we stopped at Walmart and bought a new one. Installed it in the Walmart parking lot. About 30 minutes later, the new one went off. We went to an RV dealer who sent us to the Ford shop he uses. The Ford shop, when told we were traveling cross country, pulled a tech off of a commercial truck she was working on to work on us. (Considerate of the dealer.) After about an hour she reported that the doghouse had been improperly installed (that is on me) and was leaking CO past the gasket. Kept the MH for another 7 years and it never went off again. (I also never had occasion to take the doghouse off again.) :B

Don't apply, it's a truck camper and it's off the truck right now.

I may just disconnect it until I install a new one.