CO Alarm check

[Terier]

My CO alarm has gone off on the last 5 or 6 trips. It only happens the first time I turn on the hot water faucet, bath or kitchen. I have learn to turn it off and I'm used to the alarm which isn't good. I've been given several suggestions on what might be causing the alarm but it still goes off on each trip.

The service department checked it out and could not duplicate it. They are bringing the TT back into the bay this afternoon so I can hook everything up to test it in case I am doing something different than they did.

Update coming later today.

[Major]

If your RV is a 2011 and the CO alarm is the original, then replace it. All CO alarms have a finite life span; usually 5 years. They will start to chirp when it nears/reaches its life span.

[Terier]

Good advise and I had already asked to have it replaced due to age alone. BTW I wasn't able to duplicate the issue at the dealership either. The manager did find that something wasn't sealed completely so maybe flumes were getting in.

[Rich5117]

By any chance do you have an odor of sulfur or rotten eggs when you first run the hot water. Sulfur Dioxide and combustible gases in high levels can give a false positive for many CO alarms.

[Terier]

No smell at all. It's likely age related and can't hurt to replace now just in case. Will see how the replacement unit does on the next trip at the end of the month.

[Flybob]

Some times heating water with dissolved sulfur in it or bacteria that can grow in a HW tank will release S02. This gas rises up the water column and will collect at the highest point( the HW faucet). When you first turn on the HW, the gas will be released and can be detected by the CO detector. It doesn't occur on subsequent uses of the hot water because it does not build up again fast enough to effect the CO detector.

[Kchula-Rrit]

If you have the alarm replaced you may want to check the date on the replacement. While our SunSeeker was in 'drydock' we asked them to swap out the alarm, which was dated 2005. The motor home is a 2006 model, so the alarm was probably original.

Anyway, the date on the replacement was 2010 or 2011 which, given a five-year lifetime, would mean replacement pretty much, now. They swapped it for a brand-new alarm, dated Dec 2015.

As an aside, our carbon monoxide alarm is mounted in the bedroom, and doubled as a low-battery alarm. On our first shakedown we woke up to the thing going off at dawn. Turned out the house battery became depleted in the night. That's when we found out the generator didn't work, so we had to run the truck engine for a couple of hours to recharge.

K-R.

[updhaul]

My alarm was nearly 4 years old when it gave false alarms. After changing batteries, I contacted manufacturer where I was questioned about specific battery models. I could not duplicate event for them so I bought replacement alarm as mine seemed to only malfunction at 2-3 am. Problem solved. Now I have two as manufacturer had sent replacement.

[Terier]

Update - Due to age I went ahead and had it replaced. This is only the first out since it was replaced but so far so no alarm. The next few trips will be the proof in the pudding if the original alarm was the problem which most likely it was.

[lbrjet]

Ours lasted just under 4 years before I replaced it. No false alarms in the last 2 years.


2010 F250 5.4L 3.73
2011 Flagstaff 831FKBSS
Equal-i-zer 4pt 12K