CO/LP detector went off while plugged into electric last night.

[bea60]

My CO/LP DETECTOR went off last night at 4:00 in the morning, the green light under CO was green, the light under LP was flashing red. The only thing I did during get the day was turn my oven on for twenty min. Had all the windows and exhaust fan running during use. Scared the dickens out of me. I opened all the windows and doors and fanned the detector with a towel to make it stop beeping. I am hooked up to electric. My camper is fairly new. This is my third season camping in it. It’s a 2604WS, 2015. It’s been fine now, and has not gone off again in the last 8 hours. I am still camping. After that incident, I left the windows open. And went out and shut the propane off. I had one bottle on, but was not using it. Just used it for the oven. Does anyone know why this happened. Thanks

[murph mobile]

I am curious to what you find out. I also own a 2015 2604 WS and have had at least one episode like this on each of our 4 trips this year. I am the second owner of the camper. Seems to only occur when the gas is turned on. Never when its off. Has us scared that there is a propane leak somewhere in the trailer? One time it went off when my wife was standing in the bathroom blow drying her hair. Also had the 3 or 4 a.m. wake up you mentioned. We have gotten to where we keep the gas off except when cooking. I really believe that its not a bad detector. I would hate to pay a repair shop the diagnostic fee ($119.00 per hour) to try and find the gas leak. Keep me posted as to what you find out?

[B D HOWie]

These units are sensitive to low voltage. A fluctuation in voltage is one potential.
They also have a five year maximum life. As they age out they start giving false alarms to get your attention. Mine went out at four years. It is easy to remove them with a square screw driver. The manufacture date is on the back of the unit. The industry buys these in large quantities so it is not uncommon for the co/LP detector to be a year old buy the time you purchase your unit. Replace it yourself for about $80. Pull the co/LP DC fuse at the house electric panel before starting.
Paul

[tlspencer]

Mine did that second trip, and of course it freaks you out. My first instinct was to shut off propane and open all the windows and the door and crank the fan up to high. Likely there wasn't even really a problem. I have read that they are super sensitive. It was also windy the day it happened in ours and that can also cause it to go off (although I don't recall why). I bought one with a digital read out that I keep at home but take with me now when we're camping.

[crunchman12001]

Originally Posted by bea60

My CO/LP DETECTOR went off last night at 4:00 in the morning, the green light under CO was green, the light under LP was flashing red. The only thing I did during get the day was turn my oven on for twenty min. Had all the windows and exhaust fan running during use. Scared the dickens out of me. I opened all the windows and doors and fanned the detector with a towel to make it stop beeping. I am hooked up to electric. My camper is fairly new. This is my third season camping in it. It’s a 2604WS, 2015. It’s been fine now, and has not gone off again in the last 8 hours. I am still camping. After that incident, I left the windows open. And went out and shut the propane off. I had one bottle on, but was not using it. Just used it for the oven. Does anyone know why this happened. Thanks

Do you have a dog with you?

[tlspencer]

Originally Posted by crunchman12001

Do you have a dog with you?

LMAO... ohhhh dog farts, LOL.

[crunchman12001]

Originally Posted by tlspencer

LMAO... ohhhh dog farts, LOL.

It has been reported more than once here. Just eliminating the obvious first.

[bea60]

No dog, no rain....a very calm night. And I’ve also read that if it’s dusty it might trigger it. But I have always kept mine clean. I am going camping Thursday coming and I hope I don’t go through this again. Especially at 4:00 am in the morning.

[clicker1944]

Also my dog has set it off by laying against it. Once he gets up it stops.

[Vince and Charlette]

Had mine go off in the middle of the night also. (Hadn't used the oven or stove.) Couldn't fine the fuse/circuit breaker so I did the only thing I could and cut the wires. The other four members of the family were going crazy. Oddly, there was no plug in the back. It was hard-wired. (2015 GT)

[ccsvolsfan]

Mine goes off if batteries boil dry. This has happened three times. I check water level weekly and before every trip. CW replaces batteries, but won't replace converter/charger. I installed cut off switches and charge batteries with my digital charger.

[Mcaruthers]

Mine did the same! It would go off all the time and it was a brand new trailer. We don’t even have our propane turned on and it would go off.. end up cutting the wires( as it’s hard wired in) and buying a new detector from Home Depot and sticking it to the wall.

[lmiken]

Check the label for an error code. If the light is blinking there will be a code somewhere for the blinking. My goes off every once in a while and the blinking code tells me it is low battery (below 10.5V).

[bea60]

It’s only gone off once, and that was Saturday at 4:00am. The red light was blinking, but not sure how many times. I’m going camping this Thursday, I hope this doesn’t happen again, but if it does....I will make sure I count the blinks Before I wave a towel in front of it. I’m heading towards the beach, so I am assuming it will be cold. So I probably will have the propane on for the heat when needed only at night.

[stillontheroad]

These Detectors have a built in obsolescence. Generally around 5 years give or take 1. When that extra light is flashing it often means that your detector is toast. Same thing happened to us about 1 month ago in the middle of the night. Got out my manual on it and sure enough 5 years almost to the day. Easy to remove and take to an RV dealer to test for you . Replacements are close to $100.00 but too dangerous to go without.

[CurtPutnam]

Ours went off the 1st week we had the trailer and darned near drained the battery. Since the TT was delivered with a dead battery and based on what I'm reading on this forum, I suspect the issue was a low battery. We've since switched to a pair of 6v batteries and the dealer replaced the unit under warranty. No problems since.

[MNtraveler]

I would suggest finding or downloading the manual for your specific CO/LP gas detector, and determining exactly which alarm you are getting. The alarm for low battery or obsolescence is usually far different from an actual CO/LP alarm. One is designed to alert you, the other to scare the heck out of you so you wake up, get up and get out. It's important to know which alarm you are getting.

As far as unknown source CO/LP alarm, check to see if you have bumped the oven or stove handles so they might leak even just a little bit. If not and you are getting a "real" CO/LP alarm, then you need to get your gas system checked including the furnace. You may smell gas - it really stinks (but does NOT small like rotten eggs like natural gas) (however it falls to the floor level so you may not smell it as fast as the detector sees it). But you cannot see or smell CO and it can be deadly.

Good luck!

[johntaylor]

Originally Posted by tlspencer

Mine did that second trip, and of course it freaks you out. My first instinct was to shut off propane and open all the windows and the door and crank the fan up to high.

When there is a potential propane leak, you should NEVER operate any electrical switches. A spark on the contacts could detonate the propane.

[bea60]

I have two warning lights in my detector. One is for CO the other LP, the CO light was green, the LP light was blinking and the unit was blaring! This was intended to wake you up from a deep sleep. I have all the manuals to all my electronics that are install from factory. I will take a look when I get in today from work. The oven was used 12 hours prior to the detector going off. And I had not used the heat since the evening before, for about 10 min. Just to get the chill out. But I will definitely read the manual when I get home. Thank you

[dyeats]

While a faulty CO/LP detector is a possibility, it is also very possible that there is a LP leak somewhere in your system. Our motor home was about 18 months old when we were woken up about 3AM by the LP detector. Happened again the following morning. Yes, we thought it could be a bad detector since we couldn't smell anything. Took to dealer for investigation upon our return. They reported a possible leak at the refrigerator connection. Then returned it to the dealer when we smelled propane about 1 week later. Upon a thorough examination, they discovered a propane line with a nail through it. The nail apparently had been in the line since it was manufactured and it worked loose over time causing the LP leak. The point is our RVs take a beating out on the highways and back roads and propane leaks can happen. Dismissing the detector warning because it is assumed to be faulty could be a costly mistake.