My Alarm Faux Pas

pgandw · 05-25-2015, 06:36 PM

We are selling our house, and moved our furniture out beginning Friday. The A122 setup in the driveway was to be (and is) our "home" for the next week.

Returning from our April trip to Nebraska, I heard occasional chirping from an alarm inside the camper. I didn't get around to checking it out, rather plugged the camper in and left it. I figured the propane/CO alarm just needed a reset, as has happened occasionally in the past when the hot water heater was turned on.

Set up the camper in the driveway and reset the propane/CO alarm multiple times with no success. Pulled fuses and still the thing chirped away. The Forest River factory wiring with crimped wire nuts cannot be disconnected without cutting wires. In desperation, I cut the wires to the propane/CO alarm and removed it from the camper. And still there was chirping!

A brighter man than me would have realized that it was the smoke alarm and not the propane/CO alarm. I figured it out only after I had cut the wires to the propane/CO alarm. You all can laugh at me - I deserve it. Of course the smoke alarm battery was dying - the camper was a little over a year old. Replaced the battery and the chirping stopped - just like my home alarms!

Moral of my sad story - yours and my spring/start up maintenance checklist needs to include replacing the smoke alarm battery. Now I get to rewire the propane/CO alarm - and I will probably use terminal blocks to help sort the wiring and facilitate replacement of the propane/CO alarm in a few years - the detector element in the OEM alarm has a maximum 5 year life span from when it is first turned on.

a camper in disgrace
Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

DanM-AZ · 05-25-2015, 08:45 PM

Thanks for making the mistake and telling us all about it before I had the chance to make the same mistake!

WFD · 05-25-2015, 10:19 PM

You may be the first to admit it in this forum but I bet you are not the first to do this!

Pooneil · 05-27-2015, 11:14 AM

Funny story. But an easily recoverable SPUT.

Probwrm19 · 05-27-2015, 07:21 PM

Suggestion: As part of your prep before winter storage, remove the battery from the smoke detector and any remotes (TV, etc). Some cheaper batteries will burst when frozen, eliminates corroded terminals.

Timex · 05-27-2015, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgandw

We are selling our house, and moved our furniture out beginning Friday. The A122 setup in the driveway was to be (and is) our "home" for the next week.

Returning from our April trip to Nebraska, I heard occasional chirping from an alarm inside the camper. I didn't get around to checking it out, rather plugged the camper in and left it. I figured the propane/CO alarm just needed a reset, as has happened occasionally in the past when the hot water heater was turned on.

Set up the camper in the driveway and reset the propane/CO alarm multiple times with no success. Pulled fuses and still the thing chirped away. The Forest River factory wiring with crimped wire nuts cannot be disconnected without cutting wires. In desperation, I cut the wires to the propane/CO alarm and removed it from the camper. And still there was chirping!

A brighter man than me would have realized that it was the smoke alarm and not the propane/CO alarm. I figured it out only after I had cut the wires to the propane/CO alarm. You all can laugh at me - I deserve it. Of course the smoke alarm battery was dying - the camper was a little over a year old. Replaced the battery and the chirping stopped - just like my home alarms!

Moral of my sad story - yours and my spring/start up maintenance checklist needs to include replacing the smoke alarm battery. Now I get to rewire the propane/CO alarm - and I will probably use terminal blocks to help sort the wiring and facilitate replacement of the propane/CO alarm in a few years - the detector element in the OEM alarm has a maximum 5 year life span from when it is first turned on.

a camper in disgrace
Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

Fred, be sure and change the hearing aid batteries as well.

jrmartin67 · 05-27-2015, 10:15 PM

Love the hearing aid battery comment, by the way! RE: the CO/Propane alarm - from time to time it goes off in our Flagstaff V-Lite. I reset it and it alarms again; very annoying! eventually it resets itself and stops, only to start loudly beeping again. No propane leak that we can find. Nothing burning to cause a CO situation. It seems every trailer we've had has experienced it. And yes, we do bathe regularly.

jkoenig24 · 05-28-2015, 06:41 AM

If that's the worst mistake you make while RVing, you're a lucky man.

**KyDan** · 05-28-2015, 06:53 AM

Those little fraction of a second chirps are designed to save what's left of
a dieing battery BUT they are just about impossible to locate!!
I once scoured our house and checked/replaced batteries in 3 smoke detectors only to finally discover the noise was my wife's new phone with an un-read text message!!

You are not alone!!
Happy camping!

kdot · 05-28-2015, 07:09 AM

I wonder if there is anything in camping trailers that causes as much hassle as those *@#$ alarms. Seems like they've been a problem on every trailer we've had. Most of the problems are associated with the smoke alarm. I know some of you will disagree with it, but I routinely disable the thing.

Kent

**KyDan** · 05-28-2015, 07:30 AM

Our last rig the smoke alarm would go off every time we cooked any sort of
breakfast. Toast in a toaster or biscuits in the oven or bacon etc.
It was easy to 1/4 turn and remove from the ceiling. We'd toss it under
a sofa pillow and it would shut up till after breakfast.

Current rig it's further from the cooking area but you can't remove it from
the ceiling and the battery is a PIA to remove.....

BUT-- I went in the trailer the other day to start the refrigerator.
I turned on the tanks and went to the stove and turned on a burner
and waited a few seconds then tried to light it. After a few clicks the burner
lit and I thought I shut it off.
I turned on the fridge and heard it light after a few tries and I left.
Later I came outside from the house and heard an alarm in the trailer.
I went in to investigate and immediately smelled LP!!!
I discovered I had somehow turned the burner all the way down to low but
not off. It was not lit but still on very low setting!!!
It was a real world test of my LP detector and it worked!!
I don't plan to test it that way again!

Be Careful Out There!!

kdot · 05-28-2015, 08:25 AM

Yes, Dan, that's how all of my smoke alarms have behaved. You almost can't turn anything on that has any heat without the alarm going off. That's why I just disable it and forget about it. As for the LP alarm, I had issues with one of those, disconnected it, and returned it to the dealer for a replacement. Never had any trouble with it after that and I would never leave it disconnected. But as for the smoke alarm, that thing is a colossal PIA. Another government-mandated screw-up?

Kent

dj3spots · 05-28-2015, 08:45 AM

Thanks, Changing batteries never happens until that dang chirping bird doesn't shut up. A good reminder to us all.

Sent from my iPad using Forest River Forums

Timex · 05-28-2015, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrmartin67

Love the hearing aid battery comment, by the way! RE: the CO/Propane alarm - from time to time it goes off in our Flagstaff V-Lite. I reset it and it alarms again; very annoying! eventually it resets itself and stops, only to start loudly beeping again. No propane leak that we can find. Nothing burning to cause a CO situation. It seems every trailer we've had has experienced it. And yes, we do bathe regularly.

And I love that comment and appreciate that you do!

I too, have had problems with our CO detector. They always go off at 2:00 am when you are sound asleep. You wake up and stumble around until you figure what is going on. AT LEAST IT'S A FALSE ALARM OR YOU MIGHT NOT WAKE UP. I read somewhere(CRS where) that these alarms have a memory type "ribbon" in that the more the alarm goes off, the more sensitive they become. It will get to the point that they won't reset and have to be replaced. It draws current off the battery and will eventually drain the battery if not plugged into shore power. So if it does it enough, you'll be replacing the sensor AND a house battery.

And they aren't cheap either. I replaced mine last summer when it wouldn't shut up.

MinneweeseMI · 05-29-2015, 05:50 AM

Our smoke detector battery started to fade shortly after our first snowfall last year. It took me awhile to figure out this tiny, persistent chirping was coming from the trailer under the cover, under a foot of snow. Took about 3 months to wait for the snow to melt and get in there and replace the battery. I probably would have gone after it with a wire cutters too if I could have gotten to it.

Vern · 05-29-2015, 06:42 AM

If we all had to make every single possible mistake with our rigs and did not have the benefit of learning from the experience and wisdom of others, our enjoyment would be much diminished. However, there would be a lot of vacancies in our favorite campgrounds and used campers would be a lot cheaper.

RKanehl · 05-29-2015, 08:34 AM

On one of our initial trips with our Rockwood 8280ws , we went to a state park with only 30amp service and we only had a 50amp cable. We had to use the battery over the weekend and the battery drained down. The Propane/CO alarm started going off and I had to cut the wire.
The trailer sales place told me that the alarms will go off if the main battery gets real low.

Rich Kanehl
The Villages Fl.
2015 Rockwood 8280 5th wheel
2012 Nissan Titan with tow package

N3XG · 05-29-2015, 07:00 PM

Best to change your smoke detector batteries when you change your clocks. This gives you two battery changes a year and is on a regular schedule that almost everyone does. One in the habit, you'll never forget, or get up at three in the morning to "chirp"...... "chirp"...... "chirp"...... :-)
Rodney
--- Paramedic / Firefighter

Sharon455 · 06-09-2015, 07:52 PM

For anyone with an older rig, check the born on date for your alarms. Most fire alarms (maybe CO also, not sure) have a 10 year lifespan. We learned this on our sticks & bricks last fall after changing the battery 3 times in the most inaccessible alarm in the house

. At least our MH doesn't have cathedral ceilings!

pgandw · 06-10-2015, 01:55 PM

The propane/CO alarm in my A-frame (2014 Rockwood A122) has a published 5 year life. Could not find a born on date, so I am assuming a year prior to purchase. The CO alarms I had to put in the house this year (Feb) to meet code had a 7 year life, sealed battery, and automatically tracked its life.

From the reports in this thread, problems with the detectors are a lot more common than I would have imagined. Which makes the advice I was given with my 1986 Coachmen pop-up (no alarms back then) look real good - always keep the roof vent at least cracked, even in the rain.

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122
2008 Hyundai Entourage (minivan)

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