Newbie Owners Know Nuthin'! Any suggestions?

[Diana Woodland]

Campingbliss: I *thought* I had a great solution for keeping warm - plug my electric blanket into a back-up power block we have for power outages. It lasted all of 15 minutes - but served as a good bed pre-warm, at least. I had it on high so I'll try again on low - but am guessing it won't be a great long-term solution. Sad, because the travel-kitty likes the warm blanket almost as much as my cold feet do!

Do you like your Jackary solar generator? We haven't started to research power systems yet but want to get a basic set-up going if we can.

We're in L.A. so we're hoping to get in some winter camping during nice weather. Sounds like you do just that in San Diego so that gives us hope!

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Diana Woodland

Jon, the detectors were purchased immediately but I need to research the explosive gas detector install still (we kept our propane off at night except for the one night we forgot & the heater woke us up)! I was surprised that there seem to be no explosive gas detectors that run solely on their own battery power. Seems dangerous to have an alert system for gas which is rigged to a "sparky thang".

Yup. All LP detectors are hard wired to the 12V system. Not sure why- greater power use, maybe? A properly wired 12V system shouldn’t spark, but I can sometimes get a small arc when installing my battery if something was left on. Since it’s outside the cabin I don’t worry much, but you can install a battery shut-off switch if desired. That would also prevent the always-on detector from drawing down the battery in storage.

[computerspook]

Well I have a CO/Smoke detector. Other side of the camper from the stove. (Yeah made that mistake ;-) ) I also do have a propane detector. But to be honest I did that to make a beautiful young lady happy. I figure that is not a real issue.

One of the main reasons that I think that is not a real issue is that I check for leaks as a part of my get-ready-to-roll process. Which also by the way includes checking the propane operation for the frig and then turn that off and start it up and run it for a couple of days before I leave. But back to the leaks.

I bleach and rinse my tanks (and plumbing) every trip unless they are really close together. I end with enough water in the potable tank to keep the pump full and turn it on til it stops running. Then I turn it off and wait a day. If it starts up when I turn it back on, there is a leak and I need to find it.

Now on point I also do something similar with my gas. I make sure I have everything turned off. I work enough gas to the hot water heater to make it easy to light when I get to my destination. Then with everything turned of I turn on the stove for a minute or two and then off and vent that out. I then turn the gas on and light the stove (with good ventilation) Once it is going good I turn it off. Then I turn off the gas valve. Then like 24 hours later I leave the gas off and light the stove. I know that it will run just at 70 seconds without the tank on. If it runs less than this I have a leak. And then when I stop for the night I run the same test. So the leak has to occur in a unit newly parked and not moving for there to be a problem.

I suspect doing that is better protection than a detector.

[David Tilston]

Battery operated gas detectors are available, but not cheap, and the rechargable batteries need to be recharged daily. You may be having a hard time locating them because you are using the wrong search term. In the industry they are knowen as portable LEL, (lower explosive limit) gas detectors. I have worked in the oil and gas industry and used something like this:



It is bigger than I expected. But also more then just LEL. It also has CO, O2 and H2S dectors. The last one is probably not relevent.




https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-Detec.../dp/B07S7Z79D5
OH! I found another one that is even less expensive, and more colourful:
https://www.amazon.ca/Portable-Detec.../dp/B07RT36DB8

It uses a Lithium Polymer battery, but they don't say which one.

These should be calibrated regularly, but that would likely cost as much as the analyzer. It is probably just as good to buy another one every three years or so. It is rated as ±5% accuracy.

I am not familiar with this brand, but at $145 (cdn), it is much less expensive than what I am familiar with:



https://www.amazon.ca/Technologies-Q.../dp/B00APKZUWI

It's accuracy is rated as: 0 to 5% v/v Resolution H 2 : 0.1 ppm CO: 1.0 ppm O 2 : 0.1% Combustible: 1% LEL, 0.1% v/v. This one is smaller and uses AA lithium polymer batteries, but it is: $850 (cdn)

At the lower end of the cost scale is this:



At $43 (cdn) it is one third the cost of the first analyzer, but no batteries are included, no estimate of battery life and it only measures LEL @ ±10%. I think the four, (three?) gas unit still makes sense.
https://www.amazon.ca/300-10000PPM-C.../dp/B08BY7HM41

[Diana Woodland]

Thanks to all you experts for the helpful advice on the explosive gas detectors. It really helped! Not sure we can trust ourselves to be as detail oriented as some of you are with check lists at the end of a long day's drive! Think we need to have the wired in version, backed up with a check list & maybe get the lower-end handheld version as a backup in case something worries us. Again, SUPER helpful. Thank you!!