Propane/CO alarm going off? Casita 16' - Page 2 - Fiberglass RV
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Old 09-16-2019, 12:04 PM   #21
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Name: Fredrick
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Tennessee
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Alarm

Ours did this in our 2018 Indy Casita17..nothing worked..except vacuuming the thing..wh helped for awhile. Finally got tired of the alarm and removed the fuse. Told the new owner all about it. He said don't sweat it bks his brother was an electrician and could fix anything. Nuff said. Ours was used only for 1 1/2 seasons. Grrr.
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Old 09-16-2019, 09:25 PM   #22
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Name: Dick
Trailer: '15 17' LD Casita and '17 Tahoe LT
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I was having the same problems with our Casita. Read on this forum a post saying he cleaned the small vents on the front of the detector. I gave mine a good cleaning and have not had the problem since. Seems like he was saying dust accumulates on the narrow vents and restricts the air flow.
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Old 09-18-2019, 11:43 AM   #23
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If your batteries go below 11 volts the propane detector will go off. Don't know of anyone has mentioned this
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Old 09-18-2019, 04:56 PM   #24
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True but in my case the detector has different alarms and LEDs blinking sequence depending if it's a CO alarm, propane alarm, end of life, low voltage, faulty unit, dog fart, etc.
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Old 09-18-2019, 05:04 PM   #25
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Name: Yvette
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Lol. I’ve read about this irritating noise problem quite a bit on a casita forum. They seem waaay too sensitive. Folks say the detector needs to replaced after 4-5 years but our 2018 did the same this summer. Removing the fuse deactivated the fan and rear lights too so that wasn’t an option, so my hubby cut the damn wire. I know.... not best solution. But we sleep like babies now. ☺️
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Old 09-18-2019, 05:57 PM   #26
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Name: Howard
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Let me just add, that the CO detector has a life span. And the new to yours in a new RV may have been in the manufactures inventory for a while.

I have used handheld gas monitors before and all gas sensors have a life span that varies on what gas you are monitoring. Thus my suggestion is to get a separate Co Detector, just like at home with a wired fire detector I have a separate back up just to be safe. Good Luck
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Old 09-18-2019, 06:07 PM   #27
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Originally Posted by hlivesay View Post
Let me just add, that the CO detector has a life span. And the new to yours in a new RV may have been in the manufactures inventory for a while.
...
But I understood that the clock does not start running until they are powered up.

Kiddie says this about their alarm...

Eight years after initial power-up, this unit will “chirp” every 30
seconds to indicate that it is time to replace the alarm. A label
has been provided that has “Replace by” printed on it. Write the
replace by date on the label and affix it to the front of the alarm
so that it is visible after mounting. The date written on the label
should be after eight (8) years of cumulative power.
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Old 09-18-2019, 07:58 PM   #28
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Had mine in the house go off. Used some pc compressed air to blow it out and that seemed to take care of the problem.
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Old 09-19-2019, 09:19 AM   #29
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Name: Joel
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We had a bottle of cinnamon whisky break in the cupboard, and the aroma set our alarm off. It was fine after we cleaned it up and aired it out.
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Old 09-19-2019, 10:16 AM   #30
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The detectors can sometimes be "reset", but cutting the power to them for a minute and then re-connecting. You might be able to find an inline fuse and pull it for a minute, then replace it.

I've seen this work and was shown the trick by an Oliver technician. In that case, it reset it to normal.
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Old 09-19-2019, 10:37 AM   #31
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The detectors can sometimes be "reset", but cutting the power to them for a minute and then re-connecting. You might be able to find an inline fuse and pull it for a minute, then replace it.

I've seen this work and was shown the trick by an Oliver technician. In that case, it reset it to normal.
There is a some risk in doing this since a CO alarm will trigger on cumulative exposure to CO. For example, one alarm's manual says this:

Per UL 2034 requirements, the CO sensor will not alarm to levels of
CO below 30 ppm and will alarm in the following time range when
exposed to the corresponding levels of CO.

70 ppm CO Concentration 60 – 240 minutes
150 ppm CO Concentration 10 – 50 minutes
400 ppm CO Concentration 4 – 15 minutes


So as you can see, if you have a 70 ppm exposure causing the detector to alarm after at least an hour of exposure, and then you power cycle it, then you will continue to be exposed to the same 70 ppm of CO for another hour or more until it alarms again. Reset it again and now your getting a triple exposure.
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Old 09-19-2019, 06:41 PM   #32
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Gordon,

That is how the pros do it. And to not do it means to listen to it going off. Disconnecting it permanently means no protection at all.

I would not want to listen to it, and I do want the protection. So, resetting it makes the most sense. Besides, you could always leave the door ajar, or the fan running during the waiting period to clear the room of any CO.
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Old 09-19-2019, 07:23 PM   #33
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Originally Posted by Raspy View Post
...That is how the pros do it.
By power cycling the detector? I highly doubt that any true professorial deals with CO alarms by only "resetting" it, at least not until they have at least tried to figure out why it is alarming and verifying that it is a false alarm.

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Originally Posted by Raspy View Post
And to not do it means to listen to it going off.
I am surprised to hear that since I have never had a false CO alarm. In fact I have an alarm/detector in the house, near my garage and a vent-less fireplace... it has a digital display that is supposed to show CO readings below the alarm threshold. It has never displayed more than zero point zero. So I even wonder if its working at all. But if it did alarm, I would truly respect that.

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Originally Posted by Raspy View Post
...I would not want to listen to it, and I do want the protection. So, resetting it makes the most sense. Besides, you could always leave the door ajar, or the fan running during the waiting period to clear the room of any CO.
Well, I will agree that if you do power-cycle the alarm, you should also ventilate the area and also do what you can to figure out why it alarmed. But I would not "reset" it more than once since that defeats the protection you get from the detector measuring the cumulative CO exposure as opposed to instantaneous or short term exposure - the protection that you said you want.
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Old 09-19-2019, 08:31 PM   #34
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I think there is much confusion about which alarms people have, as in they didn't read the instructions and they don't actually know what they have. That makes posts here confusing as well. Doesn't help that there are now combo Propane Gas / Carbon Monoxide alarms.
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Old 09-19-2019, 09:21 PM   #35
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Name: Jann
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Gordon,

That is how the pros do it. And to not do it means to listen to it going off. Disconnecting it permanently means no protection at all.

I would not want to listen to it, and I do want the protection. So, resetting it makes the most sense. Besides, you could always leave the door ajar, or the fan running during the waiting period to clear the room of any CO.
Sometimes resetting them doesn't work. We pulled our fuse but bought a portable one for safety. The portable one has never gone off. I think in the Casita's they are in a bad location, under the bed with the converter, hot water heater, etc. It always went off about the same time every night after we closed up the door and windows. We always make sure we have a detector though. The only time the portable one went off is when it chirped to tell us it was expired. Then we went to a store and bought a new one while we were on the road.
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Old 09-19-2019, 10:47 PM   #36
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Originally Posted by Jann Todd View Post
Sometimes resetting them doesn't work. We pulled our fuse but bought a portable one for safety. The portable one has never gone off. I think in the Casita's they are in a bad location, under the bed with the converter, hot water heater, etc. It always went off about the same time every night after we closed up the door and windows. We always make sure we have a detector though. The only time the portable one went off is when it chirped to tell us it was expired. Then we went to a store and bought a new one while we were on the road.
This may be the best solution, in the long run. A new detector in a better location.

Resetting them is just the first thing to do, to see if it fixes the problem. If it doesn't, it's time to try something else. And it's WAY better than listening to it for the entire trip.

The idea is not to just shut it off, but to get it to be more accurate and stop beeping for no reason. I, for one, would not spend a long time listening to that thing when I could try something to make it stop. The one I saw doing this was in the middle of the day, with the door wide open, no appliances running, and nobody in the trailer. Obviously, there was no danger. So, resetting it was totally appropriate. Plus, resetting it was a normal first step. And it worked.

I have never claimed that reseting them was the answer to all problems forever. It is just one thing to do first, which stops the racket and may fix the problem. I have seen it work, and I would definitely try it on mine while out camping. Who wouldn't?

It does sound like some of them are in the wrong location too.
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Old 03-22-2021, 06:45 PM   #37
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Name: Jason
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possible Propane leak or something else?

Hi everyone,

I have a 2020 Casita travel trailer and my Atwood detector alarm went off last Thursday evening. I opened the windows and turned off the propane just in case. Initially we thought maybe one of the kids farted in the trailer. So we all had a good laugh and went to bed. I turned the gas back on Friday and the alarm did not go off again in till Sunday evening. I guess my question is do I actually have a gas leak or is the Atwood detector not working correctly? Keep in mind that the vin date says it was built 5 months ago. Should I be having this type of problem already?
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Old 03-22-2021, 07:51 PM   #38
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Hi everyone,

I have a 2020 Casita travel trailer and my Atwood detector alarm went off last Thursday evening. I opened the windows and turned off the propane just in case. Initially we thought maybe one of the kids farted in the trailer. So we all had a good laugh and went to bed. I turned the gas back on Friday and the alarm did not go off again in till Sunday evening. I guess my question is do I actually have a gas leak or is the Atwood detector not working correctly? Keep in mind that the vin date says it was built 5 months ago. Should I be having this type of problem already?

A lot of fire departments will allow you to pull your camper over to the station and they will check the current status of the gases in it. That would tell you for sure.
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Old 03-22-2021, 08:01 PM   #39
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Name: Stephen
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Open flame propane is not a good idea in any trailer and really a bad idea in a small one because it pumps huge amounts of water vapor, heat and gas into a small space. Switching to electric solves a host of problems.
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Old 03-22-2021, 08:01 PM   #40
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Mine also

Quote:
Originally Posted by jpowersphoto View Post
Hi everyone,

I have a 2020 Casita travel trailer and my Atwood detector alarm went off last Thursday evening. Keep in mind that the vin date says it was built 5 months ago. Should I be having this type of problem already?
Mine (2017 Scamp) went off several times when new also. I used a vacuum cleaner and a soft brush to clean the MFG dust out and it has not gone off again. Now that may be good or bad, but it still tests OK.
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