Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl V
William you seem to confuse CO and CO2. Not the same gas. CO is toxic and the result of combustion. CO2 is what you exhale, not toxic but if you were to only breath CO2 you would die, not because of the CO2 but because of lack of oxygen.
What I consider essential in a camper are a CO detector (not CO2) and a propane detector. I believe these two are mandatory in any new trailer.
If you feel the need for a smoke alarm, go for it. I don't have one in mine, it would go off every morning toasting bread over the stove. My choice.
I don't know what kind of heater you are using. Some unvented propane heaters, like MrHeater, have what they call an ODS (Oxygen depletion sensor). This is not a sensor like you would imagine being some electronic device and alarm. It is just the way the pilot flame burner is designed: as the oxygen level drops the flame gradually moves away from the thermocouple and the heater eventually shuts off by itself. There are no electronics or moving parts in that "sensor", they work good and they are basically fail-safe (they have been tested by the US CPSC). In other words, there is no alarm set off by this oxygen sensor, it just keeps the heater operating as long as there is a sufficient oxygen level. If you are using an unvented heater I suggest you get one with an ODS, properly vent the trailer when using it as explained in the instructions, and never use it without a CO detector, just in case. Other than that, I don't see the need for a separate oxygen sensor, and I've never seen anybody using one in a camper.
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A bit of a nitpick, but CO2 is also poisonous. Just not anywhere close to as poisonous as CO, and your body's great at rejecting it via breathing as long as the concentration's not really high.
In an enclosed space with people breathing, CO2 poisoning probably becomes a threat slightly before oxygen depletion does. That'd still take a really really long time though, and something like a travel trailer's not really small or well-sealed enough for it to be a problem.
In the case of combustion, it's a bit more complicated. When there's lots of oxygen the reaction will mostly produce CO2. When the oxygen percentage drops a little bit (but still not enough to be directly dangerous), it starts producing lots of CO instead. So, the O2 sensor acts as a sort of indirect predictor of CO production.