sleeping with generator on

mpierce wrote:
Yes, I have, and will continue to do so. It is a 15KW Kubota diesel, and the exhaust goes up, and exits from the roof about 1/2 way back on the drivers side.

Nice design. Frankly they should all be designed that way. Incorporating a roof exhaust for the gen during an RV build would be such an easy and safe thing to do. But of course we all know why it isn't done.

Yes, I have, and will continue to do so. It is a 15KW Kubota diesel, and the exhaust goes up, and exits from the roof about 1/2 way back on the drivers side.

Just follow what your generator manual tells you. The owner's manual states: Never sleep with the generator running unless the RV is equipped with an operating carbon monoxide detector.
It also mentions exhaust extensions: Cummins Power Generation, manufacturer of Cummins Onan generator products, does not endorse the use of RV generator exhaust pipe extensions.Cummins Power Generation has been unable to this date to identify any commercially available exhaust extension kit which meets reasonable standards for safely handling exhaust gases.
Here is the link to the RV generator manual: Manual

allbrandauto wrote:
I have a gas class a and I dry camp a lot but never sleep with gen. on at night has any body slept with gen running all night

Yes to answer your question.

But we bought a diesel so we were not sleeping on it - and do it often, with no issues, and I sleep like a Baby.

We do it in Wal*Marts at College Games and Anytime it is hot and we are dry camping.

So the answer to the question is YES.

Enjoy the RV,

Carbon monoxide poisoning is an odorless silent killer.

You don't have to smell exhaust or wrap your lips around an exhaust pipe to die. :R

I am very surprised how many RV people do not know this.

Sleeping in a 'parked' big box which is what an RV is.
Which IS why you should open a window/vent so the carbon monoxide can NOT build up within the inside. Seeing as the exhaust pipe is right outside up against the side of RV's. Any slight breeze sends the exhaust right under the RV. You are not driving a car at 50 miles an hour where the exhaust is blown away from the vehicle.

Sit in a parked car running and roll the windows up......can't tell me you have not heard of how many people die this way either by chance or by choice because it IS the quickest way to commit suicide.

And if you believe that no one has ever died in an RV from carbon monoxide poisoning you must have your head in the sand.

I once after buying two co detectors put my honda generator as close to the back door of my truck camper with the door wide open. I had the exhaust pointing straight into the TC. Now I can not recall how long it took for the co detector to go off but I think it was in the 20 to 25 minute range. I found that to be interesting. I expected maybe a minute or two.

Yes, I do when storms knock out the power in my neighborhood during the winter. I have to turn the genset on to run the heat pump to stay warm.

I guess I will never get it how one can argue 500 deaths.
So what is some of them were not generator-related?

willald wrote:

Effy wrote:
...I do know this, when I run my genset and I am sitting still, I smell exhaust.

If thats the case, Effy, then IMO your Motorhome has a problem that needs to be addressed. You should NOT smell your generator exhaust when standing still. If that was the case, you couldn't even stop at a rest stop for a while and have lunch in your RV with the generator running to keep it cool with A/C. That is something we do all the time and really like to do. 'Tis one of the really cool things about traveling in a Motorhome. My generator is directly underneath the living room slideout, and I can honestly say we have never smelled generator exhaust inside, even when parked for a while and sitting at the dinette which is right over the generator.

...How fast it could fill the coach and be harmful - I don't know. I imagine the answer depends. How confident am I in my detector, about as confident as I am in the rest of the low quality stuff they put in Rv's. And I would be asleep and unable to consciously keep an eye (or nose) on the issue.

...As one that had a CO detector go off a few times in the middle of the night (totally unrelated to generator exhaust), I can PROMISE you, if yours goes off, I don't care how soundly you are sleeping, it will wake you up instantly and make you VERY conscious of the issue! Those things will wake the dead when they go off, hahaha!

You do make a good point about how confident we can be in the low quality stuff they put in RVs, though. However, I will tell you, as one that has had more than one CO detector go bad, when they go bad, they don't typically fail to go off when/if CO is present. More often than not, they start going off erroneously when the air is just fine.

....I still fail to see why folks are so passionate about these issues to the point of arguments. Do what you do and let others do what they do. Who cares if someone agrees with you or not?

Hehehehe, well, you are including yourself in what you fail to see there, as you, too, are continuing the argument. You've posted, what, 2, 3 times so far in this thread? :)

Will

smh.

Effy wrote:
...I do know this, when I run my genset and I am sitting still, I smell exhaust.

If thats the case, Effy, then IMO your Motorhome has a problem that needs to be addressed. You should NOT smell your generator exhaust when standing still. If that was the case, you couldn't even stop at a rest stop for a while and have lunch in your RV with the generator running to keep it cool with A/C. That is something we do all the time and really like to do. 'Tis one of the really cool things about traveling in a Motorhome. My generator is directly underneath the living room slideout, and I can honestly say we have never smelled generator exhaust inside, even when parked for a while and sitting at the dinette which is right over the generator.

...How fast it could fill the coach and be harmful - I don't know. I imagine the answer depends. How confident am I in my detector, about as confident as I am in the rest of the low quality stuff they put in Rv's. And I would be asleep and unable to consciously keep an eye (or nose) on the issue.

...As one that had a CO detector go off a few times in the middle of the night (totally unrelated to generator exhaust), I can PROMISE you, if yours goes off, I don't care how soundly you are sleeping, it will wake you up instantly and make you VERY conscious of the issue! Those things will wake the dead when they go off, hahaha!

You do make a good point about how confident we can be in the low quality stuff they put in RVs, though. However, I will tell you, as one that has had more than one CO detector go bad, when they go bad, they don't typically fail to go off when/if CO is present. More often than not, they start going off erroneously when the air is just fine.

....I still fail to see why folks are so passionate about these issues to the point of arguments. Do what you do and let others do what they do. Who cares if someone agrees with you or not?

Hehehehe, well, you are including yourself in what you fail to see there, as you, too, are continuing the argument. You've posted, what, 2, 3 times so far in this thread? :)

Will