Two found dead in rv

I built a plate with 3 slots that slips behind the stove knobs and won't allow them to be pushed in enough to rotate. I made the plate out of a small piece of Plexiglas scrap. You have to remove the plate to be able to press the stove knobs in to rotate. Works great. No more accidental burner turns.

wny_pat wrote:
Actually, with different things in a RV or motorhome that can smell like rotten eggs, is it a good idea to use a gas like mercaptan, whose odor smells like rotten eggs? A wet cell battery off gassing smells like rotten eggs. The gas from the waste tanks can smell like rotten eggs. Those two items do not kill, but LP can kill. LP should have a more distinctive and uniform odor than rotten eggs. There must be something more distinctive that could be used in LP to make it automatically identified as a LP leak,

The only thing that smelled like rotten eggs was a stink bomb that would go off on overheated bearings on railroad cars. Because even batteries some claim that they smell like rotten eggs, but they really do not. The smell on batteries is the smell of boiling acid.

I never have had a problem smelling LP gas. It has its own distinctive smell. I never heard that LP gas had more then one smell. We hauled it on railroad tank cars and sometimes you could definitely distinguish it from other smells.

Actually, with different things in a RV or motorhome that can smell like rotten eggs, is it a good idea to use a gas like mercaptan, whose odor smells like rotten eggs? A wet cell battery off gassing smells like rotten eggs. The gas from the waste tanks can smell like rotten eggs. Those two items do not kill, but LP can kill. LP should have a more distinctive and uniform odor than rotten eggs. There must be something more distinctive that could be used in LP to make it automatically identified as a LP leak,

Carbon Monoxide is a odorless, colorless gas that will kills by replacing the oxygen in your body. It is produced from a lot of sources, mainly unvented gas flames or heaters. In this case, if the burner was left on as they say, the flame wold produce carbon Monoxide, then after a period, the gas would run out and the flame would die. a bit of residual gas could have produced some odor, but not enough to disturb two people who were already dead from Carbon Monoxide.

rockhillmanor wrote:
I wonder just 'how many' investigations of RV fires simply are written off to a propane leak and NOT the fact that a stove knob was bumped to the on position? When ever I post of my experience several others post they have experienced the same dangerous situation, have caught it in time and are thankfully still alive to post about it.

More importantly WHEN are the RV manufactures going to realize they need to change how 'easily' these stoves accidentally turn on?

So sad the loss of life & wish for Gods comfort for the family.

Rock,
You mean like, design a cook stove with the knobs on the top, instead of on the front, where like now anything in the world can bump or a kid can turn on & you not know it ??.

I can say, we to have gone through a cook stove knob being party turned on, realizing how dangerous it was & what could have happened, so I'll never not be afraid of LP gas & always stop & let my nose check before & during the trip often.

There was a mention, that LP gas has different smell sometimes in different states, I know of three different ones so far.
Neil

I wonder just 'how many' investigations of RV fires simply are written off to a propane leak and NOT the fact that a stove knob was bumped to the on position? When ever I post of my experience several others post they have experienced the same dangerous situation, have caught it in time and are thankfully still alive to post about it.

More importantly WHEN are the RV manufactures going to realize they need to change how 'easily' these stoves accidentally turn on?

Some possible explanations for the odd and sometimes confusing possible causes of death in news reports:

One thing that can happen is the oxygen is "displaced" by other gases. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is not considered as deadly a gas as others, but... a person can be affected by CO2 not really because there is so much of that gas, but because the oxygen was removed or "pushed out" by it. A lit stove can do this - the flame will use up oxygen in the area. This can also cause the lit stove's flame (especially if it is burning low) to go out, but the gas is still on. So now you have a build of CO2 and begin to build up propane or natural gas.

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is different, and is very deadly on it's own. The most common cause of CO is from a flame. A camper that has vents and windows open for fresh air is not at great risk. This is why campers and houses have gas stoves, with proper venting they are fine to use. The problem is especially during cold weather when people close up campers tight for heat. CO can build up to deadly amounts.

So these were simplified possible explanations.

Make sure your alarms are in good working order, and VENT, VENT, VENT!

What a tragedy, sincere sympathy to family and friends of the deceased.

It's a bit odd that they report it as CO2 poisoning but then report that a burner was left on and there was a strong odor of gas in the coach. The only scenario that I can think of to allow for both is if they left a burner ignited and so much oxygen in the camper was burned and soo much CO2 produced that the flame went out.

The next thing I think of is our trust that the detection devices in our homes will do what they should. I can test the smoke detector easily. I can even test the LP detector carefully. Is there a safe way to test the CO2 detector?