CO/LP detector failures
Our CO/LP detector went nuts again this last weekend camping. By 'going nuts', I mean, it started going off at random times repeatedly, when it is impossible for there to be any CO or LP present.
It did the same thing back in October 2012, several months after we first bought the RV new in March 2012. In February 2013, the CO/LP detector was replaced by the dealer under warranty. Now, just over 2 years later, the detector they put in (under warranty) has done the same thing. We have gone through two CO/LP detectors in the course of 3 years with this RV. Our previous RV that we had for 9 years, and the one we had before that for 3 years, we NEVER had to replace a detector, ever. Obviously, something isn't right.
There is NOT ever a low voltage issue, as our RV stays parked at our house when not in use, hooked up to shore power. Sooo, there is always a good supply of 12 volts going to it. And, before anyone says it: I am 110% certain, that there is NOT any CO or LP present when this thing is going off like this. It goes off sometimes, when gas (and all appliances using such) are shut off.
Anyway, I *think* I see a pattern of why they are failing, and want to run this by everyone and get some thoughts: On our RV we have now, the detector is located right outside the bathroom door (was not like that on previous units we've owned). No matter how many times I tell DW to turn on the bathroom vent in the morning before using her hair spray, most times she does not, and that #% hair spray sets off the CO detector every time! It seems with time, after the detector goes off 6 or 7 times total due to hair spray (or one time Lysol caused it), it starts to go 'nuts', and the erroneous, random alarms start happening more and more often. Eventually it gets bad enough I have to just disconnect and replace it.
I think, having the detector right outside the bathroom door, in our situation makes it go off way too often, which leads to its demise.
Fortunately, (and actually due to an unrelated mistake they made), our RV dealer is going to order us a new detector, free of charge even this second time. Sooo, even this second time, it won't cost us any $$ to replace the detector. However, I definitely need to correct this problem, and stop burning out CO detectors so often. Next time one goes out, it will come out of my pocket to replace it.
Has anyone else experienced these detectors going bad quickly after it gets set off a few times by various aerosol can products? Is this even possible, or is there something else that is making these things fail so often for us?
I looked at trying to re-locate the detector further away from the bathroom, but have not yet found a way to do that. Part of the problem is that the bathroom vent is one of the simple kind with a simple hand-crank to open it. DW cannot reach the hand crank to open it, so if I don't open it for her, we have this issue. I am seriously thinking about putting a Max Air vent cover on that vent, so that we can leave the vent open all the time. Then, she can turn on the vent fan when she needs to, hopefully alleviating this issue with CO detector frying itself.
Thoughts? Anything else we might do that I'm not thinking about, to prevent burning these things up so often?
It did the same thing back in October 2012, several months after we first bought the RV new in March 2012. In February 2013, the CO/LP detector was replaced by the dealer under warranty. Now, just over 2 years later, the detector they put in (under warranty) has done the same thing. We have gone through two CO/LP detectors in the course of 3 years with this RV. Our previous RV that we had for 9 years, and the one we had before that for 3 years, we NEVER had to replace a detector, ever. Obviously, something isn't right.
There is NOT ever a low voltage issue, as our RV stays parked at our house when not in use, hooked up to shore power. Sooo, there is always a good supply of 12 volts going to it. And, before anyone says it: I am 110% certain, that there is NOT any CO or LP present when this thing is going off like this. It goes off sometimes, when gas (and all appliances using such) are shut off.
Anyway, I *think* I see a pattern of why they are failing, and want to run this by everyone and get some thoughts: On our RV we have now, the detector is located right outside the bathroom door (was not like that on previous units we've owned). No matter how many times I tell DW to turn on the bathroom vent in the morning before using her hair spray, most times she does not, and that #% hair spray sets off the CO detector every time! It seems with time, after the detector goes off 6 or 7 times total due to hair spray (or one time Lysol caused it), it starts to go 'nuts', and the erroneous, random alarms start happening more and more often. Eventually it gets bad enough I have to just disconnect and replace it.
I think, having the detector right outside the bathroom door, in our situation makes it go off way too often, which leads to its demise.
Fortunately, (and actually due to an unrelated mistake they made), our RV dealer is going to order us a new detector, free of charge even this second time. Sooo, even this second time, it won't cost us any $$ to replace the detector. However, I definitely need to correct this problem, and stop burning out CO detectors so often. Next time one goes out, it will come out of my pocket to replace it.
Has anyone else experienced these detectors going bad quickly after it gets set off a few times by various aerosol can products? Is this even possible, or is there something else that is making these things fail so often for us?
I looked at trying to re-locate the detector further away from the bathroom, but have not yet found a way to do that. Part of the problem is that the bathroom vent is one of the simple kind with a simple hand-crank to open it. DW cannot reach the hand crank to open it, so if I don't open it for her, we have this issue. I am seriously thinking about putting a Max Air vent cover on that vent, so that we can leave the vent open all the time. Then, she can turn on the vent fan when she needs to, hopefully alleviating this issue with CO detector frying itself.
Thoughts? Anything else we might do that I'm not thinking about, to prevent burning these things up so often?
