Running the generator all night

Nothing deadlier than CO. If you must at least use a Gen-turi.

Typo corrected.

My Personal Expierence NOTE DO NOT DO IT WITHOUT A GOOD WORKING CO DETECTOR

When my RV was new 2 hours and BEEP BEEP BEEP that dang CO detector got real annoying (Did it's job thank you)

I installed a GEN-TURI Generator exhaust extension

Ran it most all day (not often inside the RV) providing power for an event. No problem

Ran it for like 25 horus (last weekend of June) Twice.. No problems

NOTE: Ran it a few times with just the Gen-Turi adapter (Which extended the exhaust a bit) no problem But if I was occupying the RV I had the full Gen-Turi in place.

NOte 2: I replaced most of the generator exhaust pipe

TWICE over the life of the RV. (inspect it frequently)
Mine was located where water dripped on it (Bad design) so it rusted out.

CA Traveler wrote:
Nothing deadlier than CO2. If you must at least use a Gen-turi.

You mean CO: carbon monoxide not CO2: Carbon Dioxide with you exhale and is plant food. And there are many things deadlier than CO, HCN, H2S for just a few.

He isn't running the generator inside is he?

What kind of generator are you talking about? Is it built in to your RV or is it a portable unit you can move away from your rig?
A Gen-turi won't work on a portable generator.

My manual for my 100565 Champ states it needs to be 5' away from any structure, with the exhaust pointing away. Reason given, it has a CO detector built in, and will shut off when detected.

It has stopped a few times, since new, when not following the above. I'm not sure CO was the reason, but warnings are likely there for more than just CYA, in some cases.

I would not run mine all night. At 1600 running watts, it won't run the 15K AC anyway.

Jerry

Cmccain13 wrote:
and its been hot, i don't know why, but I am apprehensive about letting the generator run all night. should I be?

Will you run it all day? 4 hours? 2 hours? Are you afraid to run the generator at all if you're in the camper? Do you vent the camper after evacuating every time you turn on the generator?
What's the actual difference? See where I'm going here?

Think about it logically.

Now, snarky comments aside, yes CO detector = mandatory equipment IMO, but presume by the nature of your post you're talking running a built in generator to run the air conditioning at night.

1. Intake for RV AC is on the roof of 99% of RVs.
2. Generator exhaust is pointing down and nowhere near the AC. (And if it was a real and present concern, I doubt there would be millions of built in RV generators produced and in use for the last however many decades).
3. Running AC = windows closed (save for maybe 1 or 2 cracked a little to promote ventilation). And the AC is blowing in high volume of air into a closed box, therefor the "box" has positive pressure which would keep errant exhaust fumes from just sneaking in. Unless the wind and climate was "just right" to direct the exhaust from it's far away location up and right to the AC on the roof, without dilution.
4. If it's a LP fired genny, it puts off about half the CO of a gasoline model.
5. Have never owned a built in genny camper until this year and have only left the ole Honda chained to a tree and plugged in to the old campers without issue.
6. Even if a whiff of exhaust gets sucked into the camper, how is that worse than sitting in a traffic jam 4 lanes wide bumper to bumper on a freeway?

I haven't had to run mine all night for a long time, but many years ago I was in the infield at Fontana (NASCAR) volunteering with our kids' high school and it was baking outside. I turned on the gen and the air on Thursday night and shut it off when we left on Sunday. I had to go on a fuel run once during the weekend to reload.

The gens are built to run and also built to not kill you (usually).

Shut your windows and make sure your detectors are all working.

While waiting out storm damage power line repairs, we've run our onboard generator as long as 7 days non stop without setting off our CO detector. We did have our Gen-Turi hooked up though...

agesilaus wrote:

CA Traveler wrote:
Nothing deadlier than CO2. If you must at least use a Gen-turi.

You mean CO: carbon monoxide not CO2: Carbon Dioxide with you exhale and is plant food. And there are many things deadlier than CO, HCN, H2S for just a few.

He isn't running the generator inside is he?

No our generator is housed under our motorhome.

Grit dog wrote:

Cmccain13 wrote:
and its been hot, i don't know why, but I am apprehensive about letting the generator run all night. should I be?

Will you run it all day? 4 hours? 2 hours? Are you afraid to run the generator at all if you're in the camper? Do you vent the camper after evacuating every time you turn on the generator?
What's the actual difference? See where I'm going here?

Think about it logically.

Now, snarky comments aside, yes CO detector = mandatory equipment IMO, but presume by the nature of your post you're talking running a built in generator to run the air conditioning at night.

1. Intake for RV AC is on the roof of 99% of RVs.
2. Generator exhaust is pointing down and nowhere near the AC. (And if it was a real and present concern, I doubt there would be millions of built in RV generators produced and in use for the last however many decades).
3. Running AC = windows closed (save for maybe 1 or 2 cracked a little to promote ventilation). And the AC is blowing in high volume of air into a closed box, therefor the "box" has positive pressure which would keep errant exhaust fumes from just sneaking in. Unless the wind and climate was "just right" to direct the exhaust from it's far away location up and right to the AC on the roof, without dilution.
4. If it's a LP fired genny, it puts off about half the CO of a gasoline model.
5. Have never owned a built in genny camper until this year and have only left the ole Honda chained to a tree and plugged in to the old campers without issue.
6. Even if a whiff of exhaust gets sucked into the camper, how is that worse than sitting in a traffic jam 4 lanes wide bumper to bumper on a freeway?

The rooftop A/C recirculates interior air only, with no outside air drawn in. Outside air is recirculated on the outside only. Even with a Gen-Turi installed that releases the generator exhaust at roof level, there is no path for the A/C to draw in the fumes to the inside.