carbon monoxide detectors ??

Our neighbors son is an EMT. He's been to way to many CO poisoning episodes, and almost got hit by one himself during a rescue and barely made it out even knowing the symptoms.

suffice it to say if CO hits you while your sleeping chances of you waking up again are virtually ZERO. Even awake, often you won't realize the symptoms till to late.

While furnaces rarely result in CO related failures, it can and does happen and in a small enclosed area it can be deadly very quickly.

personally I will NEVER EVER be inside a TT when the furnace, WH or stove/oven is expected to be running without a working CO detector, period. The risk isn't worth it.

unlike smoke detectors, they rarely false alarm. Ours has a CO readout. It has alarmed, with a readout showing a problem. The cause.... another camper next to us running a generator upwind from us with the exhaust pointed at our open bedroom window.

We couldn't smell exhaust fumes, but it was putting out enough CO to alarm. Once relocated, CO levels dropped to near 0. Glad I had a working detector.

I worked in the fire service for 29 yrs. Every year in our city (population 150,000) someone would die from CO poisoning. Usually this was due to an improperly vented gas appliance. Sometimes on a cold winter night someone would light up a BBQ and bring it inside for the heat. Sadly, more than once an entire family died while trying to stay warm near a BBQ that should never have been brought inside.
I once responded to a call where the entire family complained of headaches. Plus they said their CO monitor was false alarming again. We tested the CO levels with our own monitor and the reading was sky high. A quick check of all their gas appliances uncovered a recently installed water heater that the homeowner had not vented properly. All the exhaust gases were venting directly into the house.
Sorry for the long response but I would recommend a CO detector.
Dale

The first one that failed, (false alarmed) I noticed it was dated 3 years before. I just left it on the wall w/ the red wire disconnected.
The one in my current MH false alarmed twice. Its also still looks good on the wall disconnected. I never cared what brand they were. For some reason I never have trouble w/ smoke or LP detectors.

The RV furnace is safe. Buy a CO detector for a little peace of mind and sleep soundly.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
I've never had a CO alarm 'falsely'......smoke alarm YES everytime I cook but not a CO alarm and the LP alarm has only gone off because of a low battery condition (once).

What brand of CO alarms are giving false alarms?

Sorry, I probably should have made a note of that before I tossed it in the trash.

I've never had a CO alarm 'falsely'......smoke alarm YES everytime I cook but not a CO alarm and the LP alarm has only gone off because of a low battery condition (once).

What brand of CO alarms are giving false alarms?

I look at it completely different. I never needed these safety devices before in all my older RVs, and I don't need them now. If they are there, and work properly, their ok, but they only wake me up in the middle of the nite w/ a false alarm once !
If they built them w/ switches on them, I could tolerate them. But when a co det goes off in the middle of the nite, and you have to chase down a screwdriver to remove it from the wall, then have to jerk the dam wires apart to stop it,......like I said before, it won't happen again in the same RV.

Dutch_12078 wrote:
...
CO detectors are not affected by freezing temperatures, but residential detectors may not reliably withstand the vibrations related to RV travel.

Dutch,

Just looked on line. Most, if not all, residential CO Detectors that I could find had a limit as to both low and high temps... typical Low limit was 32 or 40 degrees... however some were down much lower than that.

I don't know if you are correct, however I would look at the manufacturer's lower limit before purchasing.

I also don't know what the low ambient temp limit is as far as the detector batteries... if battery powered.

A properly installed, maintained, and operated furnace rarely causes danger. That said, I am in favor of installing CO detectors. You may have to get rationally familiar with their false alarms, however.

I have a Menards residential CO/smoke combination detector in our motorhome which
seems to work fine after 3 years. It is a "First Alert" brand.
We also have one in our house.

Brian