Co alarm in 5th wheel goes off on occasion. Yes, has been replaced twice. No propane in use. What could cause this besides carbon monoxide? Any ideas would be appreciated. We have an interested buyer and I feel compelled to let him know about it but cannot explain why this would happen.

Bad unit. Is it a co alarm or the propane detector? Or a combo unit. They go bad at like 8 years. Co is incomplete combustion, so if you are not burning anything( stove, heat, water heater , car exhaust, etc) it shouldn't go off. Some need to be put in freash air to reset so to speak. So they accumulate co and when they get saturated go off, others purge and take real time mesurments. Your make and model should have instructions. Only other thing i can think of is a battery offgasing sometimes sets them off. Could it have a loose wire? And when it jiggles it goes on and off?

Mine had only a five year life per the manufacturer. I replaced it with a near identical one and solved the problem.

I'll add if you are worried , get this and plug it in diffent parts of the camper with , stove running first for like 20 mins ( burners and oven) , then fridge on propane , same time frame, then hot water heater, etc. The nighthawk will give you a reading in parts per million of co. And it purges itself every like 20 or 30 seconds and gives another reading. Its pretty accurate, so if you have a blocked flue or something else going on it will pick it up.

https://www.amazon.com/Nighthawk-Operated-Monoxide-Digital-KN-COPP-3/dp/B00002N86AThis lol, forgot it.

In hot weather, with not a lot of water in the black tank, I've had the excessive heat cause the black tank to build up sewer gas. It would somehow escape into the coach and it would set off the CO2 detector. Putting a few gallons of water in the black tank solved the issue. Hope this helps.

Co alarm | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

doxiemom11
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2020
High humidity can make them go off. Have had it happen a couple of times.
2oldman
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2020
breathe
ajriding
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2020
CO is deadly, CO2 is what you breath out, and is safe. lol. easy mistake...

This unit is made for a house and made to be plugged in all the time to AC power, it has a 9volt battery in case of power failure. Are you running the 9v battery too low when not plugged in and it beeps or complains about that?
I like to hack, but I would get a proper DC powered 12 volt RV monitor, and you can get CO/Propane combos also.
RayJayco
Explorer
Jul 06, 2020
Some cleaners and aerosol sprays can set them off.
DrewE
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2020
Some alarms are sensitive to low (12V system) voltage.
2oldman
Explorer II
Jul 06, 2020
8ntw8tn wrote:
It would somehow escape into the coach and it would set off the CO2 detector..
CO?
Sjm9911
Explorer
Jul 06, 2020
8ntw8tn wrote:
In hot weather, with not a lot of water in the black tank, I've had the excessive heat cause the black tank to build up sewer gas. It would somehow escape into the coach and it would set off the CO2 detector. Putting a few gallons of water in the black tank solved the issue. Hope this helps.

Yea, that could probably do it , but it would be a lot of sewer gas. Lol.
Lynnmor
Explorer
Jul 06, 2020
Timqs8 wrote:
No propane in use. What could cause this besides carbon monoxide?

Dog farts.
8ntw8tn
Explorer
Jul 06, 2020
In hot weather, with not a lot of water in the black tank, I've had the excessive heat cause the black tank to build up sewer gas. It would somehow escape into the coach and it would set off the CO2 detector. Putting a few gallons of water in the black tank solved the issue. Hope this helps.
Sjm9911
Explorer
Jul 05, 2020
https://www.amazon.com/Nighthawk-Operated-Monoxide-Digital-KN-COPP-3/dp/B00002N86A
This lol, forgot it.

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Co alarm

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