My FW will be 2 years old in mid August. I have never had an alarm go off, until recently.I was camping the first time. Wow, that thing is loud! It went off for no apparent reason. The only thing running was the fridge and AC, the water heater was also on electric.I turned the AC off, opened the door, and it soon quit. This was several weeks ago, nothing since, until today.Today it was just sitting, parked on a concrete pad at home. The door was open, I went in to turn the pump on, and run some water. It went off, quit on its own, then went off a little later, quit again. It is plugged in, but nothing is running, the propane has been shut off for a couple of weeks.Could this maybe be a warning that the sensor needs to be replaced?Any ideas?Thanks for any thoughts,Jerry

Yes the CO meter has failed. It is not a CO2 meter. CO2 is used in soft drinks, and it not to toxic. CO is what you need to detect, and it can come from the passing car exhaust (until the catalytic converter is warmed up a car engine can produce a lot of CO gas) or nearby generator, or other gas burning devices. My buddies CO detector went off while in a campground and the neighbor's furnace came on, blowing CO and other furnace exhaust gas towards his trailer window. Sometimes the CO meters can go off just because you are in town on a hot day. Don't know why the CO meters trip under such conditions, but it can happen with certain models.Fred.

Dog digestive gasses. Floor cleaning solutions. Cheap inflatable beach toys. Cigarette smoke. They all set it off. Only one contains CO.Your's sounds like it may need to be replaced.Mine has been set off at or near 2am by dog farts. The first time was shortly after we had a huge list of problems with our nee RV. My wife woke to the noise and immediately shoved me out of the bed. She was convinced the RV was on fire and we may only have seconds to escape!

A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!

BFL13 wrote:A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!No, it became code here for all RV's to have a CO detector in about 2006 (give or take). I suspect it was because our furnaces can emit it and there have been many deaths associated with CO coming from generators and other vehicles idling nearby.

CO2 sensor going off | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

Almot
Explorer III
Jul 13, 2014
To trigger CO alarm in a partially closed trailer, the concentration of CO in the air outside, i.e. around the trailer, must've been deadly.

If it's a "CO/LP detector" like you say, maybe LP part is acting up. They've been known to do this.
ScottG
Nomad
Jul 13, 2014
It wouldn't surprise me if Canada had the CO detector required before us. It's pretty common for both them and the EU to come up with stuff like that before us.
BFL13
Explorer II
Jul 13, 2014
marcsbigfoot20b27 wrote:
BFL13 wrote:
ScottG wrote:
BFL13 wrote:
A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)

The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.

A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!

No, it became code here for all RV's to have a CO detector in about 2006 (give or take). I suspect it was because our furnaces can emit it and there have been many deaths associated with CO coming from generators and other vehicles idling nearby.

I didn't know that, thanks. I don't know if Canadian newer ones have that or not

My 2000 Bigfoot made in Canada 14 years ago came with a smoke, LP, and CO detector all hard wired to 12 volts........master 12 volt disconnect shuts them off.

The OP has solved it, so to go down this side-track some more, I did some digging and found this, where the built in Canada ( in BC) 2006 Citation fiver has both LP and CO detectors.

http://www.oconnorrv.com/brochures/general_coach/citation/2006_5th_bro.pdf
MFL
Nomad II
Jul 13, 2014
OP here, after standing on my head, reading upside down, with progressive lenses, I used the camera to get further info about my CO/LP detector.

It says replace 6/2015, also says green light normal, red light alarm, red/green replace. Red light was blinking, so was indicating CO.

My home parking pad is next to my driveway, so my open door was 40' from the street. Could have been traffic exhaust, the wind was right for it.

Jerry
marcsbigfoot20b
Explorer
Jul 13, 2014
BFL13 wrote:
ScottG wrote:
BFL13 wrote:
A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)

The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.

A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!

No, it became code here for all RV's to have a CO detector in about 2006 (give or take). I suspect it was because our furnaces can emit it and there have been many deaths associated with CO coming from generators and other vehicles idling nearby.

I didn't know that, thanks. I don't know if Canadian newer ones have that or not

My 2000 Bigfoot made in Canada 14 years ago came with a smoke, LP, and CO detector all hard wired to 12 volts........master 12 volt disconnect shuts them off.
Almot
Explorer III
Jul 13, 2014
In my 3-years old US-sold rig there is a smoke detector, not CO2 detector. Did the OP mean smoke detector?

There are also CO detector and LP detector. LP is on 12V, smoke and CO in my rig are on their own disposable batteries.
MFL
Nomad II
Jul 13, 2014
BFL13 wrote:
A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)

The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.

A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!

Fred was correct, I have no CO2 detector, but yes, I do indeed have a carbon monoxide detector, along with LP detector.

Battery is at 13.2 while on shore, and 12.8 after shore power not connected for a while, so it is good.

Appeciate all thoughts,
Jerry
BFL13
Explorer II
Jul 13, 2014
ScottG wrote:
BFL13 wrote:
A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)

The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.

A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!

No, it became code here for all RV's to have a CO detector in about 2006 (give or take). I suspect it was because our furnaces can emit it and there have been many deaths associated with CO coming from generators and other vehicles idling nearby.

I didn't know that, thanks. I don't know if Canadian newer ones have that or not
ScottG
Nomad
Jul 13, 2014
BFL13 wrote:
A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)

The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.

A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!

No, it became code here for all RV's to have a CO detector in about 2006 (give or take). I suspect it was because our furnaces can emit it and there have been many deaths associated with CO coming from generators and other vehicles idling nearby.
BFL13
Explorer II
Jul 13, 2014
A trailer has no engine so you don't have a CO detector either :)

The LP alarm will sound if the DC 12v power to it gets low. Usually from low battery when not on shore power. After the power gets too low to run the alarm at all, it does nothing till it gets its 12v back.

A truly dead battery may come back to life but it will not be the same good as new!