carbon Monoxide alarm going off

[Snomas]

Our first trip w/ our new travel trailer (2 months old) the carbon monoxide alarm goes off when I run the hot water heater on gas. The alarm is located 6" off the floor on the opposite side of where the hot water heater is located. Why is gas coming inside a new trailer? The alarm is a dual alarm for both propane and carbon monoxide. Its obvious that the mfgr has a problem w/ the heater installation that allows CO2 to come inside the tlr.

I'm pis#$ off and just venting.

2019 Flagstaff micro lite 21DS

[badsix]

i'm thinking that he is smelling the exhaust for the heater which contains co. there could be a leak around the heater assembly, I would get it to a repair facility asap co is nothing to fool with.
Jay D.

[fdwt994]

GrandpaKip wrote:
Sorry, I can’t help it. Retired Science teacher syndrome.
CO2 is carbon dioxide, not particularly dangerous except to the climate.
CO is carbon monoxide, very bad to breathe.
Have you tried a stand alone CO detector to make sure that’s what is triggering the alarm?

Bingo

[seaeagle2]

You could be smelling other combustion byproducts, while you aren't smelling the CO, if there's combustion gases you can smell, and the CO alarm is going off, there could be CO in the mix. As others have stated there are other things that can set off a CO alarm, but if it's only going off when you run the water heater on propane, apparently there's some kind of issue that needs to be resolved. I work for an HVAC company, years ago we had a customer call in stating her new furnace was setting off her CO alarm. Funny thing was it was 75 degrees outside, I asked her if she 1. Had the furnace on, and 2 were her windows open. She answered that the furnace wasn't on, all the windows were open because they were painting the interior of the house.. End of problem.

[dieseltruckdriv]

I have just bought this Kidde CO detector.
I have had one in every rv I have had. Reading this thread made me realize I hadn't bought one for this 5er.

This time I did a little test. I calibrate CO sensors at work, and the bottle of 60 ppm test gas was nearly empty. It was too low to do another calibration, so I put the gas to my new CO detector. It gave me a reading of 57 ppm. That is within the tolerances of the test gas so it was good enough for me.

To the OP, as others have said, you CAN NOT smell CO.

[OleManOleCan]

enblethen wrote:
Chemical odors in the new rig from items like the carpet.
Rig needs to get aired out good. Open vents, windows and put fan inside to circulate the air.

I had that happen to me camping about 6-8 years ago.
**** alarm went off at 0200 (AM)
I finally stopped it by cutting off gas, and then cutting the detector out of the
circuit. Next day I drove about 50 miles and got it fixed.
It wasn't the Propane, It wasn't a bad detector,
it was a new carpet runner that the back was impregnated with glue...
Costly lesson.

[CA_STORM]

Snomas wrote:

newman fulltimer wrote:
Your floor is heating up releasing off gasses from the glues is the issue

I smell co2 not glue!

You can not smell CO2. It is an odorless gas. You are smelling offgassing from the materials used to build the TT

[GrandpaKip]

Sorry, I can’t help it. Retired Science teacher syndrome.
CO2 is carbon dioxide, not particularly dangerous except to the climate.
CO is carbon monoxide, very bad to breathe.
Have you tried a stand alone CO detector to make sure that’s what is triggering the alarm?

[Snomas]

opnspaces wrote:
I guess the real question you need to be concerned about is do you smell actual combustion; Or is the smell the oils from manufacturing that will burn off after a few hours? All new RV's will stink for a few hours when the propane appliances are first fired up. If you think the water heater is bad, wait until you turn on the furnace. That will stink enough to drive you out of the trailer.

When mine was new I opened all the windows and turned the thermostat all the way high and let the furnace run for a few hours. The smell was bad, but it dissipated and never came back.

I did this after my smoke alarm went off. Now its the CO2 alarm which is adjacent to the water heater

[wiskeyVI]

Some kitchen cleaners set them off

[VTLee]

If the hot water heater burner is not adjusted properly it will put out enough carbon monoxide to set off the alarm. Take it back to the dealer and have them adjust it.

[GrandpaKip]

RV daytrader wrote:
CO2 is odorless....you may be smelling something, but its not CO2.

CO is actually colorless, tasteless, AND odorless. Because it cannot be noticed without a detector or meter, CO has earned the dubious name of “silent killer.” When folks call and say they can “smell carbon monoxide,” they are usually referring to other combustion byproducts that the human nose can detect.

This is so. You cannot smell CO (carbon monoxide).
When you blew into it, you lowered the concentration of CO, if that is the real culprit.
I’d get a stand alone CO detector and see if it goes off with the built in one.

[opnspaces]

I guess the real question you need to be concerned about is do you smell actual combustion; Or is the smell the oils from manufacturing that will burn off after a few hours? All new RV's will stink for a few hours when the propane appliances are first fired up. If you think the water heater is bad, wait until you turn on the furnace. That will stink enough to drive you out of the trailer.

When mine was new I opened all the windows and turned the thermostat all the way high and let the furnace run for a few hours. The smell was bad, but it dissipated and never came back.

[RV_daytrader]

CO2 is odorless....you may be smelling something, but its not CO2.

CO is actually colorless, tasteless, AND odorless. Because it cannot be noticed without a detector or meter, CO has earned the dubious name of “silent killer.” When folks call and say they can “smell carbon monoxide,” they are usually referring to other combustion byproducts that the human nose can detect.

[Snomas]

vermilye wrote:
It could actually be CO setting off the alarm. I had the same problem when wind was blowing against the side of the trailer where the water heater was located. There was a small opening around the propane connection and the wiring going into the trailer. Sealed it with duct seal and the problem went away.

Most likely the problem. They slap these TT to get Her!