CO sensor

[MSURRATT]

Hi All,

Oliver Elite II Hull #1443 picked up in October.

I just winterize this past weekend and it is setting in my driveway with windows and door shut, came home today with the co sensor under the dinette going off and blinking red. I opened windows, door and put a small fan blowing on it and finally went off after 30-45 minutes and light back to green. I am thinking that the antifreeze fumes caused it to go off. Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks,

Mark

[Steph and Dud B]

Never in 24 years of winterizing various trailers. That's a combination CO and propane detector. Make sure your propane tanks are off.

[MSURRATT]

1 hour ago, MSURRATT said:

Hi All,

Oliver Elite II Hull #1443 picked up in October.

I just winterize this past weekend and it is setting in my driveway with windows and door shut, came home today with the co sensor under the dinette going off and blinking red. I opened windows, door and put a small fan blowing on it and finally went off after 30-45 minutes and light back to green. I am thinking that the antifreeze fumes caused it to go off. Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks,

Mark

I turned the fan off and the sensor alarm eventually goes off again.  

[SeaDawg]

Is propane supply off at the tanks? (As @Steph and Dud B asked)

Dust on sensors isn't dangerous,  but a propane leak is.

Winterizing doesn't set off our co/propane alarm. Something else is going on.

[MSURRATT]

I checked tanks, they are closed. I have a fan blowing on sensor and the green light came back on. I am going to turn fan off and see what happens again.

[ScubaRx]

These detector/sensor units can go bad, sometimes rather quickly. I spoke with another owner a few days ago and he stated that his CO detector had failed and he called the company that makes them for a replacement. Upon installing the new one it failed also. Another call to the company and another replacement to get it sorted out. He said the company was very easy to work with. Give them a call and I'll bet you get a new one right away.

[Steph and Dud B]

The other thing that can make them act strange is low voltage.  Are your batteries charged? 

[MSURRATT]

Sensor did not go off overnight and is still green. Yes, batteries are fully charged so maybe just a freak thing. I did leave the windows open last night. I plan on making in phone call to report, I just want to make sure I don't have a bad sensor and it goes off when on a camping trip later on.

Thanks for all the info!

Mark

[Patriot]

11 hours ago, MSURRATT said:

Hi All,

Oliver Elite II Hull #1443 picked up in October.

I just winterize this past weekend and it is setting in my driveway with windows and door shut, came home today with the co sensor under the dinette going off and blinking red. I opened windows, door and put a small fan blowing on it and finally went off after 30-45 minutes and light back to green. I am thinking that the antifreeze fumes caused it to go off. Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks,

Mark

@MSURRATT

@ScubaRx 👍🏻

Mark,

Our original CO/LP detector in our 2020 LE2 gave up the ghost during our recent trip to CO. I called Oliver and asked what they were now installing and was told they now install the RV Safe CO/LP detector. Rather than wait on shipping from Oliver, I contacted a local RV dealer in Montrose who had plenty of these in stock. So I drove over and picked one up and installed it. All was 💯 fine during the rest of our trip. Two weeks later after arriving home we winterized our Ollie. Right after winterizing our new LP/CO alarm began chirping indicating CO. It would not reset after multiple try’s. So I disconnected it from power supply, reconnected it and it briefly went back to green and normal operation. We left the windows and screen door open to allow fresh air into the cabin area all day. I thought this would help clear the RV antifreeze odor from the cabin. The detector functioned perfectly fine no chirps. We decided ok, we are good. So we closed the windows and the door and within an hour the CO alarm went off again. Note: No low voltage, no odd cleaning chemicals used, LP turned off. 
So I decided it was time to call RV Safe (located in CA) and spoke with a very nice rep named Andrea. She listened to what I had experienced, and I told her that we had just winterized. I asked if these detectors were sensitive to RV Antifreeze? She said that she had recently had one other fiberglass trailer owner experience the same thing with the CO alarm chirping and not resetting.
She promptly sent me a new replacement with a return paid shipping envelope for the one I had installed. The new detector is working fine so far. And I returned the one I purchased in Montrose, CO. As @ScubaRx mentioned these detectors even the new ones can just fail. I agree.

Could a chemical used in RV antifreeze set the CO alarm off? I am not a chemist and won’t pretend to be one. I will defer this question to the experts and let them decide. It sure seems odd that we both have had a very similar experience after winterizing. The new detector is now working fine and have not had any CO alerts. It’s interesting to note the odor level presently of the RV antifreeze is not nearly as strong as when we first winterized and the new replacement is operating as it should. I suggest giving RV Safe customer service rep Andrea a call. Again, she was great to work with and made getting my replacement very seamless. I recieved my replacement in 3 days from CA and we live in Western NC.
 

Please post up and let us know how everything works out.

Patriot🇺🇸

[MAX Burner]

FYI:  After reading @Patriot's post here:

Atwood CO detector  alarmed 

...David's description of the alarm failure during their "Great SW USA Trip" got our attention.  Our sensor has alarmed several times during this past season (usually around Zero-dark- thirty) so we checked the vintage of our 2017 Hull #226's alarm manufacture date.  It  was a 2016 unit (7+ years in service)...  

So, just to play it safe, a few taps on the laptop and Amazon shoots us a new "RV Safe CO/LPG" sensor in a couple days - just like @topgun2 described in one of his posts.  The new unit came with a mfg date of MAY23 - so, entered accordingly into the Casa Blanca logbook!  OBTW: the new sensor is a relatively "cheap date".  

Since we don't winterize - there's no anti-freeze fumes to deal with - but, there have not been any false alarms to report since we installed the new unit in October.  Could there be a chemical reaction happening between fiberglass off-casing, LPG fumes, and/or residual CO from galley usage?  That question's WAY above my pay grade...

However, peace of mind... established, again - for awhile. 🤪

[topgun2]

11 hours ago, Steph and Dud B said:

Never in 24 years of winterizing various trailers. That's a combination CO and propane detector. Make sure your propane tanks are off.

Exactly the same situation with me.  But, as Patriot said, "I am not a chemist and won’t pretend to be one."👌

With a relatively newly winterized Ollie and a new detector, I'm having no problems.

Therefore, my bet is on a "defective" sensor.

But, as Seadawg said - a propane leak is dangerous.  Be careful.

Bill

[MSURRATT]

I plan on making a call to Andrea with Rv Safe, thank you Patriot for your experiences. Sounds like this maybe an issue where having a handheld propane sensor would be a plus. I am going to close all windows and see what happens along with speaking to Andrea. I winterize this past Sunday and the outside temps have been cooler until yesterday, we were around 62 degrees and I hadn't opened up the camper since Sunday. Not sure if the temps with the camper closed up caused the antifreeze to have stronger fumes...but I would rather be safe thank sorry.

Thanks again for everyones input, I will post how this turns out in case this is an issue that may come up with someone else.

Mark

 

[Rivernerd]

1 hour ago, topgun2 said:

But, as Seadawg said - a propane leak is dangerous.  Be careful.

This thread has made me wonder if I should carry my combustible gas detector in our Oliver.  If a CO/LP detector alarms, it would make it easy to quickly verify either (a) the location of any propane leak or (2) the absence of such a propane leak.

That might avoid camping in cold weather with no propane appliances operating for fear of an explosion!

[MSURRATT]

Yes, I am leaning toward making a purchase for a handheld. I think if only for piece if mind at would be worth it.

Mark

[John Dorrer]

18 hours ago, MSURRATT said:

Hi All,

Oliver Elite II Hull #1443 picked up in October.

I just winterize this past weekend and it is setting in my driveway with windows and door shut, came home today with the co sensor under the dinette going off and blinking red. I opened windows, door and put a small fan blowing on it and finally went off after 30-45 minutes and light back to green. I am thinking that the antifreeze fumes caused it to go off. Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks,

Mark

Never had that problem with either RV Antifreeze or DryRid when storing. If you have any kind of air freshener or diodorizer in the trailer they will set it off.

[Patriot]

On 12/1/2023 at 9:03 AM, topgun2 said:

Exactly the same situation with me.  But, as Patriot said, "I am not a chemist and won’t pretend to be one."👌

With a relatively newly winterized Ollie and a new detector, I'm having no problems.

Therefore, my bet is on a "defective" sensor.

But, as Seadawg said - a propane leak is dangerous.  Be careful.

Bill

With this new CO/LP RV Safe detector it’s my experience verified by the instructions and by Andrea at RV that 4 chirps indicate CO. This clearly helps identify which gas is present. I have only previously experienced the CO alarm. All good now.

Here-

• Alarm activates with a four beep pattern with a flashing red LED for CO gas, or a continuous beeping with a solid red LED for Propane gas. If both gases are present, the alarm will indicate propane as it requires more immediate action.

[Gliddenwoods]

On 12/1/2023 at 6:27 AM, Patriot said:

So I decided it was time to call RV Safe (located in CA) and spoke with a very nice rep named Andrea. She listened to what I had experienced, and I told her that we had just winterized. I asked if these detectors were sensitive to RV Antifreeze? She said that she had recently had one other fiberglass trailer owner experience the same thing with the CO alarm chirping and not resetting.

That other owner may have been me. I also worked with the "very nice rep" and a new unit was sent and no problems since. Before during our end-of-the-season trip we had many false alarms. Our old unit still had years before the replacement date. Impressed with RV Safe customer service.