RickS Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Evening Just a quick one hopefully. Went to the boat, put the battery charger on (it's a Mastervolt inverter / charger) and headed off to the dump to get rid of some rubbish. Came back about an hour or so later and the CO alarm was going off. Don't understand why - no engine, diesel heater or stove working so is this a malfunction of the alarm or are the batteries giving off something that is triggering it? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Just now, Rick Savery said: Evening Just a quick one hopefully. Went to the boat, put the battery charger on (it's a Mastervolt inverter / charger) and headed off to the dump to get rid of some rubbish. Came back about an hour or so later and the CO alarm was going off. Don't understand why - no engine, diesel heater or stove working so is this a malfunction of the alarm or are the batteries giving off something that is triggering it? Thanks Classic knackered battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob-M Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 It could be the batteries gassing, others have reported this on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) Make sure you take it off charge to avoid the risk of it exploding. Can you smell bad eggs too? Edited September 8, 2020 by The Happy Nomad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy D'arth Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Hydrogen Sulphide gas from a battery is highly toxic. Ventilate the boat well, dump the duff battery off the boat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sea Dog Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Don't just stop acting if the smell goes away. Hydrogen Sulphide in sufficient concentration to cause bad things to happen to you first wipes out your sense of smell. Can't be too careful... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiscuits Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 1 minute ago, Sea Dog said: Hydrogen Sulphide in sufficient concentration to cause bad things to happen to you Even The Donald hasn't suggested making Sulphuric Acid in your lungs as a good home remedy (yet!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickS Posted September 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 No, no smell of rotten eggs (I know what hydrogen sulphide smells like) - no smell at all in fact. The charger was charging a bank of three batteries so how do you tell if its one or more? Also, even after waving the alarm about outdoors and opening all the doors - the alarm still carried on being alarming outside! Puzzled Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) Alarm out of date or flatish alarm batteries Edited September 8, 2020 by Tony Brooks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Rick Savery said: No, no smell of rotten eggs (I know what hydrogen sulphide smells like) - no smell at all in fact. The charger was charging a bank of three batteries so how do you tell if its one or more? Also, even after waving the alarm about outdoors and opening all the doors - the alarm still carried on being alarming outside! Puzzled A battery with an internal short will normally feel noticeably warmer than the others and may show signs of the case distorting/expanding. The latter bit suggests your alarm is possibly knackered though. Edited September 8, 2020 by The Happy Nomad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUMPY Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Over a certain concentration of gas it is not possible to silence an alarm even if the concentration drops. The knackered battery will be warmer than the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said: A battery with an internal short will normally feel noticeably warmer than the others and may show signs of the case distorting/expanding. The latter bit suggests your alarm is possibly knackered though. Mine acted like the OPs when I did a load of sanding of varnish without protecting the alarm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickS Posted September 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 to be fair (perhaps i should have mentioned this at first - sorry) the alarm was there when i bought the boat so I have no idea how old it, or indeed the smoke alarm, are. That said, I don't want to be complacent about the batteries, so I will have a feel when im back at the boat and see if any of them are getting warm - i don't know how old they are either, maybe i should just replace them en masse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
booke23 Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 AFAIK Carbon Monoxide alarms have a life of 7 years. When you get to 7 years they alarm or beep to tell you. There might be an end of life date on it somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilR Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 5 minutes ago, Rick Savery said: to be fair (perhaps i should have mentioned this at first - sorry) the alarm was there when i bought the boat so I have no idea how old it, or indeed the smoke alarm, are. That said, I don't want to be complacent about the batteries, so I will have a feel when im back at the boat and see if any of them are getting warm - i don't know how old they are either, maybe i should just replace them en masse? If the batteries have been performing OK and not getting hot wouldn't it make more sense to fit a replacement CO alarm and keep an eye on the battery situation? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, Rick Savery said: to be fair (perhaps i should have mentioned this at first - sorry) the alarm was there when i bought the boat so I have no idea how old it, or indeed the smoke alarm, are. That said, I don't want to be complacent about the batteries, so I will have a feel when im back at the boat and see if any of them are getting warm - i don't know how old they are either, maybe i should just replace them en masse? I would say yes. Firstly replace the alarms. (And add another CO alarm too). If you have had the boat much over a couple of years with the batteries that came with then unless they have been treated very carefully they will be due soon anyway if not now. We once killed a full set of std. wet cell batteries in not much over nineteen/twenty months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arthur Marshall Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 My CO alarm went off halfway through a tunnel, which I thought a bit odd. Nothing on. Stuck it on the roof with new batteries and it went off again. Bought some at same time for the house and they're all behaving properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 10 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said: My CO alarm went off halfway through a tunnel, which I thought a bit odd. Nothing on. Stuck it on the roof with new batteries and it went off again. Bought some at same time for the house and they're all behaving properly. I don't think they like damp and cold much so the boat one may have deteriorated faster than the house ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickS Posted September 8, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Ive only just bought the boat so no idea how old the batteries are - I was going to get new alarms at some point anyway, but I think I will do that sooner rather than later. I also think I will get the batteries looked at with a view to replacing them all. Really appreciate, as always, the helpful advice from you all. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 Bought new CO alarms (Part 2 - boat compliant) to comply with the new BSS requirements. Lying in bed, middle of the night and alarm goes off. Leaps out of bed and thinks "no fire lit, no gas cooker or hob switched on, Eberspacher off, nothing CO producing at all. Opened the windows wafted a tea-towel about for a bit, alarm stopped. We decided it was a false alarm and went back to sleep. About an hour later the alarm went off again, so repeated the 'open windows and tea-towel wafting' but to no avail, alarm just kept going. Decided to investigate the engine room, so removed the stairs and went into engine room, no smell but the 'air was warm' the 6x 230Ah batteries are at the front of the engines so had a look and suddenly felt a 'sensation' in my throat (no smell, no 'gas', just a 'taste'). took the covers off the battery holders and felt the batteries. Fine, Fine, Ouch, fine, fine, fine, The 'ouch' one was burning hot, literally burning hot. Switched off battery charger , got spanners and disconnected the battery leads - battery too hot to lift out (they weigh 58kgs each so not easy at the best of times). Eyes running, throat burning put the engine room bilge blowers on to clear the engine room and eventually went back to bed. Next day, looked at the battery and it was extremely distorted with the ends 'blown out' it was almost like a Rugby ball. Battery was still too hot to lift, left it disconnected and removed it (very gently, like an unexploded bomb) the following day. I reckon we were minutes, if not seconds, from having a battery explode. Anyway, battery had developed an internal short. Replaced the battery and 3 months later another one developed an internal short but I caught it during the 'water level checks'. The CO alarms can pick up battery gases (fortunately) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 The time we had this was after a long days cruising. Leaving the boat at the marina I set the combi to 'charge'. It immediately cut off and displayed a battery overheat error. Tried again, same result so decided to investigate. One battery in the bank was visibly and audibly gassing and the casing distorted and hot. By a pure fluke it was the battery that the overheat sensor was attached to. If the overheat sensor had been attached to one of the other batteries I may never have been aware and would have left the bank on charge, potentially for the failed battery to explode. Pulled it from the bank and scrapped the whole bank as they were all the same age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bob Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 56 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said: Bought new CO alarms (Part 2 - boat compliant) to comply with the new BSS requirements. Lying in bed, middle of the night and alarm goes off. Leaps out of bed and thinks "no fire lit, no gas cooker or hob switched on, Eberspacher off, nothing CO producing at all. Opened the windows wafted a tea-towel about for a bit, alarm stopped. We decided it was a false alarm and went back to sleep. About an hour later the alarm went off again, so repeated the 'open windows and tea-towel wafting' but to no avail, alarm just kept going. Decided to investigate the engine room, so removed the stairs and went into engine room, no smell but the 'air was warm' the 6x 230Ah batteries are at the front of the engines so had a look and suddenly felt a 'sensation' in my throat (no smell, no 'gas', just a 'taste'). took the covers off the battery holders and felt the batteries. Fine, Fine, Ouch, fine, fine, fine, The 'ouch' one was burning hot, literally burning hot. Switched off battery charger , got spanners and disconnected the battery leads - battery too hot to lift out (they weigh 58kgs each so not easy at the best of times). Eyes running, throat burning put the engine room bilge blowers on to clear the engine room and eventually went back to bed. Next day, looked at the battery and it was extremely distorted with the ends 'blown out' it was almost like a Rugby ball. Battery was still too hot to lift, left it disconnected and removed it (very gently, like an unexploded bomb) the following day. I reckon we were minutes, if not seconds, from having a battery explode. Anyway, battery had developed an internal short. Replaced the battery and 3 months later another one developed an internal short but I caught it during the 'water level checks'. The CO alarms can pick up battery gases (fortunately) I'd get lithiums! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 18 minutes ago, Dr Bob said: I'd get lithiums! Thanks - you trying to get rid off me ? Far to 'fragile' and 'needy'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBiscuits Posted September 8, 2020 Report Share Posted September 8, 2020 40 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said: Thanks - you trying to get rid off me ? Far to 'fragile' and 'needy'. Dibs on the cat! Err, I mean that LiFePo4 batteries are less likely to explode than Lead Acids, so he's not being cruel. Still called dibs though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Bob Posted September 9, 2020 Report Share Posted September 9, 2020 9 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said: Far to 'fragile' and 'needy'. If you are feeling fragile and needy, we are here to help.! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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