co Alarm

[Acorn2]

Hi i have an alarm that i bought last year , it has been fine up untill now. it keeps going off. we don't have any dodgy appliances. we had a gas leak but that was sorted last week. we dont have a water heater heated through gas, we have an eberspacher and we havn't had the fire on. could it have developed a fault. can anyone advise on what i can do i dont want to take the batteries out in cases there is soe sort of a leak.

[AlanJ]

Could it be that the battery needs to be replaced?

The only way they can tell you there is a problem is to "go off"

[paulcatchpole]

This is the reason I bought a CO detector with a little display that tells you how much CO it's detecting...

 

I paid a bit over 20ukp a year ago from B+Q and then went back the other week to get one for my parents, which cost about the same, very similar but square rather than round...

 

PC

[magnetman]

They do chirp about once a minute if the battery needs replacing.

Edited August 2, 2008 by magnetman

[NB Phoenix]

Has anybody been running there engine near you? This may account for a build up of CO inside your boat. How about removing the alarm to outside for a few hours to allow the sensor to become stable, if it still keeps sounding outside I would suggest the unit is faulty. If however it remains silent, return it back inside the boat, if it operates again it is working correctly and warning you. If this is the case you will need to ventilate the boat, open all the doors, windows and hatches and get as much air moving through the boat as possible.

 

My eberspatcher once set my CO alarm on a cool, still but humid evening towards the end of April (perhaps similar to the conditions we have today) and it took a few hours for the fumes to clear.

 

CO is nasty stuff so be very cautious of sleeping on board if the alarm continues to sound. The effects of exposure are also accumulative; so long exposure to low levels is just as dangerous as shorter contacts with high. Most CO alarms work on this principle. i.e. on a time / level basis. Low levels of CO registered for a long time will cause an alarm, as will high levels over a shorter period.

[Acorn2]

Has anybody been running there engine near you? This may account for a build up of CO inside your boat. How about removing the alarm to outside for a few hours to allow the sensor to become stable, if it still keeps sounding outside I would suggest the unit is faulty. If however it remains silent, return it back inside the boat, if it operates again it is working correctly and warning you. If this is the case you will need to ventilate the boat, open all the doors, windows and hatches and get as much air moving through the boat as possible.

 

My eberspatcher once set my CO alarm on a cool, still but humid evening towards the end of April (perhaps similar to the conditions we have today) and it took a few hours for the fumes to clear.

 

CO is nasty stuff so be very cautious of sleeping on board if the alarm continues to sound. The effects of exposure are also accumulative; so long exposure to low levels is just as dangerous as shorter contacts with high. Most CO alarms work on this principle. i.e. on a time / level basis. Low levels of CO registered for a long time will cause an alarm, as will high levels over a shorter period.

 

 

Baterys hve been changed and it stil goes off,no engines working near our boat cant work out why its going off. but when it does i open the hatch and the doors. after the boat has ventilated i leave the hatch ajar.

 

i will try the alarm outside to see if it goes off or not so i can tell whether or not it is faulty.

[carlt]

but Lidl have CO alarms in (non-display type) for £9.99 atm.

[ITAfloat]

Baterys hve been changed and it stil goes off,no engines working near our boat cant work out why its going off. but when it does i open the hatch and the doors. after the boat has ventilated i leave the hatch ajar.

 

i will try the alarm outside to see if it goes off or not so i can tell whether or not it is faulty.

 

Not smoldering electrics? Some insulation giving off fumes? Has it only started since the hot weather? You could try moving the alarm around the boat for a few hours at a time? Sorry, no answers, just thinking aloud.

[Biggles]

Not smoldering electrics? Some insulation giving off fumes? Has it only started since the hot weather? You could try moving the alarm around the boat for a few hours at a time? Sorry, no answers, just thinking aloud.

 

 

Tescos have them, can't comment on the price. My guess is they are fairly well regulated so about the same everywhere. Mine is a Fireangle with a digital readout. Personally I wouldn't use one without a display as it tells you in real time and in past time the levels.

 

Mine has only ever gone off once. I have a LPG room heater with a CAT. I once set it on low and went to bed. About 3 hours later it went BALLISTIC. Certainly woke me up. Seems the gas fire's CAT works better when it is running on high. The alarm went off at a low level, which was essentially harmless for the exposure time. Anyone with gas on their boat MUST have one.

 

All forms of hydrocarbon combustion will result in CO production. Unless your boat is 100% electric (cooking & heating) GET ONE NOW.

 

Biggles

Edited August 3, 2008 by Biggles

[nigel carton]

Hi,

 

Just throw it in the bin and get a new one.

 

Nigel

[bottle]

Hi,

 

Just throw it in the bin and get a new one.

 

Nigel

 

Agreed. almost , keep the old one, if the new one proves it (the old one) is of no use then throw it (the old one) away.

[WJM]

This is your life you are risking. I wouldnt have only one CO2 alarm in the first place, I always have two of totally different makes and designs. Go out and get yourself another one. If they both tell you you have a CO2 problem then you better believe it!

[magnetman]

You can get little stickers which change colour if there is a CO problem but I don't know if they are much good.

 

Two alarms would be sensible, but a digital display type which can be tested (like running the generator and putting the sensor near it) to prove it works is good.

 

My CO monitor goes up to around 30 parts per million sometimes when the generator is running and the wind is blowing the fumes through the door vents.

it won't sound the alarm unless that condition exists for some time or the level rises but it does visibly show that there may be a problem by displaying the ppm so that before it starts making a terrible noise things can be done like opening doors and you can watch the level drop. I want to take mine and sit on a bridge over the M25 and see what it does...

[Rob@BSSOffice]

You can get little stickers which change colour if there is a CO problem but I don't know if they are much good.

 

Two alarms would be sensible, but a digital display type which can be tested (like running the generator and putting the sensor near it) to prove it works is good.

 

My CO monitor goes up to around 30 parts per million sometimes when the generator is running and the wind is blowing the fumes through the door vents.

it won't sound the alarm unless that condition exists for some time or the level rises but it does visibly show that there may be a problem by displaying the ppm so that before it starts making a terrible noise things can be done like opening doors and you can watch the level drop. I want to take mine and sit on a bridge over the M25 and see what it does...

 

We cannot recommend the spot detectors as the most crucial time to be alerted of danger is when you are asleep or feeling very dozy (perhaps with the effect of CO).

 

It may also be of interest that the Worl Health Organisation and other similar bodies are looking into chronic exposure to CO and other air pollutants.

 

Throwing this into search engines will show some serious reasearch work has and is being carried carried out on this matter.

 

Regards

Rob@BSS Office

[Acorn2]

We cannot recommend the spot detectors as the most crucial time to be alerted of danger is when you are asleep or feeling very dozy (perhaps with the effect of CO).

 

It may also be of interest that the Worl Health Organisation and other similar bodies are looking into chronic exposure to CO and other air pollutants.

 

Throwing this into search engines will show some serious reasearch work has and is being carried carried out on this matter.

 

Regards

Rob@BSS Office

 

 

Hi me again. no answers from me as we were at the boat. home now!

 

we borrowed a freinds and he borrowed ours his ent off at 2 am just the same time that ours went off on our boat. ours did not go off on his.

 

so we put the eberspacher on and put the alarm where the exhaust was for around half hour.. no sounds.

 

we didnt use the gas that day at all so some time in the week the friend who is down at his boat for a few days is going to put gas on and leave it on and come back in half hour see if its going off he is putting the alarm on the floor so that before it rises which seems to take quite a few hours he might get a sound. but personally i think its the oven not burning right. having the pipe renewd this week so we will see if its acting up after that too.

 

 

 

if it does go off while we are asleep next week we will do what we did the first time it went off open galley doors and leave em open all night that should sort it till we find the problem.. if anyone else can think of any other reason or where to test i would be gratefull. wife is going off her head. as she can't sleep for it.

 

no wires burning no exhaust fumes so got to be the gas oven .. god my luck lasat time it waa bloody gas leak. but why didnt he pick up some sort of problem if its the oven surely he would have know. make me wonder..

 

the saftety cert on this boat was 2006. not naming any names but he missed an awful lot of stuff on this boat before we bought it. gas pipe out of date vents have two finger holes in them and no ventils in the stern door in the bedroom that goes out to the stern and none in the ceiling, only pigeon box hole thingy..

 

keep u all updated

thanks

[Alastair]

Ventilation is advisory, so you might have a BSC and inadequate ventilation.

 

 

Erm, CO rises, so putting the detector on the floor is useless, you could be dead before it goes off. That's why the instructions say to mount them fairly high in a room (but not right up in a corner).

 

Please please please do yourselves a favour and sort out the problem, get the ventilation sorted first, then tell us where you are; maybe someone knows a plumber who can look at your cooker.

 

You've done the right thing trying a friend's detector; it went off, so you know you have a problem. Get it fixed before you are dead.

[carlt]

Erm, CO rises, so putting the detector on the floor is useless, you could be dead before it goes off. That's why the instructions say to mount them fairly high in a room (but not right up in a corner).

CO is only 3% lighter than air so it is unlikely that this difference would cause it to rise, rather than just diffuse.

 

But where the CO will go is affected by the exhaust gases of the fuel used.

 

Some fuels produce lots of H2O, in their exhaust, which is light and so will tend to rise, others produce lots of CO2, which will sink. The CO will do what the exhaust mixture does.

 

That said, I'd mount the detector high up, out of reach of the brats, and near the source.

Edited August 12, 2008 by carlt

[dor]

CO is only 3% lighter than air so it is unlikely that this difference would cause it to rise, rather than just diffuse.

 

As Carl says, CO is almost ther same density as air, so will not in itself rise. However as CO is usually the result of combustion it will usually be warm. It will therefore rise, along with the air it is mixed with, and this is why it is advisable to mount them high up.

[Dominic M]

This is your life you are risking. I wouldnt have only one CO2 alarm in the first place, I always have two of totally different makes and designs. Go out and get yourself another one. If they both tell you you have a CO2 problem then you better believe it!

 

They must be permanently going off. Not sure I could live with that racket.

Edited August 12, 2008 by Dominic M

[Biggles]

They must be permanently going off. Not sure I could live with that racket.

 

Yeh OK but you could easily DIE without it. Me + Racket = Live. You + no Racket = Dead.

 

Not a hard one really.

[alan_fincher]

They must be permanently going off. Not sure I could live with that racket.

 

Yeh OK but you could easily DIE without it. Me + Racket = Live. You + no Racket = Dead.

 

Not a hard one really.

I think that Dominic was having a laugh at the expense that the poster had referred (twice) to CO2, (Carbon Dioxide), alarms rather than CO, (Carbon Monoxide) alarms.

 

Carbon dioxide is always present in the atmosphere, so an alarm to detect it would be sounding constantly....

 

That's how I read it, anyway.

 

I don't think he was proposing not having a CO (Carbon Monoxide) alarm....

[GRPCruiserman]

I have one in our caravan, and the old cooker used to set it off when you used the grill or the left burner. There was no apparent fault on the cooker and the cooker was only of 1982 vintage (the age of the caravan) ie the flames were blue etc etc, the only signal as to the prescence of the CO was the detector.

 

Sure enough, if you ventalated after the sounding, the CO detector silenced.

 

I have now replaced the cooker with an old 1960s one (cost me £15!!) and it doesn't even flash a warning, let alone go off, the cooker is working perfectly CO wise. I actually took a second detector with me and got the seller to light both burners, the grill, and the oven and I waved it around all over and it din't even go red, so I knew it was OK when I parted with my £15.

 

In short, had I not had the detector, I, and my family, would have been unknowingly subjected to CO every time we lit the gas, whereas now, I know there is no CO involved.

 

You say you have no faulty appliances, surely the detector (assuming it's OK) is telling you you HAVE a faulty appliance somewhere, and this needs to to be located.

 

My life has been saved once by a smoke detector, and so has my wife's, and you can see smoke!! Beleive what the detector is telling you and don't take chances.

Edited August 17, 2008 by GRPCruiserman

[Major Laugh]

I have one in our caravan, and the old cooker used to set it off when you used the grill or the left burner. There was no apparent fault on the cooker and the cooker was only of 1982 vintage (the age of the caravan) ie the flames were blue etc etc, the only signal as to the prescence of the CO was the detector.

 

Sure enough, if you ventalated after the sounding, the CO detector silenced.

 

I have now replaced the cooker with an old 1960s one (cost me £15!!) and it doesn't even flash a warning, let alone go off, the cooker is working perfectly CO wise. I actually took a second detector with me and got the seller to light both burners, the grill, and the oven and I waved it around all over and it din't even go red, so I knew it was OK when I parted with my £15.

 

In short, had I not had the detector, I, and my family, would have been unknowingly subjected to CO every time we lit the gas, whereas now, I know there is no CO involved.

 

You say you have no faulty appliances, surely the detector (assuming it's OK) is telling you you HAVE a faulty appliance somewhere, and this needs to to be located.

 

My life has been saved once by a smoke detector, and so has my wife's, and you can see smoke!! Beleive what the detector is telling you and don't take chances.

[ditchcrawler]

Can any one recommend a good make of co detector that has proven to be reliable on a boat. I have tried searching the Forum and come up with this thread but it still doesn't recommend a make/model.

Thanks

[alan_fincher]

Kidde KN-COPP-B

 

Has a digital readout, that shows peak level reached (resetable).

 

Ours measures a level, after say the fire is opened and riddled, so it definitely registers.

 

No false alerts, so I can only assume it's doing the job.

 

Also have a Dicon model, but that lacks the readout, so doesn't give the same confidence feel.