carbon monoxide?

[steve hayes]

We have mounted ours quite low down (about two feet off the floor) on both of our boats and have had an alarm on each boat.

 

In the first instance it was a gas leak and in the second it was trigged by the oven failing to light, gas again.

 

We have had a CO alarm once when the stove fumes were being blown back into the boat.

[frangar]

Just to say our Fire Angel CO detector goes off when the batteries are on charge, we have a mid engine room with about 600Ah of batteries and when being charged by the victron charger it causes the display to show a level of CO and eventually the alarm to sound...the batteries (Trojan) are in good condition and the voltage on the charge cycle is per Trojans recommendation but without a major redesign of the engine room it would be difficult to seal them so they only vented outside...Our surveyor was happy with them for the BSC. Im guessing that the CO detectors sense hydrogen as well...any further ideas welcome....we did think of moving the detector but when you read the instructions for the detector you dont get left with many options on a boat!!

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[dor]

My CO detector went off a couple of days ago, showing a peak reading of 380.

 

The problem was the solid fuel stove - a Stovax Brunel 1A. Like many stoves it has a baffle plate at the top, and this gradually accumulates a pile of soot and ash which eventually blocks the flue. This was the cause. Usually I know when it is getting blocked as smoke starts to puff out of the top vent (unlike the Squirrel say, the top vent doesn't close completely), but this time I only noticed a few small puffs of smoke after the alarm went off.

 

After removing the baffle plate and cleaning it all up it is now fine. Incidentally, I would not buy another Stovax stove as it is a real pain getting the baffle plate out, requiring the fire bricks to be removes which are then very prone to breaking when putting back - the Squirrel I had previously was much easier to deal with.

[Chris Williams]

Hi - two thoughts.

Do you have any other boats near you that could be causing the problem? Can't remember the figure but a high percentage of CO can come from boats around you.

Do you have any batteries near to the CO detector? I have known the hydrogen that comes of the batteries to set CO detectors of. Especially over night when you have all the doors shut.

 

You seem to have tested it. Have no idea of your location but I can test it properly for you if you like.

 

Regards Chris Williams.

[Ally]

right...we've solved it......thank you all for your thoughts!

 

In the end, it was a battery gassing it's little heart out. Only been in use less than a year...since about last August, and in the mid engine area, so about 24' away from the alarm, and 2 doors between! Sensative little alarm eh?

We now have both sat side by side and not a flicker from '0' on either.

 

We walked one into by the batteries one night and it went mad, and checking the battery....we understood why!

So....end of one bad battery and one mystery solved.....

also a big cheer for fire angels with brilliant customer service, and everyone who offered suggestions!