Charles Skinner Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 What causes the CO detector to go off during the night? What is CO? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarome Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 That would be your carbon monoxide detector. If you are running your furnace or other fuel based heater or stove then it may be indicating that you do not have adequate ventilation, or you have a leak/blockage issue going on. Additional information about what might be running in your rig at the time would be helpful. The other possibility might be that during your normal daily power consumption, your battery may be running low... or be detecting low voltage when your furnace kicks over. IOW, it could be indicating a number of different scenarios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Greg Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 As mentioned make sure the power to the CO detector is good and they need replacement in 5 to 8 years. Check the date on yours as they have a defined life span. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 CO is an odorless gas that is usually created by some form of combustion and which is the #1 cause of poisoning in the US today. It isn't a case of good/bad but can start to cause damage well before it becomes fatal. It is extremely dangerous. CO detectors do have a limited lifespan and so can & do fail or alarm sporadically. Weak batteries are the #1 cause of false alarms, dirty detectors can also, depending upon which type of alarm yours happens to be. There are also some solvents which can cause false alarms, but it is very important to be sure that the alarm is false as the damage done by exposure to CO can be permanent and cumulative. If in doubt, go out and buy a new one to see what it does to compare as this is a risk that is not to be fooled with. I suggest that you do some reading about these devices before you go much farther. I suggest "Explain Stuff" to understand the ways that the detectors work and "Safe Links" for an explanation of possible false alarms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redcrzr Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 More importantly, make sure your not sleeping in a RV with elevated levels of CO. Many people have died from this & it's nothing to take lightly. As others have said, it could be a faulty CO detector or a slight elevation of CO. I wouldn't sleep in there until I found out what it is. Todd Kirk got there just ahead of me so if I repeated anything I apologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill B Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 Also, many of the newer ones are coming with a digital indicator of the amount of CO. This is what I also looked for when we replaced ours. Actually, CO is bad enough that I replace every 4 years, sort of. I have 2 and alternate replacement on a 4 year schedule. The new ones anyway, have an internal timer that starts chirping when replacement is timed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathydavidb Posted January 7, 2015 Report Share Posted January 7, 2015 Mine started chirping at odd times for no apparent reason. I looked on the label and it stated that it would do just that if it was more than 5 yrs. old. Mine was 6 yrs. so I replaced it. Good to go now with a new reliable unit. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.