Help - propane gas alarm

[WayneG]

Camping in Gettysburg, PA. Temperature dropped to 26 degrees for two nights. Ran furnace one night okay. Second night gas alarm went off at 5am. NO PROPANE ODOR. Shut off heat and hit reset. Red light blinked for a minute or so and than green. I used stove (3 meals) and furnace a few times and everything appeared okay. Can someone comment what may be going on? TT is one year old, battery fully charged and connected to electric at CG.

[Threebutchers]

Actually....most the new alarms are "dual"....CO (Carbon Monoxide) and Gas....so it could be either tripping the alarm if it's working properly

Propane is heavy and drops to the floor....that's why the sensor is low and that's where your nose needs to be when sniffing it out.

Carbon Monoxide is created from combustion. We'd like to believe everything is being vented properly....but....

They (sensors) also don't seem to last very long. If your TT is more than a few years old....you should probably just replace it.

I crack a window and vent when running the heater heavy....we have a small TT

[Tunce the traveler]

They all seam to go off in the middle of the night. I do not use or carry propane, I just use a space heater and I think the products in the trailer " off gas" and make the alarm go off. Now that is just my thought I could be 100% wrong but other than that heater nothing is running. Come to think of it I do a little off gassing myself,maybe I'm on to something .

[Brownie]

I've set mine off spraying mosquito repellant, Mazola No-Stick, spray deodorant, and (I'm told) hair spray will set them off. Dust, dog hair, and even spider webs can trigger a false alarm. When I went to trade in my old trailer on my Eagle, the CO/Propane detector went off when I hooked up the battery, blared away the entire 8 miles to the dealer, and kept going while I was trying to show it to the dealer. I finally pulled the battery ground so we could hear each other talk. They seem to have minds of their own, don't they?

[usmc616]

Last summer I had to replace my propane/ CO sensor assembly. I was told these unit are good for 7 years. My TT is a 2010 but the date on the one I replaced was 2008.

[wwsmith111]

Another possibility: In cold weather O-rings shrink and a little gas may leak around it. Propane sensors tend to be really sensitive. I would not panic and just keep an eye on it. If it does it again look for leaks with a squirt bottle with dish soap and maybe replace the sensor.

[edatlanta]

These detectors aren't very long lived in my opinion. If you have one that goes off for no apparent reason don't bet your life on it. Replace it regardless of the date on it. Mine started going on at 3:00am last summer and I didn't even have the propane turned on at the regulator. I did perform a leak check at the tank(s) and all connections, but this was outside and as I said above the valves were turned off at the time.

I replaced the detector and no more problems. The was my second replacement in 3 years.

[Col3lux]

What was the charge on the battery? If your battery drops below 10.5 volts it will start going off. We had this last winter when the furnace ran all night! Wasn't until we started the gen that it stopped!

[wwsmith111]

Good point Col3lux!

[edatlanta]

Every failure I have had has been when I was on shore power with good charged batteries. I full time so my batteries are fully charged at all times.

[Jack in Alaska]

Mine, CO/Prop. detector, went off last fall after we got set up in the RV prk. Those are irritating SOB's for sure. Bought a new one and pitched the old one, a 2011 model, out. No more problem.

Just beat it to death with $$$$$. Works most of the time and makes life much more pleasant..

[clutch]

Our alarm has gone off several times and each time I have found a knob on a burner not quite in the off position. Sallie now checks the knobs when she wipes down the range.