Carbon monoxide -propane sensor test

N0JRS-M

Advanced Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2020
Posts
44
I own a 2014 Jayflight 19RD. It has a black Atwood propane /carbon monoxide alarm on the base cabinet beside the exterior door. We have owned the trailer since January. The green light has been on during the three times that we have used the trailer. Both of our sons, and their families have used the trailer once. The alarm has never gone off for us. It has happened to both of our sons. Once two nights in a row. Is there a way that the unit can be tested? Would turning on a propane torch close to the unit be a valid test? Also, we leave the trailer plugged in with the propane on stored in the yard. The alarm has never gone off in the yard.The trailer has a second CO alarm above the dinnette that has never gone off. I have smelled in the area under sink and smell no trace of propane. I'm willing to replace the alarm, but I would like to know that the one in the trailer is bad. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or suggestions,
 
It should have a test button on it, that will tell if the sensors are working. If it goes "bad" it generally won't alarm at all, there is generally a reason why they go off.

If it went off while camping, I would mostly suspect low battery, but we boondock (no electric hookup) a lot. I consider mine to also be a low battery alarm because it is very sensitive to a drop in battery voltage.

They can also be sensitive to other aerosols, and apparently to dog dander (a couple of people here have had problems with their dogs laying near the sensor).

You should clean out the sensor window with a good vacuum from time to time.

If your trailer is a 2014 it may be nearing time to replace the alarm; these things max out at about 10 years of useful life. There should be a production date on the back of the unit, and it might have already been a bit old when it was installed if it was held in stock for a while. Replacements are easy to get on Amazon or your local stealership.
 
On my old camper it always went off when the battery was low. Plugged into power it never went off.
 
I tried this on mine and wow is it loud. I took a garbage bag and put it over the exhaust pipe on my car. I started it cold and ran it for only a few seconds inflating the bag. I took the bag and put it over the CO detector and squeezed it a bit to force the exhaust into the detector and set it off.

Hot car exhaust will have very little CO due to the catalytic converter but cold has some.
 
I have also experienced the alarm going off when the battery is low. I also vacuum out the propane /carbon monoxide alarm and smoke alarm. Just as a cover my backside kind of thing, I bought a aftermarket First Alert Carbon Monoxide alarm. It is kind of a smoke alarm size. (Except it does not go off when cooking.) The First Alert has it own battery I change when I dewinterize.
 
We have a 2012 19RD, and had to replace that sensor. The date on the back was 2011, and it reached the end of life at a little over 4 years. It's so close to the door that it'll pick up "smells" from outside, that have nothing to do with what's inside the TT. Like it was said above, the test button will tell you if it's still working, and there's a label on the front that tells you what it does at end of life. We now carry a spare, since they seem to die at 3:00 AM.
 

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