Electric hook-up & carbon monoxide alarm

[Duckman]

Hi everyone. I'm wondering if anyone has had this problem. We have a carbon monoxide alarm in the van (it's a Corgi or gas safe approved unit and is not wired into the van). Last time we went away, we had electric hook-up and were not running the gas at all. About 5.30am, we had a rather rude wake up call due to the carbon monoxide alarm going off even though the side window was slightly open. It happened again when we had been out for the afternoon and returned to find the alarm going bonkers. Again, the gas was switched off. This is the second occasion that this has happened. However we have has a couple of trips where we have not had electric hook-up and the gas has been running for the fridge and the alarm has not gone off. Any ideas or help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[Oldiebut goodie]

Someone running a heater with its exhaust venting in the direction of your van?

[Wychall]

Fuming from the auxilary battery which charges when on hookup?

[Duckman]

Thanks for the replies - much appreciated.

There was no heating being run at all but I'm now wondering if this is indeed something to do with the Leisure Battery. Our last one went on us in May - gave us a rude awakening while on holiday in the Lake District with an awful egg smell and then started to fizz so was very quickly removed from the van and decided to live without for the rest of the holiday. We replaced this with a new one (ordered for us from a chandlers and they double-checked that it was suitable for our T25) but this trip did not include any electrical hookups. However, the break where the alarm went crazy did involve electrical hook-up and as I understand this also charges the leisure battery (sorry if I sound a bit unsure but very new to the campervan scene and our tent didn't include leisure batteries, etc).

Does anybody know a way of checking to see if our leisure battery is fuming (apart from using the Carbon Monoxide alarm)?

Many thanks for the help and advice - it's nice to have somewhere to be able to go and ask for advice.

[1664]

A battery gives off hydrogen and oxygen when it's charging not carbon monoxide. If it is a sealed 'no maintenance' battery then no fumes would escape even if it did give off CO.
Egg smell is hydrogen sulphide* so heaven only knows what was going on with your previous battery


* or hydrogen 'sulfide' since the americans bullied the international standards into changing the spelling of sulphur to sulfur back in the nineties; happily they told them to get stuffed with changing aluminium to aluminum

[Wychall]

Are you able to connect a mains hookup whilst at home? If so, I would connect up and see if the alarm activates. If it does, then disconnect the battery and see if it stops the alarm from being activated. I can't comment on the scientifics of whether or not it should happen but this would be my layman's route to identification.

Other than that, perhaps try a different CO monitor to confirm that there is a problem (or not).

[1664]

Other than that, perhaps try a different CO monitor to confirm that there is a problem (or not).

Yeah, my money's on a duff alarm

[Hendrixevo147]

Hi, I am reading your post with great interest as I put my van on mains last night and switched on the zig, I can turn on or off my leisure battery to charge or not, I had it on charge as I was planning on going away this weekend. However when I got up I could hear my carbon monoxide alarm going off and it had a reading of 112. It's only a month or two old and a sealed battery with a life of 7 years (cost £29) I turned it all off and went to work, checked it when I came home and it was reading 0. So I have turned the zig back on and turned off the battery charger part. After an hour it was still reading 0. This leads me to believe it is linked to the leisure battery charging, I don't think it's the battery as it was bought new last year so not old.
Did you get to the bottom of your problem ?
Cheers
Pete

[Ian Hulley]

Carbon monoxide is produced from the partial oxidation of carbon-containing compounds; it forms when there is not enough oxygen to produce carbon dioxide (CO2), such as when operating a stove or an internal combustion engine in an enclosed space.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_mon ... _pollution

If you have a sensor mounted above a working cooker it will automatically alarm ... although CO is fractionally lighter than air as it cools it has been proven to 'pool' to lower levels with tragic consequences.

The key to CO is ventilation and an alarm.

Ian