Club 80-90 Forums

Hello....

I have just searched but did not find an answer to the question of ... What gas meter is best? As we leave the fridge and gas turned on through the night it would be nice to know if we ever had a gas leak! We saw one today at a caravan shop but they did not seem to know much about it

Any ideas or thoughts would be great

Thanks in advance.

try searching for 'gas detector' (I'm assuming that's what you mean)

CO is the one! tasteless, oderless, colourless but smoke could also be an issue in the confined interior of a camper. This CO/Smoke detector gives you protection from both.

http://www.safelincs.co.uk/Combination- ... /?fdb=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PS mount it low.....CO is heavy and creeps low to the floor.

Martin

Red Westie wrote:
PS mount it low.....CO is heavy and creeps low to the floor.

''Mount it low'' - That's not what the CO detector maufacturers will tell you!

CO is heavier than air BUT! it is a product of incomplete combustion & is normally found mixed with hot air which rises before it eventually cools & falls to floor level. The detector manufacturers tell customers to fit them away from a hob/grill or heater outlet & higher than any opening doors & windows.

I've seen several 80-90ers vans where the CO detector is fitted right next to the propex heater outlet but that is not the correct location. Always follow the manufacturers instructions.

having suffered carbon monoxide poisoning a few years ago (working in a confined space with a petrol engine running) my advice would be buy small co detector (portable)and put it near the head end of the bed overnight dont forget to take it into fresh air to calibrate to zero every time, smoke detector b+q £5.

I stand corrected just follow the manufacturers instruction leaflet.
My point was....mounted well above the bed the CO detector would be unable to detect the gas a couple of feet above the floor (bed height)
I think the manufacturer will know best, follow their guide.
Martin

thanks for the replies

does anyone actually have one of these in their vans? or am i just being OTT with needing one? If anyone has one where have they mounted theirs?

thanks in advance

No I haven't but I can see some feel the need and that's their choice.
The way I figure it:
The fridge has it's own vent and besides that, uses a relatively small flame in the refridgeration process, not enough to consume all the air in the van (we have a poptop so a certain aount of air enters the van through the porous canvas.
An Eber or Propex heater is a different story and has the potential to consume a fair bit of oxygen whilst giving off fumes and creating CO. For this reason we conciously never use our Eber once in bed so hence don't feel the need for a detector.
Martin

Red Westie wrote: An Eber or Propex heater is a different story and has the potential to consume a fair bit of oxygen whilst giving off fumes and creating CO.

Apart from the early X1 Hot Box, Propex Heaters are ''room sealed'' ie. they use air from outside the van for combustion & then the exhaust gases are expelled directly outside the van. A heat exchanger is used to heat cold air from the van interior which is heated & then returned to the van interior. Therefore the occurence of CO in the van interior should not be a problem with the later Propex heaters. The X1 is only found in pre 1986(ish) vans. The flexible exhaust hose should be checked regularly for small holes or splits etc.

I Have a Gas detector in the van but if I have the fridge or Truma on during the night I always open on of the sliding windows a inch or so.

I work on the theory that the heat loss through the window (compared to all the glass in the van) would be minimal, but it just allows a through vent of air.

Cheers

ttcharlie

Thanks for the feed back guys. Once I get the eber in and running I think then a CO2 meter will be needed. As we always have a window open and the pop top up i think for now we should be ok.

thanks a lot for the help.

Joe

Bowton Lad wrote:

Red Westie wrote: An Eber or Propex heater is a different story and has the potential to consume a fair bit of oxygen whilst giving off fumes and creating CO.

Apart from the early X1 Hot Box, Propex Heaters are ''room sealed'' ie. they use air from outside the van for combustion & then the exhaust gases are expelled directly outside the van. A heat exchanger is used to heat cold air from the van interior which is heated & then returned to the van interior. Therefore the occurence of CO in the van interior should not be a problem with the later Propex heaters. The X1 is only found in pre 1986(ish) vans. The flexible exhaust hose should be checked regularly for small holes or splits etc.

As stated the air it heats for inside is from inside the air it uses to burn and exhaust are all outside!!!! The biggest problem is idiots leaving the hob on for heat that will do you in!

jamesc76 wrote:The biggest problem is idiots leaving the hob on for heat that will do you in!

Like the man say's ^^^^

Fridge can be dangerous too. The heat flame will put out enough CO to make you very sick... and remember, CO is odorless and tasteless.... although the odor of burnt gas is still there. I know of 2 cases of families using gas fridges in their homes ending up in hospital because of fridge flame back-drafting gas into house, but these were very old fridges.

On another note, ebers use outside for burn and inside air for heat is true, but if heat exchanger cracks there is the potential for CO getting into heated air. I woke up one morning with a killer headache as a result of this happening to a forced air furnace in a house... and I did smell burnt gas odor. Was kinda bad off for a few hours but at least I am alive.

lloyd wrote: On another note, ebers use outside for burn and inside air for heat is true, but if heat exchanger cracks there is the potential for CO getting into heated air.

Both Propex and Eberspachers pass inside air over the exterior of the combustion chamber casing to heat it up.

Ian.