CARBON MONOXIDE, PROPANE, AND SMOKE DETECTORS

  Roadtrek installs detectors to protect you inside the Roadtrek from three dangers - carbon monoxide poisoning, a propane gas leak, and fire by detecting smoke.  Two of these detector units are hardwired to your 12 volt DC house battery(ies). One is powered by a common 9 volt DC battery or with the latest technology in detection devices, a 10 year battery built into the unit - and that is the smoke detector.

There are a few things to be aware of with each of these detectors - and also the history of what detectors Roadtrek has used or is currently using.  We will start with that first and then look at the different detectors. Prior to 2012/2013 Roadtrek used an individual carbon monoxide detector and an individual propane detector. Around 2012/2013 Roadtrek started using a combination carbon monoxide detector and propane detector- both functions in one unit. Roadtrek has and still uses an individual smoke detector. 

THE CO DETECTOR

CO (Carbon Monoxide) Detector alarms will go off when CO gas - engine exhaust, gasoline motor exhaust - either from your Roadtrek or your Roadtrek's generator - OR from another motor home that is running its engine or generator closed to your Roadtrek. CO gas will first cause dizziness, then will knock you out, and then without it being cleared, will kill you,  The CO Detector is hardwired to your house 12 volt battery(ies) as a safety precaution - and should never be replaced with a battery run home detector (for this and another reason). How does the gas come in?  It comes in from an open or partially open window, through the vent over your cargo doors for the A/C unit, from an open ceiling fan,  from a leak in your muffler or exhaust pipe, or from another close by RV with those problems. These units last just five years.  When they are about to expire in one month  (they have expiration dates), they will go off intermittently - without any CO present. This is to warn you that the CO detector must be replaced.  In the last month of its life span, it goes off continually - if it has not been replaced - to tell you that you absolutely MUST replace the unit NOW!  If you do not you will not be protected. If you pull the fuse to stop it - it will go off but you are NOT protected!  There is one other reason why these go off when there is no CO present - they monitor the voltage in your house battery(ies) and if the battery voltage is LOW the CO alarm goes off. This is to warn you that with a low house battery(ies) you are NOT PROTECTED from CO poisoning.  The CO Detector comes on with your Roadtrek battery switch and there will be a green light on the front of the detector indicating it is on and working. There is also a push button test button to push in and sound the alarm for you to test that it is working. The other reason why a CO Detector should not be replaced with a home detector but always with an RV CO Detector is that the operating temperature range of the RV CO detector is much wider a range from a home detector - it will work in much higher temperatures and much lower temperatures (the home detectors are made for inside a house where the temperatures are more controlled and not as hot and not as cold as the inside of an RV can get.

CARBON MONOXIDE IS LIGHTER THAN AIR AND FLOATS TO THE CEILING.

For this reason the CO Detector is installed by Roadtrek near the ceiling of the Roadtrek in the rear (usually on the passenger side). 

 

In this photo you are looking up from the bed to the ceiling - the CO Detector is just above the thermostat panel. 

THE PROPANE DETECTOR 

The Propane detector alarm will go off when propane gas is leaking into the inside of the Roadtrek. For many Roadtreks, your stove, your hot water heater, your three way refrigerator, and your furnace use propane gas that is located in a propane tank under the chassis of your Roadtrek. Any break or crack in a propane pipe, pipe joint, pipe connection, the propane tank - or any one of the appliances that use propane can put Propane gas into your Roadtrek.  Propane is EXPLOSIVE.  A propane fire does not go out until all of the propane gas is burned off. Propane fires have been known to burn an RV to its shell. Propane explosions can level a house. You only have to see a propane fire or a propane explosion once - either in person or in a photo or video to know the massive destruction it can cause. THIS is why you have a propane detector to warn you with enough time to get out and away from the RV.  Like the CO Detector, the propane detector has a five year lifespan and it will do the same thing that the CO Detector does. One month before its expiration date it will intermittently go off to warn you to replace it. In the expiration month it will go off constantly telling you that you were warned to replace it and now you MUST replace it NOW. Also it will go off if the house battery(ies) are low voltage. There are a few other things that will set off the propane alarm - any aerosol can sprayed near the propane detector will set off its alarm. Your dog passing gas next to the propane detector will set off the alarm. (I supposed a person doing the same can have the same result.)  The way to test a propane alarm is to use a cigarette gas lighter. Put the lighter next to the propane detector - close to it - and push down the button that releases the gas from the lighter - Do Not flick the wheel on the lighter - you do not want a flame. The propane detector should go off immediately. There is a light on the front of the propane detector to show you it is working. It is still advisable to do a test with a lighter.

 PROPANE IS HEAVIER THAN AIR AND SINKS TO NEAR THE FLOOR 

For this reason Roadtrek installed the individual propane detector near the floor under the bed to the aisle wall of the passenger side floor cabinet.

This is the propane detector that Roadtrek used before 2012/2013. This company has become a one man operation who is making them in his basement - and my experience with him and the replacement I bought from him was a terrible.

 

 

 

This is the Safe-T-Alert Propane Detector that I got to replace the original after the fiasco with the replacement for the original. 

THE COMBINATION CARBON MONOXIDE AND PROPANE DETECTOR

As said in 2012/2013 Roadtrek started using a combined in a single unit propane and CO detector. It does both jobs and protects you from both. Again - a five year life span with the same alarms going off as with the individual unit when it come to the month before its lifespan expires.  I have seen some Roadtrek photos were this is installed about halfway between the floor and ceiling. I asked for a photo of one of the combination detectors in a Roadtrek and this photo was kindly shared by Susan Howell. Here is a photo of the unit in her 2013 190 Popular Chevy chassis Roadtrek. You will see that is is installed near the floor.  Since this is an early year with the "new" combo detector Roadtrek may have moved it higher in later model years. There are videos showing mounting these mid-way. This is not up for debate - where yours is mounted in your Roadtrek is where it should be.  

 

THE SMOKE DETECTOR - FIRE ALARM  

 

The smoke detector that is in your Roadtrek is a regular house smoke detector. It is not hard wired to house battery(ies). It  is either run by a 9 volt DC put in the back battery or with newer replaced smoke detectors it has a 10 year never needs replacing until it dies in 10 years battery. The smoke detector is located in just about the worst place a smoke detector is to be placed -  in the front of the Roadtrek just across the aisle from the stove. If you buy a new smoke detector for your house it will have in its installation instructions that it should not be placed in a kitchen but at least 20 feet from your stove or cooking appliances. Of course, 20 feet in a Roadtrek in any direction is outside Roadtrek. So as a result the smoke detector will go off when you are cooking on the stove using an electric cooking appliance on the kitchen counter, etc.  Contrary to a belief I have heard from some (I say laughing), the smoke detector is not there to tell you that dinner is done cooking when the smoke alarm goes off. 😀

I have to share that we were heating a can of soup on the Roadtrek stove, the smoke detector went off. There was no smoke - just steam and not further than just above the pot. We tried using a two slice toaster on the kitchen counter and the smoke detector went off.  And to get it to go off we had to take if off the wall and take it outside and wave it around and then had to take the batteries out.  Even the ceiling fan exhausting out the invisible smoke did not shut the smoke alarm off.  It is important to have -  it can be funny at times but an electrical short that starts a fire  and it goes off it can save your life and your Roadtrek. But for this reason when it came time to replace the original in my Roadtrek and I found out that in this state stores are only allowed to sell 10 year smoke detectors - and you cannot take the battery out of it if it will not go off (the way you can with a 9 volt battery operated smoke detector alarm - I waited until we were on a trip in the Roadtrek and bought one in Pennsylvania, where both types can be sold, that uses a 9 volt battery.   With the 9 volt battery detectors - just like at home - if you hear it chirping and that does not stop - it needs a new 9 volt battery. And as is advised every New Year's Day - replace the battery in the 9 volt battery smoke detectors. 

REPLACING THE CO DETECTOR AND THE PROPANE DETECTOR

These two articles have been on this site for a long time. One is how to replace the individual CO Detector and the other is how to replace the individual propane detector.  When I replaced each I made some simple modifications to the wiring to make it easy to replace each when the time came again. The modifications make an easy job even easier! 

REPLACING THE CO DETECTOR 

 

REPLACING THE PROPANE DETECTOR 

(The propane alarm article details what went wrong when I tried to use an exact replacement of the original and what I finally had to do with a different one.) 

 

So that is it. Seems simple - is simple!  Obvious to all?  You might think so - but apparently not...