T&T: Fw: CO Detector was Portable Space Heater

[Larry N. Brown]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keith" <keith at anastasia3.com>
To: "Trawlers-samurai" <trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com>
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 5:44 AM
Subject: Re: T&T: CO Detector was Portable Space Heater


> Sorry to hear that... false alarms are almost worse than no alarm. The 
> first
> thing I think of is the age of the boat, or have you had any fiberglass 
> work
> done lately? New boats off-gas something that really messes up CO 
> detectors,
> and there's nothing you can do about it. I bought my previous boat brand
> new, and had them change out the (marine) CO detectors three times over 
> the
> first year. Finally just had to disconnect the power and go to a home 
> style
> unit.
>
> Off-gassing from batteries can set them off as well, if they are either 
> low
> on water or overcharging. I also think one listmember even set his off 
> while
> pickling cabbage! Most of the time, they're reliable, but there are things
> that can set them off, including CO coming from a boat nearby.
>
> If none of these apply, I'd call the factory and talk with them about it,
> hopefully they can help. As far as the mounting, a little piece of
> double-sided foam mounting tape or a dab of silicone will fix that.
>
> Anybody else having problems with this unit?
>
>
> Keith

I've had two of these units aboard for 2 1/2 years and yes, they are 
sensitive. I also have two Kiddee fire/smoke CO detectors which are 
considerably less sensitive. I'm the guy that had one fire off because of 
fermenting cabbage relish. Read around 26 ppm in the vicinity. I've had a 
few other false alarms but not bad.

One of the nice things about the unit is that it's computerized and if the 
source of CO goes away, the unit doesn't just switch off. It maintains a 
number on the screen analagous to the CO buildup in your body, only dropping 
as your body would wick off the gass.

Regards,

Larry and Teri
M/V Cigano, 47' Prairie Sundeck Cruiser
Lying: At anchor in Wolf Bay, AL
N 30 20
W 87 35