False Propane Alarm

[britdog]

Hi - I have a 2018 Northstar TC650 with an Atwood LPCO_DO CO2/Propane detector.

There have been several instances of it false alarming on propane. Most recently was early this morning and it was the most controlled instance, where I'm certain there is no propane in the camper. Here is the situation:

- Camper has not been used in 2 months.

- Just been sitting in driveway with the exception of me taking it to town on my truck for errands a handful of times in that time. Last time it was driven was a week ago.

- Propane has been firmly shut off at the tank for 2 months.

- The propane tank is brand new, so I know the shut off valve is new.

- Camper has been plugged into my home AC power and we have not had a power outage.

Any ideas?

Thank you,
JD

 

[ardvark]

Most common cause of "false alerts" is a failing detector. If still under warranty you should get a free replacment.

 

[Florida]

Mine goes off if there is smoke in the area, such as driving by a fire.

 

[Beach]

My alarm went off last summer while the camper was closed up. Tracked it down to a bad check valve on a 1 lb propane bottle that was store in the storage area below the couch. Also, I recently replaced the valve on the main propane tank as it was leaking when partially open. Didn't leak when fully open or closed only when partially opened, so soap it up and check for leaks there. Don't assume because the valve is new that it is good.

 

[britdog]

Thank you for your inputs. It went off again yesterday just sitting in the driveway. There's no propane in there. I've disconnected it and will go to Atwood and see if they have any suggestions or will replace it under warranty without having to go thru my dealer service department, which I can't stand.

 

[ardvark]

My alarm went off last summer while the camper was closed up. Tracked it down to a bad check valve on a 1 lb propane bottle that was store in the storage area below the couch. Also, I recently replaced the valve on the main propane tank as it was leaking when partially open. Didn't leak when fully open or closed only when partially opened, so soap it up and check for leaks there. Don't assume because the valve is new that it is good.

The main valves on propane tanks are not designed to seal in any position except fully closed or open. When in use the valve should be in one or the other of those positions.

 

[ardvark]

Thank you for your inputs. It went off again yesterday just sitting in the driveway. There's no propane in there. I've disconnected it and will go to Atwood and see if they have any suggestions or will replace it under warranty without having to go thru my dealer service department, which I can't stand.

When the propane detector died in my truck camper it would be fine for days and then I would go out to the camper and find it sounding an alert. Totally unpredictable but quickly solved with a new detector. If the alert is sounding randomly, it can be difficult to tease out. Same problem with customers campers so I never second quessed and just went ahead and replaced them. Dealers miss faulty detectors a lot because the first thing owners do when a detector starts sounding off randomly is to pull the fuse to the detector. Once they are quieted it was out of sight out of mind. Not a good thing.

 

[Myfotos]

You may just want to pull the cover off and use a can of air or compressor to clear out any dust. That seems to have worked for mine.

 

[britdog]

Thanks for your reply. I ended up having it replaced and haven't had the problem since.

 

[Markgyver]

I bought one of these recently seem pretty accurate. Might be worth trying all the hose connections.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/General-Tools-Instruments-Analog-Multimeter/3136879