CO Alarm?

[Gervie]

Twice in the last week I have arrived at the boat and the CO alarm is shrieking. I have to eliminate power then turn the power back on and the alarm stops. There is nothing running on or near the boat that produces CO. The unit is a Fireboy CO Sentinel and it is the one located by the power/breaker station in the salon.

Does anyone have any ideas on what's going on? It is a pretty new unit to be going bad. :smt100

 

[Dave S]

What you might want to do is get yourself an inexpensive battery powered CO alarm that has a digital readout such as this one http://www.kidde.com/utcfs/ws-384/Assets/900-0146 Sheet.pdf

They are less than 30 bucks at places like Wal Mart. Then at least you can see what the CO reading is. It's possible (or so I have been told) for the outgassing of vapors from a boats cabin materials to be the cause of the problem. At least you should be able to tell whether there is a critical CO level or whether your CO unit should be replaced. BTW......... I use the portable at the helm when I am running with the camper canvas up. It does a good job of monitoring the CO levels up there before they become critical.

 

[Shining]

What you might want to do is get yourself an inexpensive battery powered CO alarm that has a digital readout such as this onehttp://www.kidde.com/utcfs/ws-384/Assets/900-0146%20Sheet.pdf

Link no work :smt024

 

[Dave S]

What you might want to do is get yourself an inexpensive battery powered CO alarm that has a digital readout such as this onehttp://www.kidde.com/utcfs/ws-384/Assets/900-0146%20Sheet.pdf

Link no work :smt024

Fixed......sorry.

 

[fwebster]

Yes..........

Your batteries are gassing off fumes as they sit there on charge and CO detectors are very sensitive to battery fumes. This is usually a sign of either failing batteries or one or more that is low on water.

It doesn't matter who's, what type or how many CO detectors you have, you will be dealing with the noise until you fix the battery issue.

 

[estebanj]

Another source of CO alarms beeping is a low battery or low voltage feed to the CO detector (assuming of course a hard wired 12v detector).

On my boat I have both the hard wired 12v and a 9v battery operated one as backup. I chose the one with a LCD display so I get comfort from seeing a zero on the display.

Esteban

 

[Gervie]

Thanks all for your ideas. I think the problem must be the batteries as Frank said. I keep the batteries topped off with distilled water but I haven't checked them since launch. If they are full I can only think they must be getting tired. I'll look into it today.

 

[Robski97]

Gervie ,
Just had 2 of my 3 co2 detectors replaced under warrty... one would just go off usually in the middle of the nite ... the other one when tested wouldnt shut off... Hawk makes a nice digital reading plug in CO2 detector . I have that for a plan b

Rob

 

[Gervie]

Wow Rob. Your boat is newer than mine. Do you know how they tested them?

 

[Four Suns]

I also had to replace the CO detector in my salon area when the boat was 1 year old. Would go off in the middle of the night for no apparent reason (gen not running either). Never thought of the battery issue but the new one has been trouble free.

 

[280 SeaRay]

I did notice that the factory has a recertification program ($25) that replaces the sensor and checks the unit for proper function. It does not mention how often to do this but extends warranty by 12 months.... so I am thinking they may suggesting having the unit checked every 12 months.... not sure if this would contribute to the issue you have experienced or not.

http://www.fireboy-xintex.com/manuals/CMD4MR.pdf

page 12

good luck!!

 

[Robski97]

They didnt test it the one that goes off in the middle of the night they just replaced it . The salon one ,u push the test button and it never turns off......


Both under warrty


Rob

 

[estebanj]

There is also a CO troubleshooting guide for the CMD-4MR.

http://www.fireboy-xintex.com/manuals/COtroubleshooting.pdf

Esteban

 

[Gervie]

The Technical Bulletin was really interesting. It states that after power is applied continuously for 72 hours, the unit will clean itself of contaminants. This may explain why I am not getting alarms anymore. It also said that during the 72 hour period the unit is ultra sensitive.

My batteries seem to be OK but I am going to keep watching them for signs of degradation.

Thanks to all for the valuable information.

 

[Gervie]

Just a follow-up comment. There have been no alarms since the 72 hour period. I am still curious why only one of the three CO devices decided to go off but I don't plan to do anything more other than keep an eye on things.