I just bought a brand new Living quarters horse trailer. It has the Atwood furnace in it. I used it for the first time last night and this is what happened.

I turned it on using the wall thermostat and it took a little longer than usual to get going and I was playing with it a bit, but it finally lit right up and off it went. About 6 hrs after I had it on my propane detector in the trailer beeped at me ( It is located right next to the furnace). It went from green to Yellow and Just beeped a few times " Warning". Never went Red, never stayed on. I smelled around and absolutely NO HINT of Propane ( I had a trailer with a faulty Water heater once so I know propane!!!!!)....I went outside and changed over my propane supply tanks to the full one ( I think I ran out of Propane in the tank I was using)..

Turned the Furnace back on and went a few more hours and it worked perfectly. Not a problem. I just talked to the dealer service dept and they said that as long as it did not stay on, sometimes they can give a false alarm and agreed that if my tank was just running out a little Propane may have escaped before the Valve shut it down..... It only took about 5 minutes for it to go back to green.

Has this ever happened to you???? SOund logical??? Thanks!!

 

Both my Atwood furnace and hot water heater will do that ( Bison 3 horse w/LQ). I have alwasy figured it was residue from the airbeing pushed out of the lines when I first charge them..

I have problem with the water heater staying lit, nd it sometimes will put the alarm to yellow when it goes out.

 

I think the alarm is a CO2 detector, not a propane. The CO2 is oderless.

 

Could be, but it does say LP Gas detector.. LOLOL Either way, looks like it;s a bit normal for the time being..

 

i think you mean CO, and my toyhauler has both CO and propane detectors. CO mounts high and propane mounts by the floor.

 

Nope, Just looked. It is the LP detector and it is located very close to the furnace and Near the floor!!! I am hoping it gets cold enough tonight to try it out again...

 

Here's a story................while travelling to California last winter, the cabinet door to my booze locker opened and two bottles of alchohol fell out and broke on the floor (Oopps!!). The liquor soaked into the carpet and set the alarm off. I mopped it all up, but the smell of liquor was so strong inside the trailer that it kept setting the alarm off. For two days I battled that alarm, blowing fans directly on it to shut it off. I have since found a better way to store my hootch, but those alarms are very sensitive.

 

since the gas had already been treated with mercaptan(sp) and you didnt smell anything, then it was either a mess-up from the sensor, or its a CO detector and thats what was going on. when it went off, did you open the door to the trailer and let some fresh air in? im sure everything is ok, but if i were you, i would buy another CO detector (or one if you dont have it already) to use...cheap at walmart or homedepot

brett

 

Just a last thought, you say you switched to a new bottle and the alarm stopped so this shouldn't apply, but... Most LP detectors are also low battery alarms so if your battery/s are lower than 10V the alarm goes off and yes on my TT the light changes from green to yellow and the alarm will sing.

x2 or 3 on a CO detector just to be safe.

Good luck.

 

Those alarms seem to be very sensitive, had a gal freind w/ alarm going off and I took a look for her. Moved her ridin boots away from the alarm and it quit. Boy did we have fun razzin her about her smelly boots.

 

The Co detectors are installed on the ceilings. The LP detectors are installed low near the floor. Co rises, as it's lighter than air. Propane sinks as it is heavier than air. Some propoane detectors are connected to the gas valves and will shut off the bottles when it goes into alarm modes. Those are usually in higher end rv's.

It's installed close to the heater becuase it's the only appliance that brings propane inside the rv. The fridge and wh has it's burners open to the outside of the rv.

It may be that the unit is new and it's getting a false reading from the paint on the heat exchanger burning off. I cleared my false alarms by opening all windws and door, and setting the heater to the hottest setting and walked away and let it make all the noise it wanted to. After about 20 minutes, the paint was burned off and cleared and no more false alarms are happening.

 

Thanks for all the great advice and they all make sense! I stayed out in the trailer the next night and all was well, worked perfectly. I have since talked to LOTS of RV'ers out there and they all say the same thing, just too sensitive! LOLOL So all is well. Thanks again...