CO Alarm goes off for no reason!

Y

Y Knot

New Member
Nov 11, 2007
120
Richmond VA
Boat Info
1995 290 Sundancer
10' inflatable
Engines
two 4.3 V6 TKS 2013 and a 2009 with alpha 1 Gen 2's
I have a CO alarm that will go off at the dock for no reason, usually around 0400:smt013! Nothing is running on or around me. The latest time was last night and when I docked the boat I opened the hatches for at least 4 hours. Any thoughts? I replaced the alarm last year and it does not go off when I'm on the hook...
 
Check your batteries. One or both may be bad causing the alarm fault when they are on the charger when on shore power.
 
You are most welcome Y-Knot! Glad to help you out and I will remember your gratitude the next time that you ask for help since I did see that you have been on the board and looked at the responses.
 
MonacoMike said:
Check you battery water level specifically as it is the most common cause of otherwise inexplicable CO alarms.

MM
Click to expand...

Would that cause an alarm condition when on the hook? I was out a couple of weeks ago, got an alarm ( the detection alarm). Everything had been shut down for an hour or so. There was alot of traffic passing nearby with an absolutely calm no wind evening.

Never really understood why that occurred. Chalked it up to passing traffic. But the CO thing has me worried, going to get another alarm for backup.

thanks
 
FootballFan said:
Would that cause an alarm condition when on the hook? I was out a couple of weeks ago, got an alarm ( the detection alarm). Everything had been shut down for an hour or so. There was alot of traffic passing nearby with an absolutely calm no wind evening.

Never really understood why that occurred. Chalked it up to passing traffic. But the CO thing has me worried, going to get another alarm for backup.

thanks
Click to expand...
Charging batteries will make them release hydrogen, which is cross-sensitive to most CO sensors. Another common cause as mentioned, is low batteries... depending on the model of the sensor, most will detect low battery supply.
 
Batteries give off hydrogen gas, more so when being over-charged or when the tops of the plates are no longer covered by electrolyte. At anchor, if you were not running the generator, I suspect your batteries need water or are old. Hydrogen gas is explosive so this isn't a problem to ignore or to pass off to a guess at the cause.
 
FootballFan said:
Would that cause an alarm condition when on the hook? I was out a couple of weeks ago, got an alarm ( the detection alarm). Everything had been shut down for an hour or so. There was alot of traffic passing nearby with an absolutely calm no wind evening.

Never really understood why that occurred. Chalked it up to passing traffic. But the CO thing has me worried, going to get another alarm for backup.

thanks
Click to expand...
When your at the dock are you on shore power and battery charger on if your charger trickle charges and your have a dead cell it may not be able to top charge. When you run your engines your alternater will put the best charge it can on the battery due to its high charging capacity. So when your on the hook you start with fairly charged batteries and you don't drain your battery below 10 or 11 volts. I had a battery with a bad cell and I would get intermittent co alarms but when I was anchored after running out to my spot it wouldnt start again unless I didn't run my boat for 12 to 18 hours then it would beep for low battery voltage. Just a thought
 
How old is the CO detector? CO detectors do not last as long as smoke detectors. The average life span of a CO detector is about 7 years, give or take a couple.
In 2004, NYC passed a law that all houses and apartments must have CO detectors installed. Well, starting around 2011 the FDNY began getting flooded with 911 calls for CO detector activations. About 95% of them turn out to have no CO present. A quick check on the back of the detector shows a manufactured date of 2004. Time for a new detector.
 
Dealer replaced my CO detector three times before I got them to swap out one of my batteries when boat was 1 month old. Problem solved!
 
Jerrys, didnt mean to offend you...

Thanks for all of your input. My detector is only a year old. The batteries did get low on water this winter. Im replacing the batteries in the morning.
Thanks again
 
Kingsfr said:
How old is the CO detector? CO detectors do not last as long as smoke detectors. The average life span of a CO detector is about 7 years, give or take a couple.
In 2004, NYC passed a law that all houses and apartments must have CO detectors installed. Well, starting around 2011 the FDNY began getting flooded with 911 calls for CO detector activations. About 95% of them turn out to have no CO present. A quick check on the back of the detector shows a manufactured date of 2004. Time for a new detector.
Click to expand...

I recently bought a combination smoke/co detector with additional voice alert. It has a place on the case to record the "replace date" which is 7 years from date of purchase. You see the replace date everytime you push the test button.
 
A battery powered CO sensor with a digital readout and high level recall can be bought for under $50 at Home Depot / Lowes.

I don't like guesses or assumptions with things that can kill me. Wouldn't it be better to know what the problem is?
 
Y Knot said:
Jerrys, didnt mean to offend you...

Thanks for all of your input. My detector is only a year old. The batteries did get low on water this winter. Im replacing the batteries in the morning.
Thanks again
Click to expand...

I was not offended. It is not about me. The purpose of the board is for boaters to help each other. It does not help anyone if you come on the board to ask a question and then do not respond to the answers that you have been given.
 
For my situation, I looked up the codes. My detector is the one that came on the boat. Different alarms for different situations, mine was not a low power alarm, but was the fast beep CO detection.

I will check my batteries this weekend, but I am thinking they are sealed, maybe not.
 
MonacoMike said:
Mitch, I do not think you were diagreeing but wanted it to be clear the alarm is different for low voltage vs. the CO.

MM
Click to expand...

FootballFan said:
For my situation, I looked up the codes. My detector is the one that came on the boat. Different alarms for different situations, mine was not a low power alarm, but was the fast beep CO detection.

I will check my batteries this weekend, but I am thinking they are sealed, maybe not.
Click to expand...
Sorry Mike, guess I did not understand, and f-fan's post helped me with that, as I have never had instance of high co only low battery voltage concerns and did not know there were different sounds for different problems. Thanks again CSR for teaching me something!
 
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