Checking CO2 detector.

[Happy Phantom]

There is a co2 alarm on our new(secondhand) camper how do we check its working?

 

[chaser]

I bought one off eBay , but didn't know if it worked or not as the flashing lights were flashing green but the digital display never said anything but 0 so got it down and held it behind the exhaust on Julie's petrol car and it went off and straight up to 999 so presume it is working, don't know what it is supposed to read though as the instructions were very vague, anyway couldn't stop it flashing red then so took batteries out and it went back to flashing green.

 

[timdownieuk]

I bought one off eBay , but didn't know if it worked or not as the flashing lights were flashing green but the digital display never said anything but 0 so got it down and held it behind the exhaust on Julie's petrol car and it went off and straight up to 999 so presume it is working, don't know what it is supposed to read though as the instructions were very vague, anyway couldn't stop it flashing red then so took batteries out and it went back to flashing green.

Not a good idea I believe. You may have "overdosed" your alarm.

Tim

 

[timdownieuk]

There is a co2 alarm on our new(secondhand) camper how do we check its working?

Carbon monoxide (CO, not CO2) alarms usually have a blinking green LED to indicate that they're functioning. The blink rate is pretty slow (to preserve the battery presumably) so you may have to watch for a while. The test button with check the state of the batteries by squealing at you.

Have a look at this. http://www.doityourself.com/stry/how-to-test-a-carbon-monoxide-detector#b

Given how cheap they are these days, consider buying a new one for peace of mind.

 

[PhilandMena]

With mine, I remove and replace the batteries. I then get one beep to tell me it is working OK if I get a number of beeps it is time for replacing.

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[chaser]

With mine, I remove and replace the batteries. I then get one beep to tell me it is working OK if I get a number of beeps it is time for replacing.

Yeah that's what mine did, can't see as it's b........d by just letting it sniff what it's supposed to do, but can't see why it never gets above 0 there must be a change sometime surely

 

[timdownieuk]

Yeah that's what mine did, can't see as it's b........d by just letting it sniff what it's supposed to do, but can't see why it never gets above 0 there must be a change sometime surely

It may not be b*ggered but the common type use fuel cell technology and the reagents in the fuel cell gradually get used up. The more CO they're exposed to, the more quickly the fuel cell chemicals get exhausted (no pun intended).

Newer cells have a much longer lifespan that the first generation fuel cell type so it may be that the "damage" caused by high CO exposure is proportionally less.

If your gas appliances are working properly you shouldn't really expect to see any reading above zero.

If you read page 18 in this document (Kidde CO alarm instructions) they mention that the sensor may be damaged by a number of things, including car exhaust.
Tim

 

[JeanLuc]

Testing the CO alarm is usually covered in the user manual. I appreciate you may not have this so here is a link to the download page for FireAngel
Broken Link Removed
If yours is a different make, the procedure may vary so I suggest you do a search accordingly.