As some of you may remember back in March/April I had to change out my old furnace after noticing that my eyes were bothered a bit after the furnace would start, well I took the old furnace apart to salvage the good parts, motor, PCB control board, etc. and then took a look at the plenum, what I found was totally shocking! There was a huge hole in the plunem, this could have lead to a fire or worse--death--



If you notice any signs of irratation, look in to it immediately! I had no indications of CO or propane but this could have gotten really bad!

Happy New Year to all!

And THAT is why I will not use a furnace in an RV. I wonder if a digital CO detector would tell anything. You know, a slight increase in the reading, but no alarm. Ours is pretty sensitive.

As a pilot I carry a digital CO detector which will work to 10 PPM, even that did not show an appreciable amount of CO in the RV, eye irration was caused by HC. I am less afraid of the furnace in an RV then I am of the heater system in light aircraft. Propane fired furnaces do generate some CO but not nearly as much as a piston engine does and the furnace components are made of SS in the first chamber (where the failure occured) just as the cuffs on the aircraft mufflers. Only difference is the aircraft system is usually inspected annually

This is the model that I use and is only one of many aircraft type digital CO detectors and will detect to levels below 10 PPM. I even put these in our apartments that have rooms below ground level.
digital CO detector

I pressure checked my plane's heater every year for cracks. I wonder if that could be easily done on an RV heater.

You could probably use a smoke generator similar to the one I use for checking intake manifolds for leaks, in any event, a complt disasembly of the burner section would be required to get at the input to the plenum.

I think a better way is to have it tested by a fire dept for any unusual gas content in the heater output, HC, CO, CO2 and Nox are very easy to test for. Should have none of those gases in the hot air outlet when running but would have if a crack developed.

quote:

Originally posted by MWrench:
I think a better way is to have it tested by a fire dept for any unusual gas content in the heater output, HC, CO, CO2 and Nox are very easy to test for. Should have none of those gases in the hot air outlet when running but would have if a crack developed.

Are there testers available that an RV owner could take with him that would do that?

I would think your local fire station would be a great place. Our neighbor loves to have folks check out anything in the house , if it will save a life. JKB 88 Regal 28' 454 JKB