CaptRon
03-20-2013, 10:19 AM
We had our propane alarm go off on our last trip. Of course it happened just as we were about to leave the camper for several hours to meet friends for lunch. I reset the alarm and turned off the gas and decided to meet our friends anyway. The next day I turned on the gas again so we could make coffee. No alarm. The alarm has never gone off before. This is about our 4th trip in our Visa which is less than a year old. The alrm never sounded again and we left the gas turned on for the next three days.
So anyway, thinking like Sherlock Holmes, I think I know the cause of the 'false' alarm. Just before we headed out the door, I remembered that the wife was blow drying her hair. So thought well maybe that had something to do with it. It sort of did indirectly. She also used hair spray. I think that's the cause of the propane alarm. The hairspray uses propane or a very like propane gas as a propellant. Since she was in the bathroom, enough of the propellant in a strong enough concentration must have wafted under the door and into the detector setting off the alarm.
There's a lesson here. If the concentration of gas from the hairspray can set off the detector, it could also probably cause a fire or at least a very surprising small explosion. Just a word to the wise ... fluff and spray outside!
Who said camping is dull?
So anyway, thinking like Sherlock Holmes, I think I know the cause of the 'false' alarm. Just before we headed out the door, I remembered that the wife was blow drying her hair. So thought well maybe that had something to do with it. It sort of did indirectly. She also used hair spray. I think that's the cause of the propane alarm. The hairspray uses propane or a very like propane gas as a propellant. Since she was in the bathroom, enough of the propellant in a strong enough concentration must have wafted under the door and into the detector setting off the alarm.
There's a lesson here. If the concentration of gas from the hairspray can set off the detector, it could also probably cause a fire or at least a very surprising small explosion. Just a word to the wise ... fluff and spray outside!
Who said camping is dull?