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Old 09-05-2012, 04:06 PM   #1
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dangerous smell

bought this 81 brave in july, it had been sitting for 3 years. Went camping, used the gen set once or twice - the CO alarm went off afterwards. Then some smells of gasoline, natural gas and strange odors from the stove too.
What to be done?
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Old 09-05-2012, 04:21 PM   #2
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Find the leaks fast. Kind of sounds like you have an exhaust leak, and probably a rich running generator.
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Old 09-05-2012, 04:27 PM   #3
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You can't smell CO ... you are lucky that the alarm was still good and went off ... otherwise you may not have woke up ...

CO most likely was coming from your genset ... check the exhaust system on your engine and genset carefully ... there is probably a hole someplace ... you also need to make sure that the wind is not blowing the exhaust from the genset back into your coach when parked ... if you run the genset while parked you may need an exhaust extension to direct the exhaust above your coach

You probably do not have natural gas on board ... it was most likely LP gas that you smelled ... check for leaks with some very soapy water ... check carefully around the regulator next to your LP tank ... it might also be the case that your stove, hot water heater, and refrigerator have pilot lights ... make sure the thermocouples are shutting off the flow of gas when the pilot lights are not lit.

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Old 09-05-2012, 06:04 PM   #4
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Maybe you can't smell CO, but I have never been around an internal combustion engine where I couldn't smell it's exhaust, even propane engine exhaust.
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Old 09-05-2012, 06:45 PM   #5
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Though it is true you can not smell CO there are other "Exhaust products" and some of them do have an "Aroma"

Recommend a Gen-Turi (TM) generator exhaust extension for the generator, this will take the exhaust fumes up up and away so they won't enter your coach.

As for the Propane or Gasoline smells.

That I'd track, as the other people said. DANGEROUS, Lay some corrorgated paper or something under the area of the generator that will show if it's dripped on and which is disposable. If you have a gasoline leak, it may show it.
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Old 09-05-2012, 06:59 PM   #6
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I get tired of people saying you can't smell CO when an engine is running. I've tried to smell an exhaust to see if I could not smell it, but I could not not smell it for the smell of it. Got that?
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Old 09-05-2012, 09:01 PM   #7
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Hey Greg,
It sounds like you have a real problem. My novice advice would be to be sure you have the current CO & smoke detectors installed with good batteries. My wife is Chemistry Professor by trade and would let us leave the storage unit without them.

I'm glad she's smarter than me. You may want to check the "RV Systems & Tech" forum.

Best of luck and let us know what you find.
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Old 09-06-2012, 11:48 AM   #8
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thx for replies but here is the setup that I have:

the exhaust extension (gen turi it is) was on, the gen set had been off for a few hours but the wind was blowing a bit. It could have been that some fumes were pushed back down.

There is a gasoline smell as well in the corner where the gen set is, maybe its feeding line is cracked, maybe the smell comes from the main tank.

I got a full tank of LP gas, and smells builds up just above it if I leave it on for the fridge for example. And the stove stinks of bad combustion if used as well. But the pilots work, I didn't dare try anything else. My lines may require cleaning or replacement, some say to check that main valve - how do you do that?

For the story the first thing I did in the rig was to replace all alarm batteries. When we came back to the rv that night the CO was going off so I went in solo and opened all windows and shattered one against the other!
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Old 09-06-2012, 12:42 PM   #9
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Did you check your house batteries to see if they are over charging? On my rig my CO would go off if I had a battery charger on the batterys and left the steps open where the battery compartment is.
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Old 09-06-2012, 02:42 PM   #10
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When buying a older unit that has been sitting for a long time have it checked by someone who knows what their doing prior to any trips. It just makes sense.
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Old 09-06-2012, 04:17 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregmaz View Post
the exhaust extension (gen turi it is) was on, the gen set had been off for a few hours but the wind was blowing a bit. It could have been that some fumes were pushed back down.
Is it possible,, Under those conditions, NO, it's not, there would not have been any exhaust fumes hanging around from YOUR generator. "Hours" later.

There may have been stinky residue in the exhaust pipe though or in the Gen-Turi's large tube I can often smell something hours after removal if I stick my nose in the pipe, but it's residue, not "exhaust fumes"

It's the part of the exhaust you can smell.
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