Safety Warning on HWS

Bobdown · Guru

Safety Warning on HWS

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

A year late.
And inaccurate. It is also highly flammable and can explode on contact with a spark or flame.

CO is of course quite poisonous and odourless, but it is NOT flammable.

Cheers,

Peter

Phillipn · Guru

Bobdown wrote:
Just saw this on the web, not sure if it's still current but could be a problem for some older HWS.
Careful with carbon monoxide gases at all times............cheers

https://www.9news.com.au/national/safety-warning-potentially-deadly-caravan-motorhome-heaters-accc/ea252b5c-ce18-46dc-8814-1a048261dd07

This recall was first released over 12 months ago. I registered my hot water system with Coast to Coast on the 18th November 2019 as it is in the recall. Their have been many posts over the last 12 months on this recall. Do a search of posts throughout the year on the recall.

It took many years to build Rome, this recall may take longer to fix.

Hawk7 · Veteran Member

Go to Coast to Coast rv and follow the prompts. Easy! Got my work order for inspection in two days!

Phillipn · Guru

Hawk7 wrote:
Go to Coast to Coast rv and follow the prompts. Easy! Got my work order for inspection in two days!

Been their, done that, still no work order. As you can see from above post, first notified them 18/11/2019 and gave them final detail list a month ago.

Bow · Veteran Member

Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
A year late.
And inaccurate. It is also highly flammable and can explode on contact with a spark or flame.
CO is of course quite poisonous and odourless, but it is NOT flammable.
Cheers,
Peter

https://www.mathesongas.com/pdfs/products/Lower-(LEL)-&-Upper-(UEL)-Explosive-Limits-.pdf

oldbloke · Guru

Bow wrote:
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
A year late.
And inaccurate. It is also highly flammable and can explode on contact with a spark or flame.
CO is of course quite poisonous and odourless, but it is NOT flammable.
Cheers,
Peter
https://www.mathesongas.com/pdfs/products/Lower-(LEL)-&-Upper-(UEL)-Explosive-Limits-.pdf

Yep pretty basic science. I just checked and still says CO is explosive. You would think they would have corrected it by now.

IMO very poor journalism.

Bow · Veteran Member

oldbloke wrote:
Bow wrote:
Peter_n_Margaret wrote:
A year late.
And inaccurate. It is also highly flammable and can explode on contact with a spark or flame.
CO is of course quite poisonous and odourless, but it is NOT flammable.
Cheers,
Peter
https://www.mathesongas.com/pdfs/products/Lower-(LEL)-&-Upper-(UEL)-Explosive-Limits-.pdf

Yep pretty basic science. I just checked and still says CO is explosive. You would think they would have corrected it by now.
IMO very poor journalism.

Not only poor journalism but extremely dangerous information

Muskat55 · Veteran Member

So much mis information on this forum. I seem to remember that CO was a component of "town gas" what we used before natural gas. I checked it is flammable and has the potential to be explosive. The link is below:

www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib120415.html~:text=Because%20carbon%20monoxide%20is%20a,from%20reaching%20the%20explosive%20range.

oldbloke · Guru

Muskat55 wrote:
So much mis information on this forum. I seem to remember that CO was a component of "town gas" what we used before natural gas. I checked it is flammable and has the potential to be explosive. The link is below:

www.osha.gov/dts/shib/shib120415.html~:text=Because%20carbon%20monoxide%20is%20a,from%20reaching%20the%20explosive%20range.

Well you learn something every day. I could have sworn it was inert.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

If the carbon monoxide concentration in the headspace reaches the explosive range, between 12.5 to 74.2 percent, any sudden addition of oxygen-containing air into the enclosed furnace can react with the excess carbon monoxide and form an explosive mixture.

Al sorts of things can happen at blast furnace temperatures. Steel burns too.

At 1% concentration of CO in a caravan, the CO will not burn, but you will already be dead.

Cheers,

Peter

Bobdown · Guru

Phillipn wrote:
Bobdown wrote:
Just saw this on the web, not sure if it's still current but could be a problem for some older HWS.
Careful with carbon monoxide gases at all times............cheers

https://www.9news.com.au/national/safety-warning-potentially-deadly-caravan-motorhome-heaters-accc/ea252b5c-ce18-46dc-8814-1a048261dd07
This recall was first released over 12 months ago. I registered my hot water system with Coast to Coast on the 18th November 2019 as it is in the recall. Their have been many posts over the last 12 months on this recall. Do a search of posts throughout the year on the recall.
It took many years to build Rome, this recall may take longer to fix.

Not sure why it was in the news again, it said Coast to Coast sold 18,000 units..........is that what the dealers had fitted to new vans?

We had a Suburban HWS on our old van and I thought it worked quite well, must be only a certain model, good luck with that Phillip.

CO is nasty stuff, do not want that in your van.

Cheers Bob

Phillipn · Guru

Bobdown wrote:
Phillipn wrote:
Bobdown wrote:
Just saw this on the web, not sure if it's still current but could be a problem for some older HWS.
Careful with carbon monoxide gases at all times............cheers

https://www.9news.com.au/national/safety-warning-potentially-deadly-caravan-motorhome-heaters-accc/ea252b5c-ce18-46dc-8814-1a048261dd07
This recall was first released over 12 months ago. I registered my hot water system with Coast to Coast on the 18th November 2019 as it is in the recall. Their have been many posts over the last 12 months on this recall. Do a search of posts throughout the year on the recall.
It took many years to build Rome, this recall may take longer to fix.
Not sure why it was in the news again, it said Coast to Coast sold 18,000 units..........is that what the dealers had fitted to new vans?
We had a Suburban HWS on our old van and I thought it worked quite well, must be only a certain model, good luck with that Phillip.
CO is nasty stuff, do not want that in your van.
Cheers Bob

I have posted many comments on this recall during the past 12 months. The reason that CO enters the cabin in many cases is because of poor instulation and not the fault of the hot water unit.

I put a CO detector in the cabnet beside the hot water unit and started it on gas. The detector soon went to 40 ppm. It turned it off and went looking to see where CO could enter the cabnet and found that the grommet that is on the gas pipe had been "butchered" when the unit was installed.

I got a copy of Suburbans instulation instructions and the grommet through which the gas pipe enters MUST BE sealed to stop CO from entering.

I sealed the grommet, Then started the unit on gas , and the detector stayed on zero. This has been repeated many times and still no CO detected. Another detector was put in the cabnet and it also remained on zero.

I have checked other vans with older Suburban hot water systems that are not in the recall and found that the grommets had been destroyed or had no grommet.

Their was one van that the grommet had been fitter as per instructions.

All Suburban hot water units should be in the recall.

I spoke to the people who installed the unit and told them what I had found. No comment were made by them.

I told Coast to Coast what I had found, Now the units that pass the recall test are to have a CO detector installed.

-- Edited by Phillipn on Sunday 6th of December 2020 12:14:52 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

This thread emphasises, once again, the absolute need for every caravan to have a CO detector.

Unfortunately there is no Australian Standard for CO detectors so ensure any you buy comply with the European standards. Beware of e-bay for these products, Bunnings is probably the best bet.

To paraphrase a well known slogan:

If you don't have a CO detector you're a bloody idiot!

Phillipn · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
This thread emphasises, once again, the absolute need for every caravan to have a CO detector.
Unfortunately there is no Australian Standard for CO detectors so ensure any you buy comply with the European standards. Beware of e-bay for these products, Bunnings is probably the best bet.
To paraphrase a well known slogan:
If you don't have a CO detector you're a bloody idiot!

I purchased two CO detectors, one from Bunnings, cost about $60 with a lithium battery with a life of 10 years and for house use as stated on the packet. The other from BCF for about $45, powered by three AA batteries and for RV`s. Both are Quell detectors.

AndyCap100 · Senior Member

Us here in NZ have just had the latest advisory from Coast to Coast and as my Suburban is one requiring recall ,we will be hopefully not too far away from whatever needs to be done to rectify the problem .Now ,since this was first mooted by Coast to Coast i spent time on google looking at vids of Suburban installations .Was horrified by one in the usa where the hole in the side of the vehicle was cut square, the heater unit has rounded corners .The appliance was slid in position ,fixed with a few screws in the edges to the framework . NO filler/gasket /sealant apllied anyware . The outer flange that also has the door on was then fixed to the vehicle ,and that was the only seal

On my vehicle( AU manufactured ) the holes in the 2 grommets with the wires going from the outside to the inside are at least 3x the dia of the wires . Needless to say i have sealed around these.
The sealant around the gas pipe looked dodgy so i put additional sealant around this .
I have also put eterna-bond tape around over the joint between the main body of the appliance and the outer trim flange .
Thats best i can do ,it will be interesting to see any actual outcome from Coast to Coast of what the actual problem was and where it was .

Just a side note ,was discussing this with my gas fitter today whilst having my home gas fire serviced and he ratified how little CO is needed to put you to sleep . i had a draught excluder under the loung/hallway door and he sternly told me to remove it as the gaps there to feed air to the appliance ,also showed me how the kitchen extractor fan can `rob` the fire of air when on full` suck` too .Food for thought .