Smoke Alarms

[Royston]

Has Anybody had simular experiences with smoke alarms fitted within caravans.
Our caravan is 7 years old, January 3rd this year we were awakened in the early hrs of the morning by our neighbour informing us that our alarm within the caravan was ringing.
The only way to silence it was to remove the battery, inside the van their was no smell so the cause remains a mystery.
Next morning I purchased a new smoke alarm from a well known homebass firm , fitted tested okay.
Towards the end of May, this new alarm erupted during the night , with its piercing sound, again the only way to silence it was to remove the battery, Inside the van again no smell, My first thought was perhaps the battery was running low , it was a make I have never heard off, replaced it with a brand new ,well known makeoff battery tested okay.
2 nights later again the alarm went of with its constent shrill sound again the only way to silence it was to remove the battery.
I visited my local dealer who was mystified as why the smoke alarms had behaved in the manner explained, his only thoughts were faulty smoke alarms, as this point I can only agree, but with doubt in the back of my mind, as all the smoke alarms fitted within our house, have never ever failed , the only time apart from testing the noise they make is the sound like a bird cheeping when the battery requires changing,

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Royston,

I have no definitive answer, Its feels too much of a coincidence so I'm not convinced the detectors are necessarily faulty. to have to separate units produce the same symptom suggest there may be some common cause. The fact the problem occurs at night may be significant, it may be temperature related.

The temperature inside the caravan will go up and down far more than the inside of your house. This might stress the battery and cause it stop working sooner than your house devices.

It is possible but less likely the change in temperature may also stress the detector and its circuit, causing any weak solder joints to become intermittent contacts.

Perhaps there is genuine reason for the detector to activate. many of these detectors are not entirely selective, some will activate with gases or fumes as well as soot or heat. Perhaps there is some source of fumes near or in the caravan.
For example is the gas turned off?
or is there a house central heating flue near the caravan that given the right wind could blow fumes into the van?.
Is there a garden bonfire nearby?
Is the parked over a drain that's connected to the sewers (methane)?

Sorry I can't be of more help

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Royston, I can't be much help either mate, as the smoke alarm in our van has never given rise for consern it has been in the van since we bought it and is now 6years old and still has the same battery in it, "rechareable type" allthough I suspect it is only there as a backup and is wired to the 12v system, as it beeps when the battery is disconnected, I do check it with the red button every time we go away, and the only time it went off was when her indoors burned some toast,
the reasom 2 units have failed in such a short time is a mystery? or have they. there may be some underlying reason as the Prof says otherwise I would move the next one to a new location, and see if it makes a difference.
it would be interesting though to know what caused it if you get to the bottom of it,
colin

 

[Smith21]

Just a little idea, you could put the alarm from your house into the van as you no that one is not faulty, and possible the one out the van into the house to see if it still goes off.

Usually with an alarm it resets itself once the smoke has cleared so to speak, which makes me think there is a fault with the two units.

 

[AbbeyOwner]

I've never had a smoke detector in my van i have carbon monoxide alarm, but I should buy one for the sake of my family

 

[Gagakev]

I've never had a smoke detector in my van i have carbon monoxide alarm, but I should buy one for the sake of my family

Please buy one before your next outing, then you can be like the rest of us and it will go off when you start cooking your bacon for the butty's and toast for the marmalade!!

Seriously though you NEED one, if you have them in the house why not the van?

 

[AbbeyOwner]

I will go get one I have them in my house, I dont have them in the van because i do most cooking outside in the awning.

 

[Royston]

Well thanks for your thoughts, I had the same thoughts as you Prov, My neighbour has a gas boiler outlet in his drive, but this is only on during the day, and the alarms have never gone off during the day, apart from when making toast on holidays.They have only gone off during the hours of darkness.There is no gas fitted to the van whilst it is parked ajacent to our drive.,
I had thought that perhaps somebody had reversed into the drive to turn round on odd occasions, to cause the alarm to operate.
So far peace

 

[Gagakev]

Sorry if we are going slightly off topic Royston

I will go get one I have them in my house, I dont have them in the van because i do most cooking outside in the awning.

AbbeyOwner can I just ask what fuel you are using in the awning? Gas? Electric? Microwave? Bar B Q?
Is your awning fire retardant? Do you open the doors and sides when cooking?
None of us are here to critisize and are here to offer advice and what with the recent unfortunate incidents regarding BBq's just want to make sure you are safe.

 

[AbbeyOwner]

cadac safari chef on a table and I zip the panels out and open the doors, we also have an halogen oven that we cook food in

 

[Surfer]

The one thing besides smoke that sets off smoke alarms is humidity. The humidity in the caravan could be too high. Perhaps you could leave a roof vent slightly open?

 

[JohnM20]

It probably isn't the cause in your instance but my FireAngel alarm goes off if it's windy and the caravan door is open. Not much fun on a warm but breezy day when it's nice to have the door open.