(Recieved in a PM)

This is a real gem, and it is normally caused by the generator exhaust being on the wrong side of the trailer or coach, leaking seals around slideouts, or inadequate ventilation/leaking of the generator compartment.
3 possibilities - I'll address two.

You can BUY a custom exhaust kit, or just fabricate one out of steel tubing and hangers made of common steel strap hung from the underside by self tapping screws. The object is to get the exhaust away from slideout seals, open windows, doors, and so on. NORMALLY -THIS WORKS.

Sometimes all that is needed is to undo the existing exhaust hangers and turn the pipe to the other side of the RV, then secure it to the underside with the same hangers.

Sometimes it becomes complicated - because there are just as many slideouts on one side as the other! Therefore there is just as much chance of exhaust getting in.

Now, you can't always pick a parking spot that has the wind coming from just the right direction, can you? Gens are also usually mounted in the front of most 5'ers, so running an exhaust all the way to the back would be ridiculous... Ditto a lot of Class "A" coaches.

I've often wondered though what might happen if a short length of flexible exhaust tube was run down into a five gallon plastic bucket full of water (this is a random thought on my part - switching the side the exhaust comes out of normally does the job!).

It's easy to over-plumb a problem like this, and I've never heard of an RV with a 'STACK' going up to roof level for a genny exhaust.
For one thing - it would get into the roof vents, wouldn't it?

But for whatever reason, gen exhausts are sometimes in the worst place they could have been put...

I note here that a lot of stores have box fans on sale too. Whatever blows the smoke away from the RV helps, and never pile stuff around the RV so that it blocks air from passing beneath it. Such a fan could determine (test for) whether it is the exhaust itself, or a generator compartment that leaks gasses into the inside of the coach.


SECONDLY: How well is the genny compartment vented? Is there enough airflow to prevent gas buildup in the space? ARE THERE ANY GAPS IN AND AROUND THE GENERATOR COMPARTMENT THAT GO INTO THE INTERIOR OF THE COACH???

Genny compartments need to be sealed very well to prevent gasses from getting inside the coach...

A can of "GREAT STUFF" could be an idea in all of the joints and corners of the compartment to make doggone sure no fumes from the genny go anywhere except OUTSIDE!!! I'm going to highly recommend right here and now that a tube of pure silicon caulk be expended to seal all cracks and joints in and around the generator BEFORE using that supposedly "GREAT STUFF" stuff - it's good for big wide gaps, but not so hot on small seams.

Consider this too - you may have a gap between the generator compartment and a storage bay. The storage bay then leaks into the interior... QED: Path for gasses to the inside, yes?

If there is any doubt about the genny compartment having adequate ventilation, I'd go right ahead and make sure that it was to my own satisfaction.

Any decent generator will have enough cooling/ventilation air BECAUSE OF THE ENGINE COOLING FAN of the GENERATOR ITSELF to blow any gasses right out the bottom of the coach. Onan's vent out the bottom usually. If the bottom vent isn't clear, or is not well thought out - there can be problems. Again though - where it goes from there is problematical. If you have a generator it is a good idea for the coach to not be totally sheltered from breezes or wind, since this is what we count on to get rid of the bad stuff....


~Wolfie
(AKA Dutch)

PS: ALL of the above you can probably do yourself - and you probably should.
RV TECH's are not the rocket engineers you think they are, nor are they strongly bonded to anything that falls into the category: "IT AIN'T MINE"

 

Excellent post, and great response. I have remote generators, but if I put them in the wrong spot acording to wind, I get all kinds of alarms going off. I have learned to keep the genset down wind from the tt.

 

Great topic, Dutch. Thanks for making a thread out of your PM. I'm going to add this to the Tips and Tricks thread.

 

It's easy to over-plumb a problem like this, and I've never heard of an RV with a 'STACK' going up to roof level for a genny exhaust.
For one thing - it would get into the roof vents, wouldn't it?


I've seen a few of the stack type exhaust at the race track and everybody that has ones said they work the best and don't have the problem of exhaust in the roof vents. This also gets the exhaust noise away from the camp site also. Camping World has these and they also recomend them .

 

Well, I'll be dipped in NACHO's....

It seems like overkill to me, if I was going to go that far I'd bolt on an extra muffler and pipe it to the back of the rig... Whatever floats yer boat!

Oh by the way: Anyone have any input on things besides LPG that can set off an LP detector? Some cleaning supplies have been known to set them off, also common HAIR SPRAY! (True story. If you're packing a home beauty parlor you might want to lighten up!)

I do not profess to know exactly PRECISELY how an LPG detector works, or what the sensor is really set off by (IE: What things COULD set it off).

Perhaps if we explore THAT as well - we can debunk some 'Urban Legends' and also be better able to predict what it means when one of these things goes off... If we know what makes it work, we can tell what it's doing.

~Wolfie

PS: "WIKIPEDIA" positively BURIED me in strange topics on this one.

 

I think anything that can block the sensor will make the alarm sound, I refinish tubs and countertops for a living and the other day I was in a apartment spraying a countertop and all of a sudden the smoke detector went off, scared the bejesus out of me cause I thought I had started something on fire! apparently all it was...was the paint fumes making it go off...go figure!!

 

In theory you can test an LPG detector by spraying gas from a butane lighter into it's sensor vent.

But I have no idea how it tells what is what...