JumbleDuck
Well-known member
This morning, for the first time since I bought it, my CO alarm went off. Suggestions of why welcome. All the possibly pertinent facts I can think of:
* It's a Kidde marine one, good till 2023.
* The top washboard was out at the time
* Nothing was burning on board. I had made toast under the grill half an hour previously with not a peep. The grill flames look no different from usual; blue with very small yellow tips.
* There was no smell of gas around the cooker.
* I had an oil lamp burning for a couple of hours yesterday evening. It had oil in it and I blew it out.
* The batteries were at 12.1v (normal for "low with some current drain") and not to any significant extent - not much PV power at 8 o'clock on an overcast October morning in Scotland.
* The only other boat in the anchorage (Dunagoil Bay) was 100m away, downwind.
* The first time it happened, moving the alarm into fresh air silenced in after ~15 seconds
* I brought it in again and it went off again after another ten minutes. This time it sounded for 5 minutes in the cockpit.
* Neither I nor the crew had any symptoms of CO poisoning.
* Neither I nor the crew had any issues with flatulence
* Alarm self-test works as normal
* It hasn't gone off in the ten hours since
Bearing in mind that nothing had been burning in the boat, which was well ventilated, for half an hour before the alarm went off, I presume it was a false alarm ... but why? Is it just one of these things or should I delve more carefully?
* It's a Kidde marine one, good till 2023.
* The top washboard was out at the time
* Nothing was burning on board. I had made toast under the grill half an hour previously with not a peep. The grill flames look no different from usual; blue with very small yellow tips.
* There was no smell of gas around the cooker.
* I had an oil lamp burning for a couple of hours yesterday evening. It had oil in it and I blew it out.
* The batteries were at 12.1v (normal for "low with some current drain") and not to any significant extent - not much PV power at 8 o'clock on an overcast October morning in Scotland.
* The only other boat in the anchorage (Dunagoil Bay) was 100m away, downwind.
* The first time it happened, moving the alarm into fresh air silenced in after ~15 seconds
* I brought it in again and it went off again after another ten minutes. This time it sounded for 5 minutes in the cockpit.
* Neither I nor the crew had any symptoms of CO poisoning.
* Neither I nor the crew had any issues with flatulence
* Alarm self-test works as normal
* It hasn't gone off in the ten hours since
Bearing in mind that nothing had been burning in the boat, which was well ventilated, for half an hour before the alarm went off, I presume it was a false alarm ... but why? Is it just one of these things or should I delve more carefully?