Pilot mini gas alarm - wiring fault.

Mataji

Mataji

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My alarm started beeping today. The Pilot manual says that an intermittent beep indicates there is a fault with the wiring. I’ve checked all the wires and connections seem ok. When I cut the power and then reconnected everything seemed ok - for about 5 minutes - then the beeping started again. If a wire was off I would not expect it to be ok for a few minutes but it is. I’ve repeated this several times with the same result.

NB The intermittent beeping does not indicate a gas leak, that would be a continuous alarm.

Could it be I need a new sensor, or could the alarm itself be at fault?
 
Has the sensor become damp? These are a good bit of kit when working but a pain in the ass when they stop. I'd just double check the cabling for continuity across all cores to ensure all is ok then look to get hold of another sensor and unfortunately suck it and see.
 
Sensor has not become damp. Has anyone had experience of a sensor failure, or a failure of the unit itself? I don’t want to fork out £100 for a new unit if I only need a sensor.
 
Mataji said:
Sensor has not become damp. Has anyone had experience of a sensor failure, or a failure of the unit itself? I don’t want to fork out £100 for a new unit if I only need a sensor.
Click to expand...

My sensor failed and the alarm sounded a continuous note. Got a new sensor off Ebay, cheaper than chandlers, can either buy a complete sensor or just the innards which unplug from the case.
 
In my experience these sensors are very susceptible to being damaged by vapours from aerosol products. Exposure to solvent vapours and those from cleaning agents can also be fatal to the sensor. Having learnt the hard way, I now remove the sensor and seal it in a plastic bag before using any of the aforementioned materials inside my boat. Only pressing it into service again when I am as sure as possible that any contaminating vapours have been scavenged from the bilges.

Mike
 
My Plastimo gas alarm went nuts at the least opportune moment - naturally, singlehanded among a lot of other boats off Cowes - it was so loud it was painful to go into the cabin to try and sort it, for safetys' sake it was hard wired without a switch or breaker - a mad scramble for sidecutters to give it The Treatment before my ears started to bleed.

It was a few years old, the sensor may have got damp but being Plastimo I reckon it had just had it's allotted time in this world, due to health snags at home I haven't worked on my boat at all this winter so will have to fit a replacement during the season; I'm very careful indeed with the gas and can reach the regulator valve in the ventilated gas bottle box from inside the companionway anyway, I just feel uneasy losing an alarm, that's the sort of thing that happens in the intro' to Thunderbirds and / or Casualty !
 
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