Voyager 4500 cooker. Carbon Monoxide.

[Porthandbuoy]

January 2024 I fitted a Voyager 4500 2 Burner, Oven & Grill Cooker in Sheolin. When I use the burner rings or the oven the carbon monoxide detector stay at zero; no problem.
When I use the grill however, the CO figure climb rapidly into the hundreds of ppm and the alarm goes off before the bacon or toast is barely warm. This is with the hatch and dorade vents wide open, so it's not as if I'm starving the cooker of air. The grill, when lit, looks okay, cherry red grill and blue flame, but clearly the air/gas ratio is wrong and a lot of CO is being produced.
I don't know how high the CO goes because I shut the grill off when the alarm goes off. This morning I took the CO detector outside into the fresh air to shut it up; it was reading 780 ppm. I should also point out the CO detector is not directly above the cooker, it's about a metre away over the galley sink.

Anyone else experienced this problem?
Can I adjust the air/gas ratio?

Until this is sorted I'll be frying my sausages and bacon.

And if you haven't experienced this problem because you don't have a carbon monoxide detector . . . get one.

 

[KevinV]

I wonder if the grill is jetted correctly? That the others are, but the grill one got forgotten?

Unless the actual grilling of bread or bacon is giving off co? Have you tried it with nothing under the grill?

 

[Porthandbuoy]

I wonder if the grill is jetted correctly? That the others are, but the grill one got forgotten?

Unless the actual grilling of bread or bacon is giving off co? Have you tried it with nothing under the grill?

Yes. No difference.

 

[Cerebus]

How long is the warranty?

Regardless, the manufacturer may be interested.

 

[ylop]

Obviously you need to take a CO alarm seriously, however my gut feel is this *might* be a false alarm.

CO alarms are pretty crude sensors - they detect the presence of something which they are able to oxidise CO->CO2, H2->H2O, etc. they are calibrated for CO but will often respond to other gasses too - with totally nonsensical values. In normal operation that’s fine because those gasses aren’t around. My hypothesis would be that you may be burning off some coating from the grill and this generating some relatively harmless other oxidisable hydrocarbons.

Would I be prepared to stay in the cabin to find this out? No. But I think i could devise a way to monitor remotely with the option to turn gas off at cylinder and thoroughly vent before reentering the space. I would want to rule out a gas leak or overcharging battery before doing that (I think either can trigger at least some CO alarms).

 

[Porthandbuoy]

The grill has been used often enough to have burnt off any combustible coatings. Even with the grill pan removed the CO numbers soar.
There is no gas leak. I have a bubble leak detector and it shows the tubing to the cooker is gas tight and holding pressure.
Batteries are all okay (two leisure, one engine, all 100Ah SLA). No sign of any problems there.

 

[KevinV]

The grill has been used often enough to have burnt off any combustible coatings. Even with the grill pan removed the CO numbers soar.
There is no gas leak. I have a bubble leak detector and it shows the tubing to the cooker is gas tight and holding pressure.
Batteries are all okay (two leisure, one engine, all 100Ah SLA). No sign of any problems there.

Perhaps worth swapping the jet with one of the others then to rule that out

 

[Minerva]

If it were me, I’d not be mucking about - I’d be straight on to the retailer who sold the oven to get it replaced as not fit for use. If the manufacturer wants to do tests to find the fault (and issue a recall if necessary) then so be it.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

If it were me, I’d not be mucking about - I’d be straight on to the retailer who sold the oven to get it replaced as not fit for use. If the manufacturer wants to do tests to find the fault (and issue a recall if necessary) then so be it.

I'll be contacting them on Tuesday next week.

 

[billskip]

Get a canary

 

[ylop]

The grill has been used often enough to have burnt off any combustible coatings.

Ah sorry I misread your OP - I thought this was a brand new install. Has it always alarmed or is this new?

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Test it with another CO sensor, low enough cost, then you can be sure it's not the sensor that is somehow differentiating between grid, over / hob fumes.

 

[VicS]

I'll be contacting them on Tuesday next week.

I believe this grill has a metal mesh which the burner heats. Check that is correctly positioned . If it droops into the flame incomplete combustion may occur.

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Ah sorry I misread your OP - I thought this was a brand new install. Has it always alarmed or is this new?

Always. Last year I put it down to the cooker just burning off manufacturing coatings, but CO levels never exceeded 30~50 ppm. Different story this season.

Test it with another CO sensor, low enough cost, then you can be sure it's not the sensor that is somehow differentiating between grid, over / hob fumes.

Done that. Brought the one from the aft cabin, which is a different make with no readout. It alarmed in two minutes.

 

[plumbob]

The old trick to test for CO spillage was to hold a small mirror about 6in from the flame and see if it condensates ( mists up).

 

[Porthandbuoy]

Found the problem.

The jet is supposed to plug into the end of the burner tube. Mine was ever so slightly out of alignment such that the gas would be impinging on the side of the burner tube rather than straight down the centre. Result? No venturi effect to draw in the air required for proper combustion.

Aligned correctly and the CO level never exceeded 20ppm after 20 minutes, and that was with the hatch shut and dorade vents shut (worst case scenario).

Why was the jet misaligned? Don't know, something to watch out for though.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

Thanks for posting the solution. Good to know that.