# Carbon Monoxide Poisoning



## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Read this article today, heard nothing about it while at Indy and it happened one block away from me. I thought it would be a good 'warning' read to those who dry camp with generators.

http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=ap-i...p&type=lgns


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## goneflyfishin (Jan 12, 2007)

OMG! Thanks for the article.


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## Husker92 (Feb 11, 2006)

It's a real problem and very scary. I knew of a couple who died in a tent from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning. They were using a lantern to keep warn on a cold Sierra night.


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## hyewalt34 (May 9, 2004)

On our news vans and satellite trucks, at work, I provide 6 foot sections of flexible stainless tubing to slip over the generator exhaust and duct it away.... hopefully not at another van!

Walter


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

Sad and a bit strange since the article says they weren't running the generator. The furnace is about the only other thing that could generate much CO and those are pretty safe. I guess it shows that you should always have a working CO detector.


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

It seems to me there's something strange about the whole thing. They had dry camped WITH the generator many times according to the article. The only difference this time was they were really close to another trailer. But it is really hard for me to believe that could be it. Even at 3 feet apart they'd have to be sucking up the exhaust straight out of the other trailer's furnace or something, and I can't imagine how that would be possible under normal circumstances.


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## ranier1315 (Jan 4, 2008)

This is another sad case. It really brings to light the need to have a carbon monoxide detector in all of your living spaces. (Home, Camper, boat, anywhere you are going to sleep.) I'm a paramedic and I still have at least one or two CO poisoning cases every year. CO detectors are cheap, and they could save your life.

My heart goes out to the family that lost a loved one, and I hope this article will encourage others to purchase a detector and prevent any further loss of life.

Marc.


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## California Jim (Dec 11, 2003)

Wow so sad that a fun family trip could end up killing someone. Although my 2004 Outback didn't come with one, I have since installed a carbon monoxide detector.

Any home center can sell you one that looks just like the smoke detector already in the camper, only it has the CO and smoke combined. A 5 minute install and about $30. Human life is worth it.

FYI, the RVIA first made CO detectors mandatory only in motor homes or trailers with factory installed generators. That changed over 3 years ago when they became mandatory in all RV's manufactured after December 2004. Please check your rig to be sure that you have a working CO detector installed.

Also, having an annual battery replacement day is a good idea too. Something memorable like New Years or the Superbowl or whatever rings your bell. On that day replace the batteries in all of the safety devices you own. Home, RV, boat, where ever.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

California Jim said:


> Also, having an annual battery replacement day is a good idea too.


True, however keep in mind that some newer smoke detectors are 10-year smoke detectors that come with lithium batteries. The idea is that when the battery finally wears out after 10 years it is also time to replace the smoke detector. The one-year rule doesn't apply with those smoke detectors, but the periodic test does apply.

I don't know of any CO detectors that fall into the "10-year" category.

Ed


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

In my FD, we have several portable generators and if the exhaust is blowing toward you, it will get nasty. My guess with the story is that the exhaust might have been blowing toward a poorly sealed compartment door or even the furnace vent and that would allow the fumes in. We also know how the TT windows do not really seal with a gasket, just aluminum to aluminum seal which if exhaust was poiting exactly at one, seepage would occur. The field where they were was just that, a field with thousands of campers of all sizes , 0 hook ups so so many people were running generators.


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

tdvffjohn said:


> In my FD, we have several portable generators and if the exhaust is blowing toward you, it will get nasty. My guess with the story is that the exhaust might have been blowing toward a poorly sealed compartment door or even the furnace vent and that would allow the fumes in. We also know how the TT windows do not really seal with a gasket, just aluminum to aluminum seal which if exhaust was poiting exactly at one, seepage would occur. The field where they were was just that, a field with thousands of campers of all sizes , 0 hook ups so so many people were running generators.


It would seem that an open window on that side would also do the trick.

Thanks for the heads-up, John!


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## happycamper (Jul 26, 2005)

Wow, thanks for sharing this article.
We enjoyed our first dry camp @ Richmond Flea Market across from RIR last year.
I never even thought of CO poisoning as a possibility.


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

Yet another reason to stay away from that kind of a scene. Unless one has a co detector.

We put one in our OB before the first night. I'm paranoid about things like that.


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Follow up story

http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=ap-i...p&type=lgns


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## MJRey (Jan 21, 2005)

tdvffjohn said:


> Follow up story
> 
> http://sports.yahoo.com/irl/news?slug=ap-i...p&type=lgns


That's really strange, I find it hard to believe that generators at nearby campsites could result in high enough CO levels to kill someone in just one night. Unless you have something like a roof fan I just don't see how that much fumes could get in the trailer.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Thanks for the follow up on that terrible tragedy...
It's too bad that they were in a lot that apparently didn't enforce quiet hours banning the use of generators after 10pm. 
It might have saved his life...well, that and a working co detector


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## BoaterDan (Jul 1, 2005)

That's what I can't get my head around either. If they had a window open on that side, the presumably would have had several throughout the trailer, so they were drawing in "fresh" air in addition to the air with the CO in it, and it was all flowing through the trailer. It's not like the CO entered their camper and then was held there, building up concentration higher and higher.

I'm not trying to be dismissive of thir poor family's tragedy, but this curious mind really wants to know exactly what happened because the simple explanation they were camping in a crowded field isn't cutting it with my common (but potentially ignorant) sense. That would imply I have to worry about a whole lot of situations I don't currently worry about, like parking garages after a sporting event.

Given that every year there are tens of thousands of people that spend the night in crowded lots at this kind of event, it seems to me there's some kind of "freak accident" component to this story that we're just not getting.



MJRey said:


> That's really strange, I find it hard to believe that generators at nearby campsites could result in high enough CO levels to kill someone in just one night. Unless you have something like a roof fan I just don't see how that much fumes could get in the trailer.


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## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

BoaterDan said:


> , but this curious mind really wants to know exactly what happened because the simple explanation they were camping in a crowded field isn't cutting it with my common (but potentially ignorant) sense.


 The article does not say if there was a detector in the trailer or if there was if it was working. If there was one and was functional then that would suggest an odd ball situation from an air flow point of view. If it was not fuctional then we will not know if it would have worked for them or not. I suspect that they had the furnace on during the night but I would have thought that was obvious to the investigators. The generators maybe just misleading.

On the side the main thing about the dector is that you can hear it if it goes off (not usually a problem in a trailer) and the batteries are replaced regularly or tested. I have a plug in that I have had a while so I need to check it out to.


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

Replaced our batteries in March. Smoke detector too.

This is a spring rite in the house and camper.


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## bigdisneydaddy (Oct 26, 2007)

The person that died may have had an existing medical condition that the others didnt. It doesnt take much exposure to see folks get sick. We have seen many that got sick from having a generator running in the garage and the fumes got drawn into the house through poorly sealed/insulated homes. 
Just like smoke detectors, CO monitors are cheap when compared to the potential harm.

Scott


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