What else beside Propane will set off the detector?

[dsbear]

A broken bottle of whiskey will set it off for a long time. Don't ask how I know. 😕


David, Heidi, M and Moose(the lab)
2011 Damon Astoria
Pulling an'09 Chevy CrewCab.

[shiggs68]

An LP detector is set off by low voltage, age, propane, butane (most spray bottles use as a propellant), and methane ( gas from dogs and rotting compost).


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[wa8yxm]

Propane is odorless and they do sell it that way. However the detector can smell ANY explosive gas this inclues all the ____anes (Propane, methane butane and so on) alcohol, gasoline, and many many more products, Basically anything and everything that can go BOOM if properly mnixed with air and sparked. Butane: Aresoel propellent. Methane, Swamp gass. Farts. Sewers.

Oh, in many cases it will detect dead batteries too (or run down ones, the house batteries that is)

[dennis45]

I don't have first hand experience with this But, I believe Refried Beans, Pepperoni and Beer will also cause this device to alarm.

[lancslad]

I do have experience, and Dennis45 you're right on!!

[powerboatr]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Dogs passing gas will do it too!

my female rotty used to set it off ALOT. as she like laying near it

[Oldone1]

beleave it or not hair spray,cleaners ect. almost anything sprayable will set them off

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by PlayItForwrd

Any gas experts here?

Our Allegro is parked at the boat harbor, it's our home base for the weekends while I fix our houseboat.

It's parked next to a pond, which is at the moment, largely covered in moss. Along the shore is the typical 'water vegetation' like fragmite, bullrush, etc..

So last Sunday the propane detector below the bed starts going off. Did this a couple of times, then just reset itself.

Now, I have a nose for that smell they put in propane. I can smell a propane leak 1/4 mile away. There's no propane leaking.

However, standing behind the motorhome, within a small 'zone' was the distinct, but faint, smell of decomp. We didn't find the source, but people leave dead fish laying around all the time --or it could've been a dead mouse, as I keep mouse blocks under the rig.

OR, it could the moss or vegetation...? Not sure.

I'm no scientist, but I believe decomp creates methane...

But that's not all-!

Earlier Sunday I was checking batteries, and found a cap off one of my 3 house batteries. The cap was nearby, so I topped off the battery with DW and went on my merry way.

So after the second alarm, I start lifting doors to see if I can smell propane, and when I open the batt compartment door, I find the battery I filled earlier smoking and bubbling acid all over the place as the case was now cracked in several places...

SO-- I never found any propane leak. But I did find possibly methane gas, and definitely sulfuric acid gas, which was right below the bedroom btw...

I'm kind of assuming methane may set off a propane detector, but what about sulfuric acid?

Any flammable gas will cause a "propane" detector to sound an alarm. Hairspray is often powered by compressed propane(with no odorant). Yes, the moss-covered pond is producing methane gas. That battery was producing hydrogen gas.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Ditto on the hairspray, also WD-40, don't ask how I know that.

[dduerden]

Note: yes, propane gas is odorless as manufactured, but they do NOT sell it that way. The ethyl mercaptan odorant is added at the refinery or pipeline terminal before it is trucked to distributors. I was in the propane business for 15 years and odorless propane is an urban legend.

You definitely need to figure out why the battery is overcharging though, something else caused it, most likely the 12v converter/charger. If you don't get that fixed it will just cook the next battery too.

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by dduerden

Note: yes, propane gas is odorless as manufactured, but they do NOT sell it that way. The ethyl mercaptan odorant is added at the refinery or pipeline terminal before it is trucked to distributors. I was in the propane business for 15 years and odorless propane is an urban legend.

You definitely need to figure out why the battery is overcharging though, something else caused it, most likely the 12v converter/charger. If you don't get that fixed it will just cook the next battery too.

I agree, it's a myth that propane is available without the ethyl mercaptan or ethanethiol odorant. Any company distributing propane without the odorant would be setting themselves up for a massive lawsuit if it leaked and harmed anyone. The only exception to adding the odorant is when the propane is going to be further refined for other purposes. No RV or home would be exposed to the non-odorized propane product, it's just not available.

Quite a few years ago I remember a RR tanker full of the odorant used in natural gas and propane being transported through the Ohio River valley in Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati area. The tanker was leaking and people flooded 911 with reports of a gas leak. It was determined no gas was present, just the odorant! Made quite a stink, literally and figuratively. As a science teacher I used to distribute the scratch and sniff cards to teach students to recognize the smell and teach what they should do if they detected it.

By the way, a propane detector works on the volitive fumes of propane, not the added odorant. Oddly, propane is feared for its explosive properties when in reality gasoline fumes will ignite at less than half the temperature of propane. It's something like 940º for propane, 430º to 500º for gasoline. In concentrations propane to air of less than 2.2% or greater than 9.6%, propane won't ignite at all!