Carbon Monoxide detector

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Barry
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Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by Barry »

Last week my son and I were flying back to Oregon from Boulder, CO. We stopped for gas about 3 hours into the trip in Burley, ID. About 30 minutes into the next leg, we had the carbon monoxide detector in our 2007 XL light-up. Never saw this before. I've seen it on the ground right after start-up, but never in the air. The plane was only about 50 hours out of annual when everything was inspected. We immediately went on oxygen and then started to play around with it, trying to reset it opening and closing vents and windows (we did not open the hatch, which is in fact permitted for this type of emergency). The alarm would come and go, but mostly remained on for the next 20 minutes or so. We elected to land in Boise, ID in order to check it out and possibly wait out a line of thunderstorms which were developing. The service manager at the FBO said he could check it with a portable instrument, but obviously this would not help on the ground. I then asked him if they had one of the cheap colorimetric devices available for purchase so we could do a direct comparison when we continued our flight (knowing that we could stay on oxygen all the way home if necessary). He pointed me to the pilot shop, gave me a club car and 15 minutes later I returned with the detector. When we got done with filing a new routing to avoid the storms, we took off and waited to see what would happen. We never saw the alarm again, and the colorimetric dot never changed color over the remaining flight nor in about 10 hours since. Has anyone ever seen this happen before?

Thanks,

Barry
N984ES 2007 DA40XL 40.827
KHIO - Hillsboro, OR
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smoss
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by smoss »

mine will occasionally light up for a few secs or minutes if idling on the ground with a quartering tailwind of just the right strength, then go out as soon as I turn or take off. Never had it light up in the air. You did not mention mucking with the heat at all. Remember, that is usually the source of CO in the cabin as the heat exchanger is essentially a box around the exhaust collector, and a leak there will go straight into the heated air. Closing the vents, of course, would have no effect on a problem from the heater, only turning off the heat would stop it.
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Barry
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by Barry »

Steve... heat was off. First thing we checked. The vents and windows might have helped in a real situation since the solution to pollution is dilution (in this case!)

Barry
N984ES 2007 DA40XL 40.827
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Steve
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by Steve »

Rarely, mine has alarmed at a very low level, on the ground. I have a CO Guardian 553 unit, so I get more than just the alarm, but also the level in PPM. Never has gone off in the air.

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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by trepine »

I've had mine alarm a few times, always felt it was a false alarm so I installed one of the cheap $10 ones (Quantum Eye Carbon Monoxide Detector) on the panel below my PFD, if my electronic one ever alarms I monitor the other one to see if it also indicates or not...cheap peace of mind.
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rwtucker
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by rwtucker »

I think there are to different models of CO2 detectors on our DA40s. One is integrated with the software, the other is a standalone that provides a visual flashing on the panel. Mine is the latter. Which one are we talking about possibly malfunctioning here?
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by Nirbm01 »

Barry - I have also 2007 and on mine the alarm is coming on sometime (Blinking red CO on the detector) usually when it is very hot day, I did put in the cheap CO sticker and it was never turn the color to show CO even when the Alarm came on.

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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by Chris »

rwtucker wrote:I think there are two different models of CO2 detectors on our DA40s. One is integrated with the software, the other is a standalone that provides a visual flashing on the panel. Mine is the latter. Which one are we talking about possibly malfunctioning here?
Barry and I have the standalone panel-mounted red lamp/button which is mounted next to the small ELT planel in front of the right seat.
Nirbm01 wrote:Barry - I have also 2007 and on mine the alarm is coming on sometime (Blinking red CO on the detector) usually when it is very hot day
We've seen this exact behavior several times in hot weather while on the ground. Barry's recent trip was the first time either of us have seen it happen in the air. Since it occurred on a warm day after a long trip from Colorado to Idaho, I'm guessing the sensor simply acts flaky when it gets above a certain temperature. If there is a different sensor which is compatible with our XL, that might be the best option.
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by BkFlyer »

My co-owner has also experienced these false positives with the integrated CO detector in our 2007 XL. There are also a few notes about it in the airframe logbook. I think the integrated detector in this model might be just a bit too sensitive. I think it poses a dangerous situation because if the alarm is known for false alarms, pilots might not take it seriously when there is a real issue.

The first thing I bought for this airplane was a backup CO detector for $7. Now when the alarm goes off, we immediately check the backup (which has never changed color).

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/p ... ectors.php
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Re: Carbon Monoxide detector

Post by rwtucker »

It could be useful to bring a "home" version CO2 detector with a digital readout onboard. Some of these units are pretty accurate and have battery backup. You could compare the digital readout with the blinking of the panel detector. It would not be the first time that mass-produced non-aviation products turned out to be superior to our "FAA certified" aircraft components.
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