Gas detector

[Smd]

Here come the newbie question. My apologies in advance but let me start by saying this is all new to me. Love all the thing I can do with my ELK but I need to learn everything. Yes everything so please don't be annoyed with me.

The gas detector are brand Macurco, hope the guy at the store didn't lie, he said it was a very good brand. I get a gas trouble message on my keypad but not consistently. Over the past month it comes and goes. I have 2 of them but the one on the main floor seems to be causing the message. The manufacturer date shows 2008 so they should still be good.

Going to the Macurco, I have the red and black for power, green is comm and yellow is relay NC. Why the gas trouble message. The elk is set as Gas.

Did I miss something.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Is an EOL resistor supposed to be in line the way you have it set in Elk RP?  Are both detectors on separate zones?

 

[pete_c]

Welcome to the forum SMD!
 
I have a natural gas line going to my stove and dryer on the main floor of the home and one going to the water heater and furnace in the basement and another one going outside to the grill.
 
If you use natural gas or propane you could double check your connections on the main floor anyways as it could be causing an issue.  I am thinking too that they make "gas sniffers"such that you can get really granular testing to check.

 

[Smd]

I'm thinking that gas trouble means the gas device is having some kind of issue and not that gas is in the house. Is this correct to determine?

 

[pete_c]

Not really but your choices are:
 
1 - check the wiring (EOL) stuff that was mentioned previously
2 - use a portable gas detector to check if there is a real leak
3 - put a longer wire on the detector and check for the same or not leak with the portable gas detector - guessing also it would tell you how sensitive the device was.
 
Now if you have already checked with a portable gas detector and found no leak; then its the wiring and or a bad device?
 
This would rule out if the gas detector is failing, wiring configuration is messed up or gas detector is correct and you do have a leak.
 
Here in the midwest you can call the natural gas company and they will send someone over to check with a portable gas tester without charging you for a service call.
 
All of the above is best guesstimate.  Many years ago I called the gas company thinking I had a leak.  It wasn't gas that I smelled in my home though; as it turned out to be an influx of CO from the top of the water heater after I installed a whole house fan in the attic.

 

[michelkenny]

The gas detectors I installed were from a different manufacturer, but they say the detectors should be replaced after 5 or 6 years. Could this be the case?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Also, you can test the detector locally.  Power it up and check the output contacts with a multimeter on resistance.

 

[Smd]

Thanks guys, I will work on this tomorrow but I have another question. If it was a leak, wouldn't the siren go off? If I press on a lighter to leak gas under the unit the siren goes off.

 

[newalarm]

Macurco is 3M. Those were the ones i was going to get, but have not yet due to the price... They are not cheap. There did not seem to be a whole lot of options for gas leak detectors.
 
I would definitely call gas company, I was under the impression that they will come and test for free as well, make sure you don't have a gas leak.
 
Did you place this unit correctly per manufacturer's instructions?
 
Make sure also you have it set to proper NC on RP. I was getting trouble on my p212s, and found out that it was not set as manual recommendations.