Diesel heaters, cookers and hot water systems all emit carbon monoxide and this needs to be taken seriously – but is not a cause for real worry.
To start with a well tuned diesel heater emits around 300ppm CO, a well tuned diesel cooker is as low as 30ppm, this can be compared to a diesel vehicle which is around 30 – 500ppm and a petrol vehicle which is around 30,000ppm. The relatively low levels of CO in diesel appliance exhaust, whilst deserving respect are not nearly as dangerous as a petrol engine.
For example, if you operate a well tuned diesel heater in a small room without venting the exhaust outside – something you should never do, it takes quite a long time to even register on a CO monitor/alarm let alone actually set off the CO alarm.
Dieselheat mitigates the risk of CO in a number of ways:
RV Air heaters: The base of the air heater and exhaust connection is below the floor of the caravan meaning that all exhaust componentry is outside. We always replace all gaskets in heaters when servicing them and so overall the risks of CO inside are very low.
Marine Heaters: We always recommend using a proper marine exhaust with high quality clamps, sealed muffler and lagging. These exhausts cost more, but provide a very secure way of exiting the exhaust out of the boat safely. We DO NOT recommend using RV style exhaust and mufflers in boats.
Cookers and Hot Water: These systems do have internal exhaust connections which need to be secured carefully and lagged. We use high quality exhaust pipe and clamps and all mufflers are outside to minimise the risk of leaks inside the vehicle.
Portable Heaters: Our portables should always be used outside with the hot air ducted inside.
