First Alert Atom Micro

Back in November 2015 we posted a Quick Tip on adding a smoke detector or two inside your cargo bay. (Find it here) This was posted as we felt it is an often overlooked area of the coach for fire protection. The post was simple and quick with a short video.

We are making this post as we received an email from a reader that we thought we would share with you all.

I want to thank you for a post you did in November 2015. You wrote about the smoke detector you placed in your basement. I thought that was a good idea and ordered one and put it in our basement.

A couple of weeks ago I heard a noise coming from the bowels of our rv. I had forgotten about the smoke detector in the basement. When I realized what it was I investigated and saw smoke coming out from behind the water heater. I turned off the electricity to the heater and aired out the basement. It turns out the exterior power switch had fried and started burning the wiring and the insulation.

Your post on your website possible saved us from a much bigger disaster to our full-time home.

I have enjoyed reading your blog and the many suggestions you have given to fellow RVers. Thanks for the suggestions and hope to meet you on the road someday.

Bob F.

A few days after we made the post about adding one to your cargo bay, we helped put out an RV fire. Not kidding, it was only two days after that post. (RV Fire – “A Dog’s Tale”)  Now while that fire was caused by the refrigerator, it still goes to show that you never know where a fire could start in a coach or RV.  We personally have had two electrical issues were smoke was in a bay before we knew anything was going on.

RV Fire

So after having received the above e-mail, we thought that it may be a good idea to make another quick post for those who may not have seen the original quick tip.

To those that did read it…Did you install one or two? (First Alert Micro Atom)

Please be so kind to share this post with others. After all, we are not talking about something that costs a lot of money to do and it just may save you or someone else from a much larger issue.