Oh goodness me!!! The Cabin A is poisoning me...I already knew I had pine and rag weed problems, but I keep getting sicker and sicker everytime I go camping...AND when I turn the CO detector on, it goes off for NO reason...especially when hot outside...a former Aliner dealer man told me the detector needed calibrating...no place to calebrate it, It has had 2 since I bought it...so not an old detector...
I did a Google search on FEMA trailers making people sick, and low and behold it is the same symptoms I am having. I am ordering a testing kit and going to get to the bottom of this.
Aliner just got back to me and said they had no reports of this and want over $800 to change out my bubble windows for opening ones...NO THANKS!! But back when Colemans were having trouble with ABS roofs, a dealer down near Baltimore on US 40 told me that they had not heard of any problems...yeah right!!!
Paula, since you bought this trailer used, is there anyway to contact the original owners to see if they became sick? Maybe check on one of the Aliner forums. Sure wish you could resolve this and feel better.
The owner only used it a time or two, he was in his 80's. I bought it from a dealer...who could not get the carbon monoxide detector to quit squalking, so they put in a kill switch AFTER putting in a new detector...that is a problem reported buy aliner owners. A former dealer contacted me about that after I asked the question and followed suggestions they gave...he said that it was calibration of the detectors and the dealer should have reset it...I looked and there is no place to calebrate anything, so something IS going on with Aliners, at least the ones in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Maybe earlier...I quit asking because all I got was a lot of suggestions and nothing short of keeoing the kill switch on off worked...that was the main reason I moved the battery out to the tongue, I thought that the battery acids might be leaking out and causing the detector to go off (a sugggestion made to me).
I am NOT into chemistry, so I have no idea if a carbon monoxide detector would go off with formaldahyde, I did a search but could not find an answer. What I did find was report after report that says that the FEMA trailers as well as other trailers built near the same time were making people sick, and it was found from testing that it is formaldahyde. Dan Rather has done a couple of reports on this, as well as other news agencies.
And by cutting the cabinet (again I am not into chemistry and carpentry), but I may have made the problem worse cutting into the paneling and pressed board (the glue from what I understand contains formadahyde)
But if ya read the reports, and check the symptoms, I have the same symptoms mostly, and the longer I stay in the trailer (as in Myrtle Beach for a week) the sicker I get...ASTHMA...something I did not have that much of (cold weather would get me going (like little Georgia) as would cigarette smoke, but only rarely and Pine which causes a sinus irrritation that goes into an infection) until AFTER I bought this trailer...suddenly EVERYTHING bothers me, I go home weak and sick everytime I use the Cabin A. I used the Bantam primarly last year and was not as sick, until the MB vacation.
Sounds like this is what you have. Now, what is the solution? Not camping in the camper? That would be such a shame. There must be something you can do. Getting sick while camping is not an option either.
What about the new mattress that you got? That may have some fumes too.
Let us know what you find out.
I found a phone number of the company who did the FEMA testing for the CDC, I ordered a kit, it will be in the mail today, so I should have it in a few days, from Boca Raton Florida. I will follow the directions, it is a dosometer, and then mail it back to them and they will mail me a certified report of what they found.
IF it is formaldahyde, I was getting very very sick before I added the mattress. I will be contacting A-liner and fax them a copy and a copy to the CDC.
What do I want?? an opening bubble window at a REASONABLE price and maybe one of those fantastic vents, the Aliner and Chalets are a special size. I do not mind paying, I just do not like to be taken to the cleaners.
They may give you a problem because you are not the original owner. They may do the right thing but sometimes they are particular about 2nd owners.
Quote from: SheBantamI found a phone number of the company who did the FEMA testing for the CDC, I ordered a kit, it will be in the mail today, so I should have it in a few days, from Boca Raton Florida. I will follow the directions, it is a dosometer, and then mail it back to them and they will mail me a certified report of what they found.
IF it is formaldahyde, I was getting very very sick before I added the mattress. I will be contacting A-liner and fax them a copy and a copy to the CDC.
What do I want?? an opening bubble window at a REASONABLE price and maybe one of those fantastic vents, the Aliner and Chalets are a special size. I do not mind paying, I just do not like to be taken to the cleaners.
John, of that I know. they don't even want to talk to me. There is a PA Dr. in the house, but no PA lawyers that I know of...
Paula
A lot of smaller RV trailers have formaldehyde in there panels and insulation. The FEMA TT were built for the so purpose of an RV TT and as such they are only meant to be lived in for a short period (IE few days or a week) they where not meant to be lived in. These trailers need a good amount of air exchange from open windows to AC or powered vents. This is why so many people are having these problems. FW just saw the money and took a chance on people reacting to the chemicals from inside a closed trailer.
Your best bet would be to install a powered vent and have it running while you are camping. this will change out the air in your unit and hopefully you will not have any more problems.
I don't think the manufacture has done something wrong. its just that you are more sensitive to it.
just my 2 cents
good luck
Just about any synthetic material that you can think of has formaldehyde in it, including carpet, wood paneling, upholstery, curtains, laminate flooring, insulation etc.
I think that if you have a low tolerance for formaldehyde (as do I) you may have a hard time moving into a new home as well.
Sorry to hear that you're having a hard time with it but I think that Recumbentman is right about increasing the circulation in the trailer. I'm not sure that you can hold the manufacturer responsible for your personal intolerance to formaldehyde though. :sombraro:
Thanks guys, what I want is better ventilation at a DECENT price...to change out the solid closed bubble windows, they want between 800 and 900 dollares. these are glorified skylights. Glued on glorified skylights...I know they make the glorified glued on skylights that open. I need ventilation from front to back.
I have been thinking about one of those Fantastic fan vents and there is a place to buy them for Aliners and Chalets. About $250 plus installation. For me putting it in is not the problem, it is the wiring...do not know how to wire through a trailer that has virtually no frame...unless I run the wiring where it can be seen. I have one of those square AC/DC fans and was thinking about mounting that inside the vent opening and plugging in.
All I want is the opening front windows and/or fan vent at a decent price. I would pay $400 or $500 for the windows and to be put in, but I just cannot go the $800 plus that Aliner wants.
Come to think of it, when I turtled my Bantam I get very sick, but not when it is open...remember how sick I got at Little Pines? I think I was turtled there and was in from like Thursday to Sunday, went home a day early because I was so sick...I pull that baby through the circle drive around the back of the house. The cabin A I have to back in
here is another question:
Battery was moved to the tongue, gas is shut off, I do not use the stove inside and run an electric heater, when necessary, and only run the gas heat when dry camping...It is on the off position mot of the time, unless being used.
Why is the carbon monoxide detector going off?
I have had three since the day I bought the trailer, the dealer put in 2 that day as it kept going off, and then they mailed me another one when that one kept going off...Delivery was held up a little because they had to put in a kill switch, NOT at my request but because they could not get the detector to stop going off when the trailer was closed up.
Aliner Owners Forum also has that as a problem with a lot of Aliners.
The newer models of what used to be called Cabin A have the fantastic fan as standard...that tells me that they know they have a ventilation problem
Why do I have to keep my CO detector turned off?? What would make it beep when the trailer is closed up? I cannot see any facts where formaldahyde would, but I am NOT a chemist.
Quote from: SheBantamhere is another question:
Battery was moved to the tongue, gas is shut off, I do not use the stove inside and run an electric heater, when necessary, and only run the gas heat when dry camping...It is on the off position mot of the time, unless being used.
Why is the carbon monoxide detector going off?
I have had three since the day I bought the trailer, the dealer put in 2 that day as it kept going off, and then they mailed me another one when that one kept going off...Delivery was held up a little because they had to put in a kill switch, NOT at my request but because they could not get the detector to stop going off when the trailer was closed up.
Aliner Owners Forum also has that as a problem with a lot of Aliners.
The newer models of what used to be called Cabin A have the fantastic fan as standard...that tells me that they know they have a ventilation problem
Why do I have to keep my CO detector turned off?? What would make it beep when the trailer is closed up? I cannot see any facts where formaldahyde would, but I am NOT a chemist.
There are solar vents available. I had them on my boat and they ran day & night. No wiring needed. They aren't expensive, they're easy to install. They move quite a bit of air but you may need 2 of them.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SiteSearchView?dispName=Ventilation&jspStoreDir=wm51&catalogId=10001&Ntt=Vents&N=377+710+1657&langId=-1&page=CategoryDisplayLevel1&omniTag=Category%3aVents&storeId=10001As for your CO detector, I would think that it would be illegal for the manufacturer or one of their dealers to put a "kill switch" on it. The CO detector is required by law and to circumvent it seems pretty dangerous to me.
I think that I would sit down and write the manufacturer a letter and ask them to explain this action
IN WRITING. I wouldn't except any explanation over the phone. If that thing is going off and replacements keep going off, that would tell me that the air inside the trailer may have leathal amounts of carbon monoxide in it. I would want that resolved.
Get the manufacturer of the CO detector involved. Turning off the detector is surely not the right solution. I think what they did was outrageous (at least) and may be illegal.
Interesting gadget, if I were brave, I would cut a hole between the 2 bubble windows and open the roof vent...but my husband is balking at the idea of cutting a hole and we don't have a 4" nicro opening to retrofit...I wonder how much a dealer would want to put a hole between the eyes and give my Cabin A a literal Nose???
I stopped by my local (NOT Aliner) dealer and talked to the service department. yes these are the guys who put my awning on backwards, and lost one of my wheel chucks and I am not sure what else...
We talked about the Nicro vent and they are hesitant to bore another hole in my trailer. I understand...
So I ordered a Fantastic Vent that is specific to Aliners. That is in the mail.
The service Dept said that I should put in an oscillating fan, open the windows and turn on the vent, that should ventilate the camper well.
I ordered a Fantastic Vent last night and hopefully it will be shipped soon.
Would it help to run an air purifier in the camper? When you use it and when it is being stored... I am not sure, but maybe it would help with some of the fumes? I know you can find smallish ones that might do the trick... Just a thought. (http://bestsmileys.com/clueless/4.gif)
Good luck with everything with the camper. I am sorry you're having this reaction, it must be really frustrating.
Hi Jill,,I researched that and there are special filters for this. I run Ionic pro type filters at home and at work and have a small one that also works on 9 volt, but it is not a specialized hepa, so I am not sure how effective it would be...it is more like a dust magnet. Quiet yes, effective ???? for this. But thanks for the suggestion. It was something I had thought about also.
Slicer's service manager also told me that Formaldahyde, perfumes and even powdered carpet freshners have been known to set off CO detectors in trailers...so that may be my problem with the detector going off. Perfumes (most) have carriers like Toluene a toxic chemical (not labeled as toxic, of course, because it is part of the trade secret products used in each individual scent), and I am not sure what the carpet freshners have in them...
My fantaisc Vent is in, sitting in a chair inthe living room, waiting to be moved to the camper. Surgery is scheduled for May 23rd, the surgey on the camper to install the fantasic vent...minor operation, about an hour. I had conduit (the sticky type that sticks to floors, walls and hopefully ceilings) left over from my remove the nightstand-turn it into a bed mod.
There is no real framework to one of these trailers, so they will have to run the wire along the ceiling and no ceiling light (again, no real framework to mount a light, so the wire will have to be run to the galley, about 3 feet., have 2 lights there, one over the sink and one in the stove hood, so I will be good to go relatively easily.
we just put a fant. fan in our unit, works great!
Thanks Dee, that is what I wanted/needed to hear.
Quote from: SheBantamThanks Dee, that is what I wanted/needed to hear.
it will be easier in yours, because we had to convert it from 12vlts to 110 in ours, you have a light near by to take power from?
They will have to run it to the stove hood about 2 feet, but I have conduit. No lights on the ceiling.
Do you mostly camp with hookups? If so, you might consider buying one of those plug in air filters - I've got one in my home kitchen as well as my bedroom and they make a big difference.
I'd like to say 'I used to have asthma' - went a few years without any aggravations, but this spring has hit me hard - so I know where you are coming from.
When I first bought my Fleetwood, and again when I purchased the Memory Foam topper - I was told to open the windows and 'allow it to air out' the various fumes - including the Formaldahyde. Opened the PUP and windows for 2-3 days (thankfully no rain) and haven't had any issues.
Quote from: PattieAMDo you mostly camp with hookups? If so, you might consider buying one of those plug in air filters - I've got one in my home kitchen as well as my bedroom and they make a big difference.
I'd like to say 'I used to have asthma' - went a few years without any aggravations, but this spring has hit me hard - so I know where you are coming from.
When I first bought my Fleetwood, and again when I purchased the Memory Foam topper - I was told to open the windows and 'allow it to air out' the various fumes - including the Formaldahyde. Opened the PUP and windows for 2-3 days (thankfully no rain) and haven't had any issues.
HI Pattie, welcome.
The Jayco was old when we bought it and I had no issues. The Bantam, like a popup can be aired out well, but the Cabin A is a TT with 2 small windows (the light is good, but they are sliders so the opening for air is small and 2 bubble windows.
Friday the camper gets the fantastic Vent.
My memory foam came from the house after being used for about 3 years, though I did put a new mattress in the camper. But I was getting sick before I put the mattress in.
The radio said that April was the worst pollen counts in recorded history up here in Northen DE. May was only slighter better (than April). I am not sure where Charles County is, but you probably have just as high of counts.
I have one of those filters in each room of the house, some are the ones that you wipe clean, the others have filter. they help some. The Cabin A is so small (11' box, 15 end to end) that when we camped for a week in Myrtle beach (where I got so sick we had to spend our last night there in a motel AND leave a day early) I had to get a small flat screen TV, our regular 13" would have taken up the whole counter. There is not much room for a filter, though I do have one that would fit under the bed AND it had a cigarette lighter connection and electric adapter. There is a cigarette lighter connection also under the bed...way under the bed.
I posted elsewhere here that I e-mailed Aliner with the numbers from the formadahyde test. My trailer is .21 PPM and the EPA says .1 is safe. A division of the CDC says that for people with breathing problems the maximun should be .04 . THat means that my trailer has 5 X the FOrmaldahyde as suggested by CDC, and 2 X as much as what the EPA and American Lung Association Say.
So yes, with my history of chemical sensitivity even before buying this trailer, I was slowly being poisoned and did not realize that it might be the trailer.
Well instead of dissing me this time a very nice man called me at work. I told him that I had pretty much solved the problem that I had spent ling weekends in the trailer 2 weekends in a row and had kept the Fantastic vent on most of the time, and the air on the when the vent was not on. I did not get sick.
He re-imbursed me half (actually a little better than half) for the vent and the installation. he understood that the construction of the Cabin a (very thin plywood with fiberglass or some other plastic sprayed on, with no studs) there was no light to hook the vent up to and they ahd to add wire and go through the wet bath...he even threw in a spare tire holder that mounts to the back bumper.
The check is in my hand today, the call was made on MOnday. The spare tire holder also arrived.
The money will be re-invested...a fantastic vent for the Bantam, which I am taking to Keen Lake. I have thought back and when I turtle with the Bantam, I get sick (that is in cooler weather). So I got enough for another delux (thermostat, in/out) Fantastc vent. I guess this is a project for the rally in a couple/three weeks.
Congradulations Paula.
You can litigate with my vendors anytime. I'm glad you have the camper resolved and can camp in good health. Look forward to seeing you at the rally.
Mike
I made a pre-rally appointment with Slicers, I looked at the pictures on how to install, "fishing" for the electric is not my thing...I will pay...so it will be about $45.00 out of pocket as I bought the "suprise me" 5000rbt. It is made for "standard" roofs but I have no choice in the vent cover color (I chose clear for the Cabin A as the windows are small and the bubbles are brown blocking a lot of light). ANd white on the inside. Hey In save almost $25.00 doing it that way.
Paula, that's great I'm looking forward to seeing it. So I understand, you just replaced one of the windows for the vent in the cabin A. But you'll have it custom installed in the roof of the Bantam. Electric is not my thing either.
Looking forward to the rally. Cheryl's doing a nice job putting everything together.
Mike
No to replace the windows in the Cabin A would have been over $800 plus the trip to the plant in Mt. Pleasant PA.
The Fantastic Vent goes into the roof where the hand crank vent is. because I have a maxx air cover, I cannot get a vent with a remote. I would have to invest in a differnt vent cover. So mine is a habd crank, but has a themostat speed control and in/out switches. 5000rtb
http://members.aol.com/fantasticvent/
Got this link from the aliner/chalet yahoo group.
Dee, they sell a Fantastic vent that uses 110 instead of 12 volt.