I have had an experience that might (or might not) be helpful to your question. On a cold windy night in Colorado, we were camped at the base of the Rockies. We used electric heat, but started the water heater on propane. After a while, the detector went off. After putting on a jacket, changing my pants, and clearing and venting the trailer, all was well for an hour. Then it happened again.
(Long story deleted here).
We finally determined that the strong wind, which was blowing directly against the left side of the trailer, was pushing the water heater exhaust back into the interior of the trailer. As in your case, there was no propane smell, and no propane leak. It turns out that the leak detector will alarm on propane, but also on any number of other gasses, such as hair spray, aerosol WD-40 fumes - and yes, burned propane.
To answer your other question, yes, propane detectors do have a lifetime of 5-7 years. It wouldn't be a bad idea to change it out, just on general principle. But I don't think that was your problem here.
Does any of this sound familiar? I want to emphasize that the wind that day was STRONG. The next day, the wind was still blowing but less strongly, and the problem did not occur.
Bill
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