Carbon Monoxide poisoning

[Pete Grey]

Having lost a close relative to carbon monoxide poisoning may i remind everyone using a camping stove or similar heating device indoors in an emergency situation can be fatal.

Make sure you have adequate ventilation and get a carbon monoxide detector they are very cheap.

You may have spent hundreds on your preps so don’t take chances for the sake of a few pounds, they don’t call carbon monoxide the silent killer for nothing.

[Mortblanc]

We lost a boy scout troop leader and his son to the same about 15 years ago.

They were trying to heat a small tent using a Coleman stove. They knew better too!

Nothing to traumatize a group of 12-15 year olds like seeing one of their friends taken from a tent cold and dead.

[LAC]

What's the point of those useless heaters when you can't even use them to heat a space for fear of them killing you?

[Straight Shooter]

Simple enough ....as Pete said ..... a carbon monoxide monitor ....(with good batteries) ......as i have said many times on here...you can not smell it ...you can not see it...you can not taste it.... and can't feel it ....only a idiot would be without one....i was once such a idiot (it only takes the one time ) ...but me and mine were very lucky....very lucky....trust me ....BUY ONE...and maintain it ....get a new one every year !

[Pete Grey]

(21 June 2018, 20:57)LAC Wrote: What's the point of those useless heaters when you can't even use them to heat a space for fear of them killing you?

There is nothing wrong with a camping stove or a portable heater if used correctly and safely.

An alternative means of cooking is an essential prep in an event and stoves burning gas or meths are very safe if used with common sense.

Common sense involves assessing any risks, ventilation is essential for any form of combustion and a carbon monoxide detector eliminates the risk of suffocation.

[LAC]

Yes I have a detector and camping stoves which if I use indoors I ventilate the area well and for some time after use. Im talking about the space heaters so if you need to ventilate it makes the space cold kind of self defeating isnt it? So whats the point of them?

[Straight Shooter]

Not sure what you mean LAC ...space heaters or the monitors or both ?

[Mortblanc]

(21 June 2018, 23:30)LAC Wrote: Yes I have a detector and camping stoves which if I use indoors I ventilate the area well and for some time after use. Im talking about the space heaters so if you need to ventilate it makes the space cold kind of self defeating isnt it? So whats the point of them?

It is not just the space heaters that provide gasses, any source of combustion will do the same, even a campfire in your tee-pee without ventilation or the fireplace at home if the flue is defective.

In larger structures there is usually enough air flow to displace the fumes and replace the consumed oxygen, but in a small air tight/water tight tent or shelter, or even a tightly closed small room, monoxide will build up dangerously fast.

You do not have to throw one whole side of the shelter open, just a little air in and out as ventilation is sufficient.

One place I lived a whole family of 6 was removed from a truck bed camper, all of them dead, due to attempting to heat using a charcoal brazier inside the caravan.

In fact, most of the cases I remember were not campers in tents, they were people one would consider "homeless" that were attempting to live in their vehicles or vans using makeshift hobo stoves or heaters.

And by far the most fatalities are in peoples' homes, where the silent killer is due to insufficient venting, clogged flues, and lack of a monoxide shut off system. You shut that house up tight to save money and get cozy and it bites you in the @$$.