Don't take an 'out' BBQ in to a tent/ boat cabin

[shakeitoffshakeacocktail]

Posting on AIBU purely for traffic

NEVER take a BBQ that has been 'out' for a few hours into a tent for warmth.

The carbon monoxide will kill you.

This type of death is VERY common and I just want to spread awareness

The BBQ continues to give off carbon monoxide for hours after going 'out'

You need ventilation for gas cooking stoves and gas heaters too

I remember reading of one , people had used a disposable barbecue inside their home and died from carbon monoxide poisoning.i think it was in a tower block in Birmingham.

Do you mean those disposable ones? I don't understand. Why would you bring a used bbq into a tent anyway?

No OP doesn’t mean a disposable one, I presume she means more of a camping stove type
with gas?

Sorry maybe OP does mean a dispBBQ,

Worthwhile post OP.

It might not just be disposable barbecues, e.g. we have a Cobb, which still shouldn't be brought inside even once it's been out out completely.

You mean an extinguished BBQ OP

Yes you are correct, although I will say when we went camping we had a wood burner in our tent with a flu and people didnt really understand that. Perfectly safe and we had a carbon monoxide monitor hanging from the central pole in any case.

Good post, if you’ve never been told then how would you know?

Not just inside, close to the entrance is also a big risk. This happened to me. I was sitting on the inside of the tent. Disposable bbq just outside the tent near the entrance, friend sitting fully on the outside. Wind must have directed the carbon monoxide my way because I was so so poorly for so many hours (having not eaten any bbq so was definitely not food poisoning) I hate how stupid I was and am thankful for how lucky I was. I almost decided to stay in the tent post bbq, friend talked me into going for a walk instead. Had he not, things could have been so much worse.

Wow, I had no idea! I’d never bring a still warm bbq into a tent anyway because I’ve always assumed there was a fire risk. Thank for the info.

Terrible case a few years ago.

IIRC a small group of lads celebrating their A-levels or the like and having a camp-out in one of the family gardens, brought the disposable BBQ into the tent to warm it for the night.

All dead in the morning.

Just awful.

Why is my oven in my kitchen safe but If I bring in a portable oven from outside it's not safe? I don't understand.

God, that's awful @PerkingFaintly.

I'm going to talk to DS about this tomorrow.

Your gas oven is only safe if there is certain minimum amount of ventilation to the kitchen.

There are regulations about this.

If, as happened in my kitchen, it transpires someone has taped plastic over that nasty chilly air vent behind a cupboard, then your CO alarm will keep going off when you have the oven for more than a very short period.

So, baked potatoes needed an open window in my house until I found and re-opened the air vent.

Because any carbon monoxide from a gas oven should be easily ventilated away. If it is giving off large amounts of carbon monoxide it is due to a fault or not enough air.

Unfortunately it seems to happen every year, inexperienced campers get cold and use a gas cooker inside the tent or a BBQ and sadly die in the night.
I used to sell the little cookers and would always tell every customer not to take them inside the tent, most didn't have a clue.
Thankfully most campsites have noticed around warning people now too.

@Poopeepoopee, I think it's because your oven will either be electric (so there won't be any incomplete combustion) or gas (so there won't be any incomplete combustion once the gas has been turned off).

Whereas barbecue briquettes can seem to be distinguished, but there could actually still be some incomplete combustion happening and carbon monoxide being produced.

https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/six-deaths-from-co-from-the-use-of-barbecues-in-the-last-year/

Because your oven isn't burning solid fuel

I have lost both a friend and a family member to carbon monoxide poisoning in different circumstances - one from a barbecue while camping and one from a faulty boiler . Please spread the word and don't assume people know. Have carbon monoxide alarms and take one on holiday with you too.

Was this post prompted by the current case in Scotland? (apologies for the dreadful advert laden link).

Thankfully there is a much more education around now around this matter. DoE are informing all their students. MoD are also educating and CO monitors are more commonly used. There has been incidents in the military caused by fires being too close to tents, vehicles also. This is a message that cannot be repeated enough, until everyone is aware.

Many people do no realise that even when the BBQ appears extinguished, there is often combustion still occurring deep in the coals/ash that continue to produce CO, as long as there is heat, available oxygen is being used and CO is being produced. Permanently installed items such as cookers and heaters are vented and exhausted, but still require regular testing, maintenance and use of CO monitoring to be safe.

Be safe, and spread the message to anyone you know that camps.

Anything burning a carbon-based fuel (gas, charcoal, coal, wood...) will produce CO2 (carbon dioxide) as one of its products of combustion. The burning doesn't have to be flames – charring will do just as well.

If there is inadequate supply of oxygen (usually in the form of ordinary fresh air) coming into the space where the burning is taking place, then instead of CO2 the combustion will start forming CO (carbon monoxide - because not enough O).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning

@Justyouwaitandseeagain how awful. I'm so very sorry.

Good to raise awareness on this. The sad case reported above of the couple from West Lothian prompted me to remind teen DS about this as he’s planning on camping with friends this summer. It’s one of those “if you didn’t know you didn’t know” things isn’t it.

Yes it was prompted by the West Lothian case. Unfortunately I very much remember a similar case with a mother, father and 2 children taking a BBQ into a boat cabin and all dying. It was close to where i live.

Imagine your young adults in the family going on a camping trip it's not just them who needs to know but the whole party.

You could be a sleep and a friend could do it, thinking it was a good idea.

Some people think its obvious, some people have never thought about it but deaths will keep happening until it's common knowledge

thanks for this, never thought about it