[fourteen410]

I enjoy visiting old fire lookouts, guard stations, and cabins, but I've always wondered - how much of a carbon monoxide hazard is it to use the wood burning stoves in these places? Is cracking a door/window sufficient to reduce CO exposure?

[WANative]

As long as the stove and chimney system is in good working order the chance is less that than just sitting around a campfire.

[Randito]

[treeswarper]

I wouldn't think that lookouts are built that tight nor even insulated. It is only recently that woodstoves are vented from the outside and that is due to our new, airtight construction methods.

[Ski]

yeah... what WANative said: as long as your damper/door/flue are all functioning properly there shouldn't be any issues. if the stove has not been used in a great while, check to make sure nothing is obstructing the flue/chimney. (i.e., bird nests, squirrel nests, leaves, etc.) my grandmother cooked on a cast iron wood stove down on East 28th Street until they put I-5 through there in 1960. she somehow managed to not kill any of her eight children (not for want of trying, however.)

[JVesquire]

If your wood stove is producing enough CO2 to kill you, it is producing enough smoke to run you out of the house. Totally different from a gas grill or other appliance.

[fourteen410]

Thanks all!

[WANative]

[Riverside Laker]

CO is odorless, tasteless, and invisible. There are some good resources on the internet that discuss wood burning stoves and CO. CO2 is a different chemical. Some of the advice in this thread is not accurate.

[Randito]

[WANative]

[WANative]

[Randito]

[treeswarper]

I can see another argument brewing. I've heated with a woodstove for some time. My only close call was when a group of people came to my house to stay the night and because they were cold, they messed with the woodstove. It was in an old house so the chimney had one of those metal plates to block the old chimney hole. I had to leave for a little bit. They turned up the temp control on the stove to HIGH and left it. I came back to find the metal plate glowing and the woodstove too hot. I dampered it down and no fires occurred. I'd say that people burning down the lookout or cabin would be more of a worry than dying from whatever poisoning. You know, it could actually be researched on......the internet and maybe some SCIENCE found. I've inhaled a lot of smoke and know of nobody collapsing except when tripping over a rock or obstacle trying to blindly get out of the smoke. Generally, people have to leave because their eyes are in pain and breathing turns into coughing, so they don't pass out. I do get headaches when an area gets overly smoky--that would be another sign/warning that something is amiss.

[treeswarper]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/9688902/Wood-burning-stoves-can-cause-lethal-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-warns-HPA.html More A drafty building will supply an old fashioned wood stove with air so the chimney drafts properly and you won't die. But you can always crack open a window or door or pack a carbon monoxide alarm with you if you are worried. Old fashioned means no vent pipe on the stove that is plumbed to the outside or crawlspace so air is not sucked from inside the building. Think good drafting through a proper chimney.