Charcoal and Carbon Monoxide *****


 

Russell McNeely

TVWBB Wizard
Yesterday I came home from work and made dinner on the kettle as I often do. Recently I've been cooking in the driveway because we are currently in a burn ban due to very little rainfall and hot weather (a whole other story). Anyway, after I finished I put the lid on the kettle, closed the vents and went in and ate dinner. A couple of hours later I moved my grill into the garage for the night and closed the garage door. I know this is probably not the safest thing to do but that's what I've done the last few cooks. I went to bed around 10:00 p.m. About 10:45, I was awakened by the sound of our carbon monoxide detecter which is mounted in the hallway. This is the first time it has ever gone off since we've lived in this house (about 3 yrs). I suspected the charcoal grill was probably the culprit here, so I went and moved the grill outside to the backyard and after a little discussion with my wife about it, we decided to go back to bed. Well, about 1:30 a.m. the alarm goes off again. To make this long story a little shorter, at 2:00 a.m. we woke the kids up, and drove 6 miles to my dad's house and spent the rest of the night there. Today we had the gas company come out and check out the house and it appears that the charcoal was likely the source of the CO.

I've never really given it much thought before, but apparently a charcoal fire does produce a lot of carbon monoxide. Here is one article I came across that warns of the dangers of CO poisoning and charcoal. Pretty scary.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with everyone. There are probably others out there like me who haven't given much thought to this issue.
 
Great Post Russ, thankfully the story ends well. Thanks for reminding us, with the amount of grilling/smoking we all do it's important to use common sense and take all precautions we can. I haven't really worried about Carbon monoxide although I do have a fire extinguisher close by.
 
your grill was most likely the culprit.

good move going to your dads
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There have been several stories in the newspaper about people using charcoal grills to heat their house during the winter. Several people have died because of this. You did good,no one got hurt and you learned a valuable lesson
 

 

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