charcoal briquets in a tent stove.

[SFC B]

We bring a couple of burlap bags of coal each year. We don't usually restoke the fire after we hit the rack.....we all pretty much are warm sleepers with GOOD WARM bags. The coal is there if the weather gets really cold. Nice safety blanket but will cook me right out of my bag

 

[OntarioHunter]

Yes. It was not a good outcome for me (us).

Last night of CO third season in 2002. We were in a 12x15 wall tent with a wood stove. I was the only flatlander in camp out of 3 guys. I was from Ohio at that time, they were both from Denver. The last night we had all tagged out and we were going to break down camp the following morning. I had been taking Diamox all week to help with altitude issues, and was having zero problems. Since we didn't want to haul anything we didn't have to back to Denver, we had a bag of Kingsford that we were going to use to cook outside but never did. We loaded the stove with wood and when it coaled up and everyone was ready to hit the cots, we threw all the charcoal in.

Fast forward to 1:30 am and I wake up with the most intense headache and wanted to vomit. I literally stumbled out of my cot, unzipped the tent and stepped outside. Within seconds of breathing the cold mountain air I started feeling better and within 10 minutes I was feeling pretty normal. I propped the door of the tent open and allowed it to air out. It was at this time my partners woke up and they had headaches as well but not the migraine pounding that I had.

Not sure if we were experiencing some sort of CO poisoning or what but we all basically said never again. And no we did not have any heavy drinking going on before we shut the lights off.

Sounds like CO poisoning. Your tent was too tight and stove/pipe not tight enough. Burning wood would probably have been no less dangerous. Before going to bed always make sure there's a crack at the bottom of the entrance flap so any heavier than air CO gas can escape and fresh air can get in.

Years ago I got back to the tent after a long day moose hunting and desperately needed to eat something. After the fire was started I sat down to quickly cook a can of stew on the portable barbecue, not wanting to wait for the stove to get hot enough to cook. I fell asleep sitting at the barbecue ... and almost didn't wake up! Burning stew smell and screaming headache brought me to my feet and I almost fell over. Scooped my Lab off the cot, threw her towards the flap and staggered outside. She seemed okay (cot was against the wall on opposite side of the tent) but I wasn't. I never again fired up that barbecue inside the tent. Should have known even cooking with it was dangerous. When I was growing up hunters died every year using the cooking range in their campers to heat them at night.

 

[marksjeep]

If I'm going to be camped near the truck I'll use these compressed wood logs in the stove. A 40# sack is about 5 bucks at the co-op. I have a pretty small stove, and usually burn about 1/2 a sack per night, depending on how I manage the fire. A couple of bucks a night to heat the tent without having to cut wood works for me. There are no binders in the logs and they are produced locally.

https://www.muscanell.com/woodchucks-fire-logs/

Regards to CO poisoning, getting fresh air is usually not enough. Treatment often requires 100% O2 and/or O2 in a hyperbaric chamber. CO binds to hemoglobin very effectively, and once it does, it is very difficult to remove. That's one of the reasons it's so dangerous.

I won't run a stove or propane heater in a tent without a CO and smoke detector in there. AA battery powered units cost a few bucks.

 

[elkhnter]

Don’t know that I’d burn coal in a stove made for wood. Coal burns a lot hotter and could warp the metal. Old coal stoves for homes are usually cast iron not plain metal. Hate to ruin a $300 stove.

 

[pre6422hornet]

Sounds like CO poisoning. Your tent was too tight and stove/pipe not tight enough. Burning wood would probably have been no less dangerous. Before going to bed always make sure there's a crack at the bottom of the entrance flap so any heavier than air CO gas can escape and fresh air can get in.

Years ago I got back to the tent after a long day moose hunting and desperately needed to eat something. After the fire was started I sat down to quickly cook a can of stew on the portable barbecue, not wanting to wait for the stove to get hot enough to cook. I fell asleep sitting at the barbecue ... and almost didn't wake up! Burning stew smell and screaming headache brought me to my feet and I almost fell over. Scooped my Lab off the cot, threw her towards the flap and staggered outside. She seemed okay (cot was against the wall on opposite side of the tent) but I wasn't. I never again fired up that barbecue inside the tent. Should have known even cooking with it was dangerous. When I was growing up hunters died every year using the cooking range in their campers to heat them at night.

I would agree except we burned wood every night for the previous 5 or 6 nights with no ill effect. Either way it was pretty scary.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I would agree except we burned wood every night for the previous 5 or 6 nights with no ill effect. Either way it was pretty scary.

Yes, there must be a difference between the two fuels. When I was stationed in Seoul back in the early seventies, literally thousands of people died every winter from CO poisoning. The primary source of heating homes for poor to middle class (which were still very poor by North American standards) was charcoal (made, I was told, from compressed baked human excrement). And those shanties were anything but air tight! The charcoal "briquette" was a round cylinder maybe fifteen inches across and ten inches high with holes through it lengthways. Delivered to the door and burned in a specially designed very small stove.