Wood burning stoves and carbon monoxide

[North]

I primarily heat my house with wood and I have a Cabela's Bighorn III with a wood stove. Now I'm looking at getting a packable titanium stove to use in my Mountainsmith LT tent. I've searched around regarding carbon monoxide using wood stoves and haven't really found any definitive answers. I found some people saying you'll get smoked out long before you'll die from carbon monoxide when burning wood but I did find at least one case where someone died in a house from carbon monoxide from a wood stove. Generally single wall tents are built with plenty of ventilation built in (my Mountainsmith is off the ground a few inches around the perimiter), but I saw that Seek Outside was recommending sealing the perimiter of their tents with a layer of snow for more insulation. And most tents have some ventilation and that doesn't stop people from dying using unsafe propane heaters in them.

I do run a carbon monoxide detector in my Bighorn when car camping just in case, but I was just wondering if it's ever really a concern. I know plenty of people do it without issue, but carbon monoxide poisoning is just such a boring way to die I want to be sure it's not something I need to worry about so I can concentrate on being scared of being eaten by a bear in my tent instead.

 

[codym]

My wife is super worried about this. She swears I tried to kill her when I first got my wall tent and didn't use enough stove pipe and we got a smokey tent. Interested to hear what others have to say.

 

[ChrisS]

I primarily heat my house with wood and I have a Cabela's Bighorn III with a wood stove. Now I'm looking at getting a packable titanium stove to use in my Mountainsmith LT tent. I've searched around regarding carbon monoxide using wood stoves and haven't really found any definitive answers. I found some people saying you'll get smoked out long before you'll die from carbon monoxide when burning wood but I did find at least one case where someone died in a house from carbon monoxide from a wood stove. Generally single wall tents are built with plenty of ventilation built in (my Mountainsmith is off the ground a few inches around the perimiter), but I saw that Seek Outside was recommending sealing the perimiter of their tents with a layer of snow for more insulation. And most tents have some ventilation and that doesn't stop people from dying using unsafe propane heaters in them.

I do run a carbon monoxide detector in my Bighorn when car camping just in case, but I was just wondering if it's ever really a concern. I know plenty of people do it without issue, but carbon monoxide poisoning is just such a boring way to die I want to be sure it's not something I need to worry about so I can concentrate on being scared of being eaten by a bear in my tent instead.

I wouldn't worry about it at all.

A) It's just not possible to run a packable titanium stove all night long while you sleep soundly for 8 hours as the tent slowly fills with CO. They're good for about 40 minutes without a stoke and they go out. Propane heaters run all night and don't (always) have a chimney.

B) They run super hot (complete combustion) and the chimney creates a heckuva draw. That combined with the tent/tipi not being airtight, it will forcefully expel any significant CO right through the chimney. In order to run hot, the stove needs a constant supply of 02.

Worst case scenario is that some of your clothes might smell like smoke.

I would worry more about a tree falling over on me in the middle of the night while I blissfully dream of giant antlers.

 

[codym]

I wouldn't worry about it at all.

A) It's just not possible to run a packable titanium stove all night long while you sleep soundly for 8 hours as the tent slowly fills with CO. They're good for about 40 minutes without a stoke and they go out. Propane heaters run all night and don't (always) have a chimney.

B) They run super hot (complete combustion) and the chimney creates a heckuva draw. That combined with the tent/tipi not being airtight, it will forcefully expel any significant CO right through the chimney. In order to run hot, the stove needs a constant supply of 02.

Worst case scenario is that some of your clothes might smell like smoke.

I would worry more about a tree falling over on me in the middle of the night while I blissfully dream of giant antlers.

I'm telling my wife to read this, well everything except the part about the tree falling, if I do all I will hear about is how a tree could fall any second and kill her........

 

[North]

Do NOT tell her about bears.

 

[codym]

We have seen a bunch of bears on our elk hunts, she seems ok with them as long as we aren't walking back in the dark. About 30 min until sundown she starts losing her shit! lol

 

[swisski]

You will be 100% just fine in a lightweight packable tent and wood stove. You would need to create extremely specific conditions for this to even be a threat, and that would be almost impossible to do with any of these small, lightweight hot tents. Get one and enjoy it!

 

[Bronc]

If you’d be more comfortable with a detector, they make some the size of a key fob. Google “Pocket CO KWJ 72-9021 “. I’ve never tried this one, so I can’t attest to its quality.

 

[FlyGuy]

Yeah, bring a detector if that makes her feel better, but I don't know how it could ever be a problem. They just don't burn long enough. 30-60 min max depending on quality of fuel.

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[North]

I ended up getting a Lite Outdoors stove, it just arrived today. Thanks for the info on the mini detector. Sounds like I’m safe with this setup but would be nice to have for other conditions. Thanks everyone.

 

[FlyGuy]

Great choice. I have one of theirs myself. You probably know this, but make sure you do a "burn in" at home before taking it out. It is a real PITA to get the pipe rolled into a chimney shape the 1st time. But after the 1st burn it will have memory and jump into place effortlessly.

Also, I like to (carefully) run some sandpaper along all the edges of the metal sheeting to remove the burrs. Sliding your bare hand down that chimney pipe in the dark trying to install or remove those rings will give you a "paper cut" to remember if you get too close.

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