# Is it dangerous to let dry ice subliminate inside the house? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200 "2024-05-28T22:05:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/21 "2024-05-29T21:28:26Z")
I had heard about that before but thought only a dozen or so people died. I looked it up and it was actually **1700** deaths. Hiding the link due to disturbing medical images, though you don’t see them unless you scroll down a bit: > **Summary** > > [Lake Nyos disaster, Cameroon, 1986: the medical effects of large scale emission of carbon dioxide? - PMC](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1836556/) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/22 "2024-05-29T21:37:58Z")
There was a similar incident on a smaller scale in Cameroon two years before the Lake Nyos disaster (both cases described [here](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/defusing-africas-killer-lakes-88765263/) and in detail in \*Perils of a Restless Planet" by Ernest Zebrowski Jr., who also wrote an excellent book on the Mt. Pelee volcanic eruption in 1902). ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/23 "2024-05-29T21:45:43Z")
I read that the likelihood of it happening again is high, but many of the residents opt not to leave. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/24 "2024-05-29T21:56:55Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > That’s a scary close call, because the reaction was just to get tired. That’s basically what happens with carbon MONoxide poisoning too. I’m convinced that my roommates and I were suffering from low-level carbon monoxide exposure, my senior year in college. The apartment’s windows and doors leaked like sieves. So in January, we put up weatherstripping. And for the next 2 months, we were tired all the time, no matter how much rest we got. After spring break (early March), we felt a lot better. In hindsight, that was because in March, we no longer needed the furnace! Years later, I read an article about CO poisoning and went HOLY SHIT. Re CO2: enough of it could certainly be a problem, as partygoers found out in Russia a few years ago: [Three die in dry-ice incident at Moscow pool party (bbc.com)](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51680049) In Little House On The Prairie, Pa and a friend were digging a well. The friend was working down in the hole, and passed out; Pa had to get down there and drag him back up. Later, he made a bundle with some gunpowder in burlap, lit lt, and tossed it down the hole; the resulting small explosion, he said, would clear out the gas that was heavier than the air. Would that have been CO2? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/25 "2024-05-30T10:27:26Z")
There was a story a while back where a host through a bunch of dry ice into his pool at a party. I think some people died. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/26 "2024-05-30T13:28:18Z")
Is the incident in the post right above yours the one you’re thinking of, or another one? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/27 "2024-05-30T13:33:43Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > In Little House On The Prairie, Pa and a friend were digging a well. The friend was working down in the hole, and passed out; Pa had to get down there and drag him back up. Later, he made a bundle with some gunpowder in burlap, lit lt, and tossed it down the hole; the resulting small explosion, he said, would clear out the gas that was heavier than the air. > > Would that have been CO2? Maybe? Maybe not enough air flow in a narrow hole and exhaled CO2 accumulated? Here’s the story: > **[Chapter 12: Fresh Water to Drink](http://movingtotheprairie.blogspot.com/2012/11/chapter-12-fresh-water-to-drink.html?m=1)** > > "Next morning Pa marked a large circle in the grass near the corner of the house. With his spade he cut the sod inside the circle, and li... ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/28 "2024-05-30T13:35:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Is the incident in the post right above yours the one you’re thinking of, or another one? Missed the pool party link. That was probably it. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200/29 "2024-05-30T14:13:37Z")
CO2, while it is heavier than air, just takes a bit to disperse fully. Those volcanic lakes release the CO2 at ground level so it stays at ground level at first but disperses. Wind, geography all play a role. (Being located at the bottom of a crater doesn’t help.) CO2 from a large chunk of dry ice might pose a risk to a small kid playing on the floor. But if the eventual concentration is harmless, this is going ot be a temporary effect. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-dangerous-to-let-dry-ice-subliminate-inside-the-house/1002200.md?page=1)