# Stove burners, room heating, and carbon monoxide **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145 "2016-01-14T16:34:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/21 "2016-01-15T17:13:12Z")
Long cooking stews don’t pose a CO safety problem because the flame is slow and in an excess of oxygen. That open flame is (almost) completely combusting the CH4 to CO2 and H20. That’s why your ( **White SIFL** ) CO detector doesn’t go off. Heat is the safety problem, but again not for stews because they aren’t set on HIGH. Long cooking dishes typically simmer for a long time. That’s quite different from multiple burners (OP said 2 or more) blazing away at their highest rate, for hours at a time. Nothing in a residential kitchen requires that kind of sustained heat output and residential ranges aren’t designed for it. Commercial ranges are different. They’re made for high heat, multiple burner, long duration cooking. And they cost several times what a residential range costs. Smoke detectors are different from CO detectors. They’re looking for particulates (“smoke”) not for chemical compounds (CO). Kitchen is the obvious place for one, since unattended burning food poses a danger of setting the place on fire. Trust me, you really do want to know that’s happening long before clouds of smoke get to the far end of the house. Admittedly, some over-sensitive smoke detectors annoyingly alert whenever you sear a steak, but they should not alert just from normal kitchen duties. Both kinds of detectors are important, and their warnings can save your lives. Defeating them isn’t really a “wise” move. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/22 "2016-01-15T17:15:48Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > How is using a burner for heat any different than using it for cooking? I know many families that cook long cooking stews and other items (as do I). I find it hard to believe that open flame stoves would be approved if there was a CO problem. I have a CO detector in both my apt and my trailer. I’ve occasionally used the burners in the trailer for heat and have never set off the CO monitor which is about 5 feet away. It isn’t. However, using the stove for heat leads to increased use of the stove in addition to cooking, and if there is a potential for excess CO to accumulate because of poor ventilation or inefficient burning then the additional use increases the danger. But a more likely problem is that people will leave the stove unattended for a long period of time when it’s used for heating, even sleeping while the stove is on. That increases the chances of a fire or gas released into the room if the flame goes out. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/23 "2016-01-15T17:32:32Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > Long cooking stews don’t pose a CO safety problem because the flame is slow and in an excess of oxygen. That open flame is (almost) completely combusting the CH4 to CO2 and H20. That’s why your ( **White SIFL** ) CO detector doesn’t go off. > > Heat is the safety problem, but again not for stews because they aren’t set on HIGH. Long cooking dishes typically simmer for a long time. That’s quite different from multiple burners (OP said 2 or more) blazing away at their highest rate, for hours at a time. Nothing in a residential kitchen requires that kind of sustained heat output and residential ranges aren’t designed for it. Commercial ranges are different. They’re made for high heat, multiple burner, long duration cooking. And they cost several times what a residential range costs. > > Smoke detectors are different from CO detectors. They’re looking for particulates (“smoke”) not for chemical compounds (CO). Kitchen is the obvious place for one, since unattended burning food poses a danger of setting the place on fire. Trust me, you really do want to know that’s happening long before clouds of smoke get to the far end of the house. Admittedly, some over-sensitive smoke detectors annoyingly alert whenever you sear a steak, but they should not alert just from normal kitchen duties. > > Both kinds of detectors are important, and their warnings can save your lives. Defeating them isn’t really a “wise” move. I call them as I see them–or, in this case, hear them. If a smoke detector 70 feet or so away sounds off occasionally in response to the by-products of cooking, what would ensue with one right across the room from the stove? The terms “crying wolf” and “conditioned reflex” come to kind, as does “Throw that damn detector out the window!” The unit we have, mounted on the wall at the back of the hallway, is designed to detect smoke AND carbon monoxide. Its location was chosen to make it easiest to hear–critical for my Mom, who, as noted, is hard of hearing. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/24 "2016-01-15T19:00:33Z")
**dougie** , this is GQ not IMHO so I’m not going to lecture you (too much) on my idea of safety. 🙂 But I sure hope your mom’s room is located close to an exit. A serious fire in the kitchen might not produce sufficient smoke to set off the alarm at the other end of the house before the fire has blocked access to the escape route. Alarms incorporating flashing lights are available for hearing-impaired people. There are even alarms that will call a cell phone. And putting the alarm closest to the most likely source of trouble (the kitchen) gives the earliest alarm. Mom may not notice it, but with luck somebody else in the house will, and can get her to safety. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/25 "2016-01-15T19:02:05Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > Also, if your stove igniter has failed, it would be easy to leave a burner open but lit, filling your house with a perhaps explosive mixture. Get that igniter fixed ASAP! Although the igniter has failed and presumably doesn’t make a spark, the safety mechanism will still work - this will cut off the gas supply if the flame is not lit. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/26 "2016-01-15T19:34:19Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > **dougie** , this is GQ not IMHO so I’m not going to lecture you (too much) on my idea of safety. 🙂 But I sure hope your mom’s room is located close to an exit. A serious fire in the kitchen might not produce sufficient smoke to set off the alarm at the other end of the house before the fire has blocked access to the escape route. Alarms incorporating flashing lights are available for hearing-impaired people. There are even alarms that will call a cell phone. And putting the alarm closest to the most likely source of trouble (the kitchen) gives the earliest alarm. Mom may not notice it, but with luck somebody else in the house will, and can get her to safety. The end of the hallway farthest from her door is quite far from any source of smoke in the kitchen. She could exit the hallway and go out the front door or, if push came to shove, go into my room and out the side exit. In fact something similar to this happened recently. We had a neighborhood power outage that lasted from mid-afternoon to early morning. The heater attempted to start automatically, but instead old wiring inside the blower unit started to smolder and filled the place with smoke. Because of the outage we had both been sleeping fitfully. I called the fire department; the captain had us go outside until his crew cleared the smoke out. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/27 "2016-01-15T20:36:33Z")
FWIW, I live in a small space with no ceiling fan but I find that I can point my desktop fan at the ceiling and get that warmer air circulating back down into the room. Your “heat” problem might go away with better air movement. It seems counter-intuitive to turn on a fan when you’re cold, but iot works for me! ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/28 "2016-01-15T20:37:17Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Although the igniter has failed and presumably doesn’t make a spark, the safety mechanism will still work - this will cut off the gas supply if the flame is not lit. You may be right, but not on any range I’ve ever seen. Typically the pilot lights have a temperature sensitive shutoff; blow out the pilot light and _the pilot’s gas_ is shut off. That’s the ‘safety mechanism’. You have to hold down a button, light the pilot, and keep it lit long enough for the thermocouple to reopen the safety. This doesn’t exist for the gas to the burner. If it did, you would have to go through the same gyrations every time you turned one on. Instead there is a pilot light which will ignite the gas coming out of the burner, or an automatic spark device to do the same. Blow out the pilot or disable the igniter and the control knobs will still let gas come out of the burner, but with nothing to ignite it. That’s the situation the OP has – they light the burners with a match. Bump a knob by accident or mischance and gas comes out, for as long as the knob is tweaked. If no person, and no automatic sustem (pilot, igniter) lights it, gas will accumulate in the building until something else ignites it. Then BOOM. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/29 "2016-01-15T21:52:52Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > Then BOOM. See? We know better. We don’t use the knobs unless 1) we intend to use the stove and 2) we have a lighted wooden match at the ready. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/30 "2016-01-16T04:13:11Z")
Did you miss the part where I suggest it’s possible to “bump a knob by accident or mischance” which would result in an _unplanned and unobserved release of gas_, thus creating a hazard? I am of course completely comfortable and confident now, since your safety is assured by you knowing better. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/31 "2016-01-16T04:21:07Z")
It’s possible, I agree, but quite unlikely, inasmuch as we would have to have the lighted match at the time we would bump the knob–with our attention specifically on the knob. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/32 "2016-01-16T05:03:20Z")
So roasting a turkey for 6 hours is okay but turning on the stove for heat isn’t? What about gas fireplaces? In LA it’s not uncommon for older residences to have gas wall heaters-inefficient, but they exist. Are there really cases of people getting CO poisoning from this? I understand the danger if, say, an elderly person falls asleep and a high wind (from where?) blows out the flame and the home fills with natural gas. But for carbon monoxide–well, I suggest that a home in which you’re relying on a stove for a little xtra heat is one which isn’t airtight anyway. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/33 "2016-01-16T05:13:08Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > So roasting a turkey for 6 hours is okay but turning on the stove for heat isn’t? > > What about gas fireplaces? > > In LA it’s not uncommon for older residences to have gas wall heaters-inefficient, but they exist. > > Are there really cases of people getting CO poisoning from this? I understand the danger if, say, an elderly person falls asleep and a high wind (from where?) blows out the flame and the home fills with natural gas. But for carbon monoxide–well, I suggest that a home in which you’re relying on a stove for a little xtra heat is one which isn’t airtight anyway. There can be other reasons: like, f’rinstance the furnace air ducts are slightly obstructed by lint and dust and stuff…and the furnace isn’t heating the place as it should. (My room is another case in point: The one duct extends clear to the far wall in the kitchen, with a heat register coming up in the kitchen floor. Then the duct doubles back and goes into my bedroom, where it ends, with one last register; but the heated air rising from that register is so weak that I use an auxiliary heater–an oil-filled electric one–in the room.) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/34 "2016-01-16T07:23:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It isn’t. However, using the stove for heat leads to increased use of the stove in addition to cooking, and if there is a potential for excess CO to accumulate because of poor ventilation or inefficient burning then the additional use increases the danger. But a more likely problem is that people will leave the stove unattended for a long period of time when it’s used for heating, even sleeping while the stove is on. That increases the chances of a fire or gas released into the room if the flame goes out. I have no idea what output level of a burner could lead to excess CO but I feel stoves would be designed to burn at a rate lower than that. Can you provide a cite showing a ‘high’ setting on a production stove will produce a build up of excess CO? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/35 "2016-01-16T14:47:40Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > I have no idea what output level of a burner could lead to excess CO but I feel stoves would be designed to burn at a rate lower than that. Can you provide a cite showing a ‘high’ setting on a production stove will produce a build up of excess CO? I don’t really have to unless you believe that gas stoves don’t produce any CO. If they produce CO and there isn’t adequate ventilation it will build up. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/36 "2016-01-16T16:21:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I don’t really have to unless you believe that gas stoves don’t produce any CO. If they produce CO and there isn’t adequate ventilation it will build up. Even gas companies usually provide customers with literature telling them about a smelly compound added to gas as a precaution. According to Isaac Asimov, it is less likely “that the odorless carbon monoxide will sneak up on you.” Near as I can figure, CO is part of the fuel rather than a by-product of combustion. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/37 "2016-01-16T18:10:12Z")
I wonder if the fear of CO is left over from the times when CO was actually piped into homes to burn for heat, light, and cooking. ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/38 "2016-01-16T18:23:41Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Even gas companies usually provide customers with literature telling them about a smelly compound added to gas as a precaution. According to Isaac Asimov, it is less likely “that the odorless carbon monoxide will sneak up on you.” > Near as I can figure, CO is part of the fuel rather than a by-product of combustion. No, the smell is put in gas so if there is a GAS leak, it would be noticed before the house/neighborhood blows up. It has nothing to do with Carbon Monoxide. By-products of combustion are normally H2O and CO2, water and Carbon DIOXIDE. When there is a lack or shortage of oxygen, there are not enough oxygen molecules to join the carbon molecules to make CO2 and now you have CO or Carbon MONOXIDE which is odorless and deadly. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/39 "2016-01-16T18:51:46Z")
If your gas is burning with a blue flame you should not be getting any CO. If your gas cooker routinely produces CO then I question how the hell you ever cook anything without poisoning yourself. CO was formerly (I don’t know if anyone still uses it) part of manufactured gas (producer gas or water gas, made by blowing air or live steam respectively over hot coke). It was a part of the piped gas supply made from coal (“coal gas” itself was another product made by distilling coal, the residue being coke and hence feedstock for the producer). As stated, CO-bearing gas had a foul-smelling additive to reduce the risk of leaks going undetected. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145/40 "2016-01-16T19:07:22Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > …a smelly compound added to gas as a precaution. Now I’m wondering: when gas is burned, what happens to the smelly mercaptans? Stove exhaust doesn’t smell anything like a natural gas leak, so they must be transformed somehow…but into what? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stove-burners-room-heating-and-carbon-monoxide/743145.md?page=3)