A heater or brazier in the tent: how to stay clear of carbon monoxide

The first cold nights bring the heaters out of storage and the charcoal brazier back into the tent and the diwaniya annex. Burn either in an enclosed space and it gives off carbon monoxide, a gas with no colour and no smell, so you cannot tell it is there. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it kills more than 500 Americans a year.

What produces it

According to the NHS, anything that burns gas, paraffin, coal or wood can produce it if it is badly installed, faulty or poorly maintained: gas and paraffin heaters, cookers, wood and coal fires, and portable generators. It also builds up when a barbecue or camping stove is used indoors, or when a car engine runs in a closed garage.

Before you light anything

1. No barbecue or camping stove inside a tent. The NHS says so in as many words, and a lit charcoal brazier in a closed tent is exactly that.
2. Never heat a room with a gas oven.
3. Generators stay outside, at least 20 feet (about 6 metres) from doors, windows and vents, as the CDC advises.
4. Keep air moving. A room or tent with a burning appliance needs ventilation, and flues and chimneys need to be clear.
5. Don’t leave an engine running in a garage or enclosed space.
6. Have heaters serviced by a qualified technician before the season, not after the first fault.

The alarm

The NHS recommends a carbon monoxide alarm that sounds loudly when the gas is present, one in every room with an appliance burning gas, oil, coal or wood. A smoke alarm is not a substitute: it detects smoke, not this gas.

The warning signs

Headache, dizziness, nausea or vomiting, weakness, tiredness and confusion, chest and muscle pain, shortness of breath. The symptoms can come and go, getting worse the longer you stay in the room and easing when you step outside. That pattern is the thing to notice, especially if more than one person in the same space feels it.

If you suspect it

1. Turn off the appliance you suspect, if you can.
2. Get outside, and get everyone with you out.
3. Don’t go back in until you have had medical advice.
4. If anyone is struggling to breathe, suddenly confused, unconscious, weak or has chest pain, call 112, Kuwait’s emergency number. Don’t drive yourself to hospital while you have symptoms.

Photo: a tent in the Cadiz Dunes, California, not in Kuwait, with the maker’s logo blurred. By the US Bureau of Land Management, California, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Source: NHS, carbon monoxide poisoning (last reviewed 16 December 2025), and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both read on 25 October 2026.