Carbon Monoxide and Charcoal Grills: Keep Them Outside

A charcoal grill emits smoke on a rainy patio, creating a moody atmosphere.

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Charcoal’s danger is not only fire. Burning charcoal produces carbon monoxide (CO), a gas you cannot see or smell. This article compares the CDC’s carbon monoxide basics, NFPA, the NHS, Gas Safe Register, UK fire services, and Weber’s charcoal owner’s guides. This site’s separate NFPA statistics article covers fire data, so this one sticks to CO.

What the official bodies say

The CDC describes CO as an odorless, colorless gas that kills without warning, and it says plainly: never burn charcoal indoors, because burning charcoal of any colour (red, gray, black or white) gives off CO. It adds that people who are sleeping or drunk can die before they have symptoms. NFPA’s advice is shorter: gas or charcoal grills can produce CO, so use them only outside.

Which places count as “outside”

The sources name specific places to rule out, and they do not all use the same distances.

  • CPSC (US): never indoors, in a garage, breezeway, carport, porch or under a surface that will burn, and at least 10 feet (about 3 m, our conversion) from the house.
  • Weber (international English charcoal guides): not in a garage, building, breezeway, tent or other enclosed area, and not beneath overhead combustible construction. The Original Kettle guide adds houses, caravans, motor homes and boats and warns of fatal carbon monoxide poisoning.
  • Gas Safe Register (UK): the ban on indoor use covers temporary shelters, and its list includes tents, marquees, yurts, gazebos, playhouses, shepherd huts and igloos. The NHS also says not to use a barbecue indoors or inside a tent.
  • CDC: in power-outage advice, never use a charcoal grill inside a home, basement or garage, or outside less than 20 feet (about 6 m, our conversion) from a window, door or vent.

The sources do not reconcile these distances. Treat the CDC’s larger figure as the cautious choice, and follow your own grill’s manual as well.

Afterwards, the grill is still a hazard

Gas Safe says a barbecue can still give off fumes after you finish cooking, so it should always be left outside and never brought into a tent, caravan or cabin. Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue says not to put a barbecue or burnt charcoal in a car or tent, because cooling barbecues release CO. The London Fire Brigade says smouldering ashes can give off dangerous CO and can be fatal.

Where sources differ on putting coals out

Weber’s kettle guide says to extinguish charcoal by closing the bowl vent and lid damper and putting the lid on, and its cautions say not to use water to control flare-ups or to put out charcoal. Do not empty ashes until the charcoal is fully out and the grill is cool. NFPA’s portable-grill advice says to douse the fire with water and check the area is cool to the touch, then empty coals into a metal container with a tight-fitting lid, away from anything that can burn and never into a trash can. Devon and Somerset suggests water or a bucket of sand to cool a barbecue. These are different contexts (a kettle with dampers, a portable grill or campsite, a UK garden barbecue), so for a lidded charcoal grill follow that grill’s manual.

Symptoms, as the official bodies list them

The CDC lists headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain and confusion, often described as “flu-like.” The NHS adds tiredness, muscle pain, shortness of breath, flushing (harder to see on brown and black skin) and loss of vision, and says symptoms may come and go and may ease when you go outside. Gas Safe lists headaches, nausea, breathlessness, dizziness, collapse and loss of consciousness. The CDC’s point that sleeping or drunk people can die before symptoms appear is why the advice above is about prevention first.

What to do if you suspect it

The NHS says to stop using anything that may be producing CO if you can, go outside, and get medical advice as soon as possible, not returning to the building until you have it. It says to call NHS 111 if you think you have symptoms, and 999 or go to A&E if you or someone else has trouble breathing, sudden confusion, lost consciousness, weakness or chest or muscle pain. The CDC says to seek prompt medical attention if you feel dizzy, light-headed or nauseated and suspect CO poisoning, and to leave home immediately and call 911 if a CO detector alarm sounds. NFPA says to move to fresh air, account for everyone and call for help from outside.

Where to stop

  • A charcoal or gas grill has been used, or is still hot or smouldering, in a garage, tent, caravan, cabin, porch or other enclosed space: get everyone out, leave the grill outside, and follow the NHS or CDC steps above.
  • A CO alarm sounds: treat it as real and leave, as the CDC and NFPA advise.
  • Symptoms that ease outdoors and worsen indoors: the NHS notes this pattern and says not to go back into the affected building until you have medical advice.

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Sources

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