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Date:         Wed, 8 Oct 2003 12:50:49 -0700
Reply-To:     Jeffrey Earl <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeffrey Earl <jefferrata@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Coleman Propane Heaters
Comments: cc: azsun99@EARTHLINK.NET, mtbiker62@HOTMAIL.CO
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Members should be aware that the oft-mentioned Coleman LP heaters are NOT intended to be used while sleeping, according to the warning label on the product and the included instruction sheet, though the packaging seems content to let you assume otherwise. With any propane heater there is always the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning resulting from inadequate ventilation.

If one briefly uses such a heater for the morning warm-up and for changing clothes, etc., the risk is greatly diminished. And if CO levels become too high while you're up and around, you're likely to notice and turn the unit off or increase ventilation. But if one is asleep, results could be more dire: I attended an event late last fall at which a family used an LP heater inside their tent. In the morning the 2-year-old girl awoke to find both her parents dead from CO poisoning.

Some small space heaters now have an "ODS", or Oxygen Depletion System, which shuts off the heater before dangerous levels of carbon monoxide can be produced. There is a good article by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding such heaters at: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml03/03021.html

I have found only one such "ODS"-equipped model in a compact size suitable for Westy camping, the Mr. Heater "Portable Buddy Heater", Model No. MH9B. Unfortunately, even at its lowest output setting of 4000 BTUs, it consumes a standard 16-ounce LP cylinder in about six hours.

I'd be interested to know the difference between an ODS and a common household CO-detector. Are these simply two methods of expressing the same thing: not enough oxygen because it's been displaced by carbon-monoxide?

Jeffrey Earl 1983 diesel Westfalia "Vanasazi"

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