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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