Carbon monoxide
Carbon monoxide from burning fuel. Invisible, odourless, and the reason no combustion cooker belongs in an enclosed space.
This hazard does not vary by country. The chemistry is the same everywhere, which is why these rules are marked as applying wherever you are cooking.
What the rules say
Never take a barbecue into an enclosed space
criticalApplies everywhere · GB, international · last verified 2026-08-13 · review due 2027-02-13
Never take a barbecue into a tent, awning, caravan, motorhome, garage, shed or any other enclosed space — including to keep warm, and including when it is no longer flaming.
Burning charcoal, wood or gas produces carbon monoxide, which is colourless, odourless and gives no warning before it causes harm. In an enclosed space it accumulates to lethal concentrations.
Where this comes from
A barbecue continues to produce carbon monoxide as it cools. A barbecue that is no longer flaming is still lethal in an enclosed space.
Well established
Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland) — States this directly
“Even a cooling barbecue gives off plenty of poisonous carbon monoxide”
- Why it happens:
- Incomplete combustion continues while fuel is still smouldering.
- Combustion chemistry, so it does not vary by jurisdiction — unlike the food rules.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland) — States this directly
A barbecue should never be taken into a tent, awning, caravan or motorhome, including when it is only cooling.
- What it covers:
- Applies to charcoal and other combustion barbecues.
- Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless, so there is no warning before symptoms.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
London Fire Brigade — States this directly
“After cooking, let it cool and make sure it is properly out – smouldering ashes can give off dangerous carbon monoxide fumes and can be fatal.”
- An independent authority reaching the same conclusion as the Public Health Agency by a different route — a fire service rather than a public-health body.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
A cooling barbecue is still producing carbon monoxide
criticalApplies everywhere · GB, international · last verified 2026-08-13 · review due 2027-02-13
A barbecue continues to give off carbon monoxide as it cools. Never bring one inside to finish cooling, and never store one indoors until it is completely cold.
This is the version of the rule people get wrong, because the danger is not obviously present: the flames are out, the coals look spent, and the barbecue seems safe to move. It is not. Deaths have occurred exactly this way.
Where this comes from
A barbecue continues to produce carbon monoxide as it cools. A barbecue that is no longer flaming is still lethal in an enclosed space.
Well established
Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland) — States this directly
“Even a cooling barbecue gives off plenty of poisonous carbon monoxide”
- Why it happens:
- Incomplete combustion continues while fuel is still smouldering.
- Combustion chemistry, so it does not vary by jurisdiction — unlike the food rules.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland) — States this directly
A barbecue should never be taken into a tent, awning, caravan or motorhome, including when it is only cooling.
- What it covers:
- Applies to charcoal and other combustion barbecues.
- Carbon monoxide is colourless and odourless, so there is no warning before symptoms.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
London Fire Brigade — States this directly
“After cooking, let it cool and make sure it is properly out – smouldering ashes can give off dangerous carbon monoxide fumes and can be fatal.”
- An independent authority reaching the same conclusion as the Public Health Agency by a different route — a fire service rather than a public-health body.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Electric smokers still produce carbon monoxide — from the wood, not the element
criticalApplies everywhere · international · last verified 2026-08-20 · review due 2027-08-20
An electric smoker's heat comes from a mains element that burns nothing, and the appliance still emits carbon monoxide, because the wood chips it makes smoke with are burning inside the cabinet. Masterbuilt warns that burning wood chips gives off carbon monoxide, which has no odour and can cause death, and that chips must never be burned inside homes, vehicles, tents, garages or any enclosed area.
The inference that kills is: no combustion, therefore no carbon monoxide, therefore this one is fine in the garage. It is wrong twice over on an electric smoker. The ENERGY source produces no carbon monoxide and the APPLIANCE does, because heat and smoke come from two different places — which is the distinction this catalogue has always modelled and had never been able to state as a hazard. The warning is a manufacturer's, about its own appliance, and it works against that manufacturer's commercial interest in electric smoking seeming cleaner than charcoal.
Where this comes from
An electric smoker emits carbon monoxide even though its energy source produces none. Its heat is a mains element; its smoke is wood chips burning on a tray inside the cabinet, and the maker warns that burning wood chips gives off carbon monoxide, which has no odour and can cause death.
Well supported
Masterbuilt Manufacturing, LLC — States this directly
“CARBON MONOXIDE HAZARD — Burning wood chips gives off carbon monoxide, which has no odor and can cause death. DO NOT burn wood chips inside homes, vehicles, tents, garages or any enclosed areas. Use only outdoors where it is well ventilated.”
- The statement that separates energy from smoke as a hazard and not only as a model. The appliance's heat is a mains element and produces no carbon monoxide. Its smoke is wood combusting on a tray inside the cabinet, and that does. An electric smoker therefore emits carbon monoxide while running on a fuel that emits none.
- A manufacturer instructing on its own appliance, which is the one thing such a source may always be cited for — and the manufacturer here has a commercial interest in electric smokers seeming SAFER than charcoal, which makes the warning evidence against its own interest.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-20
Masterbuilt Manufacturing, LLC — States this directly
“Smoker is for OUTDOOR HOUSEHOLD USE ONLY. Never use inside enclosed areas such as patios, garages, buildings or tents. ... Never use smoker as a heater (READ CARBON MONOXIDE HAZARD).”
- The second independent manufacturer instruction — after SharkNinja's — restricting an ELECTRICALLY POWERED cooker to outdoors. Two makers of electric appliances, neither of whom benefits from the restriction, both refusing indoor use.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-20
Smoke source and energy source are physically separate on some cookers. The Ninja Woodfire draws 1760 W of mains electricity for heat and burns food-grade wood pellets in a separate smoke box for smoke, and its maker forbids putting charcoal, hardwood or liquid fuel in that box.
Well supported
SharkNinja Operating LLC — States this directly
“NEVER use heating fuel pellets, hardwood, charcoal, liquid fuels, or any other combustible material in the Smoker.”
- A physically separate smoke box, filled with a scoop, independent of the heating element.
- The clearest demonstration in the catalogue that smoke source and energy source are different things: this appliance's heat is electrical and its smoke is wood, in two separate compartments, and the manufacturer's own warnings treat them as separate hazards.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
SharkNinja Operating LLC — States this directly
The Ninja Woodfire Pro XL runs on 120 V, 60 Hz mains electricity at 1760 watts, requires a 15-amp circuit, and requires any extension cord to be outdoor-rated and marked as suitable for use with outdoor appliances.
- Where it applies:
- A US-market model. 120 V is not the UK supply, so the UK model differs.
- 1760 W of mains electricity is the ENERGY source. The wood pellets are not.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-13
Offset smokers: never under an overhead structure of any kind
criticalApplies everywhere · international · last verified 2026-08-20 · review due 2027-08-20
Oklahoma Joe's instructs that its smoker be used only in a well-ventilated space and never in an enclosed one — naming a carport, garage, porch, covered patio or any overhead structure — and warns that burning charcoal indoors can kill because it gives off odourless carbon monoxide.
Worth a rule of its own for one word: COVERED. Readers treat 'outdoors' and 'not indoors' as the same instruction, and a covered patio passes the second test while failing the first. This manufacturer refuses overhead structures of any kind, which is the version of the rule that matches how people actually shelter a long cook from the rain — and a smoker is run for ten hours, in weather, by somebody who would like to stand somewhere dry.
Where this comes from
A charcoal fire that appears extinguished can retain heat in unconsumed embers for up to 24 hours and can flare again when fresh air reaches it, which is why spent fuel is a fire risk long after a cook has finished.
Well supported
Oklahoma Joe's (Char-Broil, LLC) — States this directly
“After a charcoal fire appears extinguished, unconsumed embers can retain heat for up to 24 hours, and if exposed to fresh air, can burst into flame unexpectedly.”
- The figure:
- Twenty-four hours is a longer interval than any other document in this catalogue gives for a dead-looking fire, and it is a manufacturer stating it about its own charcoal appliance.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-20
Never bring a barbecue indoors to cool
criticalApplies everywhere · GB · last verified 2026-08-21 · review due 2027-08-21
Never bring a barbecue indoors, into a tent or into a garage while it is cooling. A finished barbecue is still producing carbon monoxide and can still start a fire.
Every other enclosed-space rule in this catalogue is phrased around USING a barbecue, and this is the case none of them reaches: the cook is over, the coals look dead, it is raining, and the obvious thing to do with a hot metal box is put it somewhere out of the way. Carbon monoxide has no smell and smouldering charcoal produces it for hours. RoSPA states the cooling case explicitly, which no source BBQHQ had previously read does.
Where this comes from
A barbecue must not be brought indoors while it is cooling, as well as never being used indoors, because a cooling barbecue can still cause a fire or carbon-monoxide exposure.
Well established
Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) — States this directly
“Never use barbecues or patio heaters inside, and do not bring them indoors while they're cooling, as this can cause a fire or carbon monoxide exposure”
- The cooling clause is the new part. BBQHQ has always held 'never indoors' from several authorities. None of them addressed the barbecue that is finished with, still warm, and put in the garage or the porch out of the rain — which is the disposal habit that kills people, because a cooling firebox is still producing carbon monoxide.
About this source · Original · retrieved 2026-08-21