I have read most of the previous postings regarding CO, and have come to the conclusion that whatever fuel you burn indoors, ie: alcohol, propane, butane, Sterno, or kerosene, that you will be consuming O2 and producing at least some water vapor. I am looking at a "shelter in place" scenario and a propane fired grill (or Coleman stove) sitting on the stove or kitchen counter. If the total room volume is large enough, it should be OK, right?? Certainly the little propane stove in a camper/trailer will not kill you if you have a good fresh air (oxygen) source, but does propane really produce CO in and of itself?? (Like BBQ briquets?) We almost lost a family of six in our neighborhood several years ago who brought the BBQ "part way" into the house, thinking that the heat would come in and the "bad" gasses would go out. Thanks

any hydrocarbon (propane being one) will produce water vapor and carbon dioxide when fully combusted.

C3H8 (propane) + O2 -> CO2 + H2O (not balanced)

if not fully combusted, you will get CO produced.

you will want good air circulation if burning fuel in an enclosed space. even if you didn't have any carbon monoxide produced due to incomplete combustion, you'd use up your oxygen which isn't good either.

The best way to handle this is maintain positive pressure in the shelter. while cooking, have filtered air blown in with an out take pipe 1/4" above the floor. as the fresh air comes in, it forces air out the outtake pipe. co2 & carbon monoxide is heavy and stays close to the floor, that is why it will be sucked out as fresh air is blown into the shelter.

IIRC, you will NOT achieve complete combustion anyway. I recall reading that it is extremely difficult to achieve complete combustion, and impossible to do with a stove.
And, As was stated; combustion requires oxygen. So, even if CO isnt present, your oxygen supply will deplete. Play it safe, ventilate. Dont end up like that poor family of 7 in the midwest.

don't fire up any stove in a enclosed room, a low concentration of 0.1% CO in the air will take up about half of your bloods ablility to transport O2. (dead in a few hours) It's not hard to get to those levels.

If you ventilate well you can have a small stove/fire going on indoors. Properly ventilated places also have dryer air, which is easier to heat. However if you plan on burning anything indoors, i would highly recommend a CO detector and a fire extinguisher. Although a CO detector can be pricy, it's certainly worth it.

Just running a stove, will not heat a space efficiently. Your beter of with a catalytic heater (will also produce some CO !) or have a thing to transfer the heat of your stove to the air in the room. I know a trick to do that, but i don't know how to explain it properly. WIll try to find a picture.