"Interested in responses: does burning alcohol produce CO?"
Answer: It depends.
The Sterno people say that their product (jelled alcohol) only produces carbon DIoxide and water when burned, no carbon monoxide.
But there's a bit more to it: First, ANY fuel will produce carbon monoxide when incompletely burned, including alcohol.
There is an interesting article [url= http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1818205/pdf/canmedaj01419-0054.pdf]here[/url] on a carbon monoxide poisoning incident due to burning Sterno where the Sterno cans were under a chaffing dish. Both the Sterno cans and the bottom of the chaffing dish were wrapped together in a wide collar of aluminum foil, which limited oxygen to the flames and caused incomplete combustion and a high concentration of carbon monoxide.
But even if you are burning alcohol completely and no carbon monoxide is produced, the burning itself requires oxygen, and in a closed environment the lack of oxygen will cause you to suffocate. Dead is dead.
WARNING & DISCLAIMER:
SELECT AND USE OUTDOORS AND SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND TECHNIQUES AT YOUR OWN RISK. Information posted
on this forum is not reviewed for accuracy and may not be reliable, use at your own risk. Please
review the full WARNING & DISCLAIMER about information on this
site.