David wrote:
On Sat, 12 Dec 2020 20:02:17 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
You could always try it with a CO alarm nearby.

We have a large kitchen/diner/living area which has the extractor fan
mentioned above.
It also has a wood burning stove with a source of external draught.
It also has a CO detector which hasn't grumbled so far.
Mind you, I wouldn't want it to grumble!

Risk is much lower than a small unventilated cooking area, just wondering
how much risk there is.

Cheers

Dave R

What's the profit in this again ? The misadventure part...

People here barbecue in the winter, but they use a
gas-powered barbecue on the patio (outdoors). You want a cooking
device that starts reliably, when cooking in winter.
On lazy summer days, there is more time for starting
arcane cooking solutions.

Charcoal does not always start up promptly. It requires
"fidgeting". The favorite it, the Dad brings out the
liquid barbecue starter, and applies 10X the recommended
amount (from past experience, we know that 2X and 5X
aren't enough). Flames might shoot up ten feet in the air,
after the Dad is done. These are not the kinds of
misadventures to be carried out under an extractor fan.
Yes, you can use an electric heating element starter,
to start charcoal. But even then, it might take 30 minutes
to 60 minutes before the charcoal is at "cooking temp".
There is a lot of fiddling, moving/rotating coals, and
so on.

You will be tempted to do all sorts of "stupid Dad" stuff
with a charcoal cooker. Multiple attempts to get charcoal lighted.
Doing it in the house ? Get outta here.

With charcoal, it's 60 minutes to get the blasted thing
at cook temperature, 10 minutes to cook. What is wrong
with this picture ? With gas, it's 1 minute to prep, 10 minutes
to cook. Select the right food (steak, in winter), and
there is minimal interaction with the food on the patio.
Only if you're a "steak torturer" do you have to stay
out there and play with it. It helps to learn how to
cook stuff in warmer weather, where you can watch
cause and effect and learn your craft. Then in winter
cook situations on the patio, you can be deadly efficient
(minimal number of nips out to patio).

With charcoal, the grease from the food falls down onto
the briquettes and the grease burns and soon you have a lot
of flame shooting up. Some use a spritz of water on the
coals, to tamp down the grease fire. It's not really
something you can afford to walk away from, in terms
of tending it. Maybe you try to control it, by moving
the grill plate up or down a notch. It's still a lot
more trouble than its worth. In the house ? ****, No!

There's nothing flammable on my patio. If I were to
set up the Hibachi (classic charcoal cooker), if there
were an "incident", maybe the worst that would happen
is grease stains on the concrete. If it tips over,
I don't have to "save it". No heroics required.
If my Sambuca catches fire, I can throw it on the lawn.

Paul