A caller to my radio show on 2UE asked about the hazards of either a woodburning stove or gas stove used without a flue.
It’s a good question.
The problem potentially is that both carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are produced by a burning stove and if the levels are high enough they most certainly represent a hazard.
If you did find yourself in an environment that contained toxic levels of either of these gases, you would simply feel sleepy, fall asleep, and never wake up. So it’s important to know that the levels in your home are safe.
Fortunately, this is a concern in many industrial environments as well, and as a consequence, small, battery powered air monitors are readily available from either safety shops or even EBay.
The way these devices work is that you leave them running on a bench top, or clip them onto your belt, and if they encounter a toxic environment they emit a LOUD alarm.
My (educated) guess is that a gas stove (that you were using for cooking) would not generate enough CO or CO2 to be a problem, but a woodburning stove (used for heating the house) without an adequate exhaust may well present a hazard.