Tent heating?

[hifon]

As the family is just about to embark on a glamping trip and swmbo is always cold, I started to think of ways to heat the bell tent.

We had a 4m tent and a frontier stove, with flu etc but I sold he entire thing to my sister when upgrading to a 5m earlier this year and haven't bought a new stove yet. I've had my eye on a kp stoves wood burner but just haven't got around to getting one yet so after watching a vid on YouTube of a guy using a greenhouse paraffin heater in his winter tent I started to do a bit of a search.

I managed to get a 1970's indoor heater from the bay for £30 and it was delivered today, gave it a bit of a clean up and filled it up/fired it up.

I've had it going in the kitchen for a few hours and I'm mightily impressed, had the window open slightly and it's toasty, also there's hardly any smell of paraffin at all. It's intended use is as an indoor heater so I guess that's why, the instructions state you have to adjust the wick so that it burns blue, any sign of a yellow flame you have to turn it down or give the wick some maintenance.

It takes 4-5 litres of paraffin which will burn for 16-25 hours according to the instructions giving off 1.7 - 2.7KW of heat. It says you can even unscrew the top cap to reveal a burner ring for boiling a kettle. Should be enough to take the chill out of a 5m tent I'm hoping to get some recommendations on best 2 person backpacking tent. Anyone else use a heater like this?

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Hello. With the weather getting cooler, it got me to thinking. What is the best way to heat the inside of a tent, without killing yourself?

MOD NOTE:
This member was banned as a scammer. We don't discuss how our system picks its "winners", but this case was a 100% cert.

 

[Pattree]

How big’s the tent?

 

[C_Claycomb]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I have moved your post to its own thread. This is better than tacking on to an existing thread that hadn’t had posts for 10 years.

As to your question, depends on the tent. Wood stoves work great in floor-less shelters, like tipis, some bell tents and so on. Hot tenting can be done with tents made of Dynema, nylon or canvas. Nylon floored tents are a bit trickier. In addition to CO you have to worry about them melting or igniting the floor! Propane also produces a lot of moisture, which would need managing.

 

[Moondog55]

One of my winter base camp tents is a 12-14P Helsport lavvu with the Helsport stove.
Works really well if you are super careful but that wood burning stove takes up a lot of room and you can't fit 12 active people in if the stove is going. With the stove burning I think it's really only safe for 8. CO is not a problem with unfloored tents usually but the Helsport tents all have bottom edge ventilation and a controllable centre top vent, more for clearing moisture than a safety feature I think.

 

[Woody girl]

Ventilation is important. Without it, you are going to kill yourself very quickly.

Secondly, make sure you have a carbon monoxide tester. The battery operated ones that you can take with you are cheap. Place it above head hight, or as high as possible to give yourself plenty of warning time.

Thirdly, a fire extinguisher suitable for whatever fuel you are using.
Once those are in place, you can think about how to heat a tent.

Most tent wood stoves are too small to stay in all night. Which means either going to bed warm, and waking up cold, or getting up every few hours to put more logs on. That's a lot of logs!
Most bell tents have some sort of groundsheet, so a fireproof mat to sit 6hr stove on, and catch any embers will save the sheet. Also, I'd recommend one, even if your not having a groundsheet. It makes sense to have a fireproof base for your stove.

Don't run the stove too hot. If anything starts to glow red hot then things need to be calmed down a tad.

Safety precautions taken, have fun.

 

[Pattree]

…….. or use a hot water bottle.

I learned long ago not to attempt to heat a small tent (3M x 3M tipi).
I also learned not to climb into my sleeping bag if I was very cold. It is excellent insulation and keeps you cold. Once again a hot water bottle is your friend.

Afterthought …….. or a friend is your hot water bottle.

 

[C_Claycomb]

…

I learned long ago not to attempt to heat a small tent (3M x 3M tipi).
...

How so? Did it over heat, not get hot enough, or end in a melted pile of goo or a towering inferno?

I have heated tents of about that size with wood stoves and it worked as well as I was expecting, and did what it needed to do. Folk in the US use wood stoves in tents and tipis quite a lot for hunting. That means they are out in the mountains for up to two weeks at a time anything from October through to December. The advice is that stoves won't keep the tent warm all night, but they will raise the temp to dry kit at the end of the day. They help you start and end the day warm and dry, but you need good insulation in between times.

 

[TLM]

We used to have a very similar kerosene heater as in the pic. Gave up on it as we never got it to work properly, now later on I think it might be a bit picky for the fuel used.

As to operating a wood stove just get yourself conscripted to the Finnish Army (infantry) and they give a you almost free lessons on how to operate a military tent stove in any kind of conditions.

As C_C said most of the time the idea for the stove is to get enough heat to get your things dry. Military runs them all the time especially during winter time as std military sleeping bags are not really meant for arctic conditions. Even then the idea is not to simulate a sauna but just to have enough heat for sleeping (or what the military calls sleeping) and to get at least some things a bit dryer.

 

[Pattree]

How so?

Because:
A 3M diameter x 3M high tipi has an approximately 60 degree wall. I do not have and don’t want a chimney. The only approximately safe place for a heater with or without a chimney is the centre. I took out the centre pole long ago because with anything in the middle I am left with pi over two times 1.5 times 1.5 times bugger all sleeping space.

Even in a static camp I’ll keep the fire outside.
I haven’t experienced a really cold winter in UK for several years. Twenty or so years ago I did establish a silver foil emergency tent suspended from a horizontal walking pole which was in turn suspended from a central rope from the apex of the tipi but that was at -10.
I enjoy winter camping and love the feel of the cold on my ears and finger tips but I don’t allow myself to get cold. It’s another advantage of cooking on the KK that with very little wood I can warm my core before bedtime but outside.

If you can safely establish a heater and CO alarm and fireproof floor inside your tent then that’s great. I wouldn’t bother in mine.

 

[Moondog55]

I have a CO meter, bought it and never used it and I actually think it was a waste of cash.
CO simply isn't the problem some people think it is when using a wood fired stove, although without a flue, smoke could be; some extra venting is needed for fresh air inlet.
I've never tried an open fire in any of my lavvus or tipis, simply as they are too small but my Yankee mate has a small Titanium stove in his Chouinard Megamid that does a wonderful job of both warming the tent and drying out soggy wet wool clothing; mainly socks, gloves and mittens. The stove turns a 4P shelter into a 2P shelter but that's OK, the trade-off is worth it.
I guess it boils down to how much weight and bulk you can hump or drag and whether you think the comfort is worth the weight. A simple overnite or week-end probably not for me but for a week or three definitely.
CO is far more of a problem with liquid fueled stoves like the old MSR Pocket Rocket

 

[Nice65]

Just a note on CO detectors. Woody girl has suggested an advantage to placing high up, and while she’s right to bring up the subject, the placing should be within 5 feet of the burner. Carbon monoxide is very slightly lighter than air, but not enough to rise so there’s nothing to be gained by height.

Also, whoever pointed out that wood stoves are highly unlikely to gas you is correct, the combustion is within a chamber that’s pulling air in one end and venting mixed gas at the other (chimney). Problems occur when combustion takes place converting the air within the environment (tent) into combustion gases (CO).

Best way to heat a tent without killing yourself has got to be a stove with a flue. A hot water bottle or any other bed heating suggestions don’t really answer your question of how to warm the tent. I’ve used one of the ceramic butane heaters in the Oztent and it worked fine for a quick warm up before getting into my bed, ditto in the morning to get up, but absolutely no way I would leave it on or even able to reach from the bed for danger of having a much longer sleep than I’d anticipated

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Hi, when you go for a tentipi or similar, and get a stove, have you found you you camp more overall than you did before ?

 

[nigelp]

Hello. With the weather getting cooler, it got me to thinking. What is the best way to heat the inside of a tent, without killing yourself?

Nalgene bottle as a hot water bottle.

or a proper wood stove with a chimney.

 

[demented dale]

I've got wood burner in my bell tent. Mine has has fire proof ring sewn in but you can buy them and fit them yourself like in this link below
.https://www.campingwithstyle.co.uk/camping-introducing-the-new-outbacker-hygge-stove-from-bell-tent-boutique/

 

[C_Claycomb]

Nalgene bottle as a hot water bottle.

or a proper wood stove with a chimney.

For reference, the thread OP, "hifon" was found to be a very creative scammer and was banned as a result. Uncharacteristically, we left his posts as an example, and because some good discussions had been generated, like this thread....but there was never much point in replying to this person, and none now. Chat with the other folks posting about hot (or cold) tents

 

[nigelp]

That’s a shame, but well done on banning them.

It was as you say a useful discussion and the time of year when people might want to hear shelters.

 

[spader]

I have read the news that some campers died of Carbone Monoxide poisoning off the kerosene heaters in their tents, but never read or heard of the similar tragic cases from the wood burning stoves.