heating a tent

[Splat]

Re: heating a tent

Thanks for all of the replies, and input. I think I will give the heater a try, and pick up a cheap co2 detector..At first I laughed, but I kinda like the idea quoted below. Do you think that will work. How long do you think it would last on a fully charged battery?

20 Minutes if your really lucky.

Also the Mr.Heaters have a low oxygen cut off automatically. Not to say a CO NOT A CO2 detector isn't a bad idea.
Carbon monoxide shouldn't be a huge concern but keep it in mind. Know the symptoms.

First symptoms include, blurred vision, pounding headache, nausea, becoming lethargic.

More pronounced will be confusion, time loss, and impaired motor skills.

Finally death.

CO poisoning will not wake you up, instead it will put you to sleep as it slowly dissipates the oxygen in your blood stream.

I don't know how much air your tent will allow to escape through the fabric, if your really worried keep in mind CO is heavier than air, so leaving the bottom of the door open, would be more effective than leaving the rain fly off.


Bill

 

[Splat]

Re: heating a tent

Forgot to add, if you pick up a cheap detector, if it alerts at any point, throw the unit away and don't use it anymore.

On the units designed for home, the sensors aren't very good. Not to say they don't work, but once they become saturated with CO once, they aren't nearly as effective ever again.

They just aren't build like the portable I carry at work that's designed to see levels as high as 700ppm and maintain it's calibration.

Bill

 

[mscher]

Re: heating a tent

Gonna be in a tent this weekend for deer season and it is supposed to be pretty cold. Has anyone ever used a portable propane heater in a tent? I have a Mr. Heater Portable Buddy brand heater that I have used outdoors for trout fishing and it works great. I am just a little leary about using it in my tent, even though the specs say it is ok for tent heating. In my younger years I would not have thought twice about it. Just fire it up and let her eat. But now that I am getting older I am a little bit of a woose, or maybe just a little bit smarter. I know you have to open a screen to provide proper ventilation. I am more worried about a fire in my tent. The manual does say to not operate while sleeping but that does not do much good . Any thoughts?

We purchased one of these heaters, for cold tent camping last month. THIS HEATER ROCKS!! It is designed for tent use and is designed to shut off if oxygen is depleted.

It ran about 5 hours on low until the gas ran out. We could tell when it shut off - brrrrrr. Just made sure that it was not near anything, that might catch fire.

We are going to get the converter hose to connect it to a 20# tank, for next fall.

 

[j_martin]

Re: heating a tent

The best heat in a tent is a nice warm wife..... or whatever. Seriously, you can be comfortable in a very good sleeping bag indefinitely. If you're packing in, it's a lot easier to carry one good sleeping bag than a heater and fuel to try to keep warm. Put your first layer of clothes in the bottom of the bag, and your body heat will warm them enough so you can get them on without doing a 2 1/2 minute inhale.

If you left a good boy scout style star fire in the fire ring the night before, you can kick the coals together, throw on some kindling and wood, and be warming up and cooking breakfast in a few minutes.


John

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: heating a tent

be thoroughly dry when going retiring, meaning fresh under wear socks and every thing else, and don't put your head in in the sleeping bag, the moisture will condense and make you cold about dawn.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: heating a tent

Here's an idea that hasn't been brought up yet. Use a couple (more??) of those disposable hand/feet warmers. There are also larger body warmers of the same type. These typically last 6-8 hours and provide substantial heat in a safe means.

Toss a couple of these in the bag and you will be toasty all night.

Biggest factor in staying warm in the cold in a tent is to get a good insulator between you and the ground. An air mattress is the WORST thing to use. Cold from the ground passes right thru it to you.

 

[rolmops]

Re: heating a tent

I really do not understand why you need a heater in your tent.
I traveled through northern Norway in winter and I did what the locals do.
I zipped 2 sleeping bags together and brought 2 girlfriends along!!

 

[WizeOne]

Re: heating a tent

...An air mattress is the WORST thing to use. Cold from the ground passes right thru it to you.

Boy, you got that right. I had to learn that the hard way. I thought that air cushion would have been a good insulator but it sucked the body heat right out of me. One of the worst nights I ever had.

The next night, I took the moving blanket that I had put on top of my sleeping bag and put it between me and the air mattress. I was toasty warm all night.

 

[WizeOne]

Re: heating a tent

.....and brought 2 girlfriends along!!

Must have been european girls. I'd think you'd have trouble finding too many candidates in the USA.

 

[HAV2FISH]

Re: heating a tent

I use one of the tent heaters all the time with no problem. The only thing different I do is place the heater in a large wash tub that I also use to wash dishes in. This way if the heater were to ever get knocked over it would not melt the floor of the tent.

 

[Howard Sterndrive]

Re: heating a tent

Oops, I found the safety tent heater quicker then I though I would. Here you go:

http://www.zodi.com/web-content/Consumer/zodihotvent.html

neat, but every model they show says " No longer available at this time "


When I was a kid, we would just put a big rock in the fire, then shove it out of the fire about 30 minutes before bed. let it cool to about 200 deg.
Put the hot rock in the foot of your sleeping bag- you'll be toasty and dry all night.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: heating a tent

Back in the day when I was a young country boy that lived in the sticks, sleeping outside was the biggest thrill. We camped out in all kinds of weather. One time stands out very vividly. It was the weekend of Christmas and a city slicker friend came to visit. He was joking when he asked if I was ready to go camping. Went to my room and pulled my backpack out and said "Lets Go!"

It was about 25* out, but that didn't bother us. We didn't check out the forecast as that didn't bother us either. We hiked about 2 miles from the house and set up camp. Gathered the firewood and had everything set for the night.

The next morning we woke up and it seemed awfully dark out for that time of morning. The sides of the pup tent seemed to be a little collapsed on us. It turns out that it snowed 6" that night. Our fire was out and it was cold. However in that little pup tent, it was much warmer. We used a Boy Scouts trick in putting several layers of newspapers under the tent prior to setting it up. This is something we always practiced.

Later on in March he came to visit again. Again the temps were in the 20's. This time we forgot the newspapers. At that time we didn't think it had that much influence on helping keep us warm......We were uncomfortable all night and the tent inside was the same temp as outside. Needless to say, we never forgot our important underlayment of our tent since.

Later on when we got way older, we used corrugated cardboard as it offered a bit of a cushion on the floor and did just as good on insulating the floor as well. BTW, our choice of sleeping bags was the government issue mummy bags filled with goose feathers. To me, they are the best sleeping bag for keeping warm.

 

[mthieme]

Re: heating a tent

SS,
There a lot of old houses (20's-30's) in my area...worked on many through the years helping friends. I've came across many that used newspaper as insulation under the floorboards and even in rafters in the attic.
Go figure. Did someone know somethings way back when or was insulation just not available?