I have a 3 man 4 season tent that is just the right size for me and my gear.Went out in 14 deg weather and froze my butt off.I used my backpacking stove and it heated the tent up in seconds.The trouble was is that I got a headdache from lack of oxygen.You wouldn't dare go to sleep with it running.I was fine in my sleeping bag but in the A.M. it was cold.What would be a good heat source?
The small Mr. Buddy heater should work just fine but I would make sure I had plenty of ventilation. No vent, no use.
I don't personally use them.They scare the H out of me.Instead I use a sleeping bag and good insulated pad that are warm enough for the temperature I'm in.
Mr. Buddy heater. I have the big buddy heater, you don't one this big. Just the buddy heater. A little ventalation is all you need. I will not go camping or hunting in really cold weather without mine. LOVE IT.
One bonus to the big buddy heater is it has a battery operated fan that if your in a hurry to get warm helps.But I think my tent is 12x14?I've used mine for a few years down to freezing temps.
The little one doesnt have the fan and doesnt put out the btus that the big buddy does but is smaller and a bit cheeper
I'm a big wimp so I have the big one.I turn it on high to get the tent warm then turn it down th hold the temp.
I generally use a couple candle lanterns hanging or sitting(on something sturdy).It doesn't get hot by any means but it does seem to take the chill off.I only use them while awake -- it's that whole idea of waking up thing.
Wvtradbow,you are either alot tougher than me or have bigger candle lanterns than I have ever seen.
If your dealing with freezing temps,that doesnt sound verry cozy-But I admire the commitment
just be safe out there
You really need some kind of vent- unless you totally believe that the shutoff for the little buddy heater will work when the air runs low.
A big canvas tent will breathe pretty good; and a woodstove burning wood all night will not hurt you; but I once woke up for a morning hunt; and my hunting buddy was on the other side of a nylon tent behind a divider wall. I took a knife and cut a slit in the tent to breathe through- or it probably would have killed me. He was making breakfast with a propane stove; and had passed out.
NO ventilation- well now there is. I think with the small propane tank the little buddy heater will burn for about 4 hours- with a longer hose and a bigger tank it will burn all night- but in a closed nylon type tent... well some guys up here just found a tent with a body in it.
Your sleeping bag should be warm enough to keep you sleeping soundly until you wake up and turn on the heater.
During normal; not sub zero temps; I used to sit around in the cook tent until bed time - then go to my unheated tent for the night. It is good to have a heater for drying out clothes and warming up- just be careful !!
http://www.idahostatesman.com/531/story/1075943.html
coleman heaters are made to be used in tents, as they are catalized. I use the coleman sportcat and haven't had any problems with it
http://www.coleman.com/coleman/ColemanCom/subcategory.asp?CategoryID=3000
I use a BIG tent, and can warm it up to tolerable levels in sub-freezing weather with a couple of propane lanterns. A small Mr Buddy gets it like home.
I am not out there to be home. I am out there to be close to the hunting, close to the woods. It will get cold in the tent at night, but generally the water bottles don't freeze in there. I turn on the heater in the morning, get out, get dressed and turn it off. Turn it on at dark, peel down and get in the bag, turn it off. Managing ventilation is both for safety and for moisture control in the tent. You give off a lot of moisture as you live and breathe, and the warm/cold sides of the tent make for condensation.
A smaller tent heats up well with just a lantern. Just be sure to budget air for the both of you, and don't expect to be able to stretch out in your skivvies like you were in your living room in front of the TV. Unless your skivvies are long sleeved and long pantsed wool and Thermax. :D
Killdeer
I use a Mr. Buddy heater in my tent on later november deer hunts....I take a legnth of clothes dry exhaust pipe with a piece of small screen on the end that stays out side and put the other end dirctly in front of the heater and crack a couple windows.....no headaches. been doing this for 6 years now. :thumbsup:
also get yourself a canvas tent. holds the heat alot better and yes Killy my tent is warm enough that I can sleep in my skivies using my sleeping bag as a blanket or sometimes sleeping on top of my sleeping bag. :-)
All my tents are backpack. Never used a tent heater, never will. I'm skeered of waking up dead. Try a good reflecting solar blanket.
well you definatly need to keep a window cracked! That is like rule #1 for heating a tent. We use kerosene. It gets pretty darn cold at night during deer season. I am talking that with the heater full bore if you set something down on the ground it will freeze, but cot level stays right toasty, just dont stand up or you will bake, lol. Where we hunt the little propane jobs dont keep up. We have a 6x6 canvas tent I think, and it fits the two of us and all our gear fine. But it is canvas. Canvas is almost a must for cold weather!
Did anyone tried this:
http://www.heatstick.com/_KanHeet01.htm
I don't know how it works, but it is simple and it is worth to try!
Around here we use a sunflower on top of a BBQ propane tank when we are out ice fishing. On low it was plenty to heat the ice shack in -25 deg temps. One tank lasts almost an entire season. It would not be fun to pack in or out.
I've used the round Kerosun heaters for years in my canvas tents without any more brain damage than normal. I found that the round ones work best since the heat goes every direction whereas the rectangle heats are too directional for my needs.
I never tied my doors or windows shut, just let them hang.Then take a small can with both ends cut out and place it under the bottom of one of the walls. I guess that allowed enough fresh air to move through as I never had a problem.
God bless,Mudd
Nope. Like a couple other guys on here, I'm not waking up dead.
I use a proper sleeping bag and I'm fine.
O I forgot to mention that with our windows proped that with teh head sized hole in the wall dad was getting snowed on, lol. So there is definatly enough wind comin through, his hole is at his head and mine was by my feet. We also put a pot of water on top of the heater so our throats dont dry out to bad.
Check out Mr heater Base Camp Heater
Light and small but heats small areas great.
QuoteOriginally posted by straitera:
All my tents are backpack. Never used a tent heater, never will. I'm skeered of waking up dead. Try a good reflecting solar blanket.
The solar blanket work's like a charm! just don't get a crappy one. I found one that is a heavy cloth out side, reflective inside, you slide your sleeping bag in it. Jason
Lots of good advice.I think killdeer is right.Camping in the cold is going to have it's hardships.I would be happy to cut the hardships down to a minimum.It was tough to get in my tent at dark(which comes early) and not get out until morning.Maybe a good camp fire to pass the evening hours away would help.
Another vote for the Mr. Buddy. That and and the Alaska Guide model tent will get you through just about any weather.
Wojo I do like the exhaust idea and will pick some of that up.
I use my wife ...LOL But I am weary of the carbon monoxide that they(heaters) may put off.
How does the mr buddy heater work? does it put out a lot of carbon monoxide? will the heater outrun the tent being vented?I am fond of the useing the wife idea.Not yours,I have one of my own.
Tent heaters just scare me. My one experience was hunting elk in Colorado about 8 years ago. Five of us in a canvas wall tent of about 15x19ft. No floor and about a 7" triangle opening at the peaks for the ridgepole so we figured ventilation was not an issue. One of the guys brought a catalytic type heater along that screws onto a propane bottle and has a wire thing like a bucket handle that folds down to make a leg so the heater sits on about a 45 degree angle. Nights were getting down into the mid 20's so he decided to leave it on all night while we slept. Middle of the night we woke up and everyone had a head ache. We turned the heater off and didn't use it any more while we slept. Worked fine in the mornings and such but honestly, a lantern did just as good and since we were getting up before daylight it served two purposes.
I never have figured out if the catalytic heater gave us all headaches because it depleted the oxygen or because of some kind of fumes. This tent was big, canvas and well ventilated. Big enough in fact that we did most of our cooking inside and didn't have any problems while doing that but then most of the time when we were cooking someone would be going in or out of the tent, opening the door flaps etc.
I figure you only get one chance to screw up with something like that. People joke about "waking up dead" and stuff but the truth is you really might not wake up at all. I've got a wife and three kids to think about and honestly, fighting the freezing chill in the mornings is part of the adventure of winter camping. It's what we tell stories about years afterwards. Besides, I'd rather get cold and have a story for the kids than camp in the summer and fight the bugs...yuk!
You guys need to check out the folding and roll-up woodstoves and stovepipes from Titanium Goat, Kifaru, etc. Pricey, but there are lots and lots of homemade versions, and Ti Goat sells tent flaps for retrofitting your own tent. Killdeer has good points, but when you are at high altitude on a backcountry hunt and your stuff is all damp, a stove is the cat's meow. Search on the backpack hunting forum on 24hourcampfire.com for some homemade stove designs.
How about heating water and put it in your water bottle and then put it in your sleeping bag with you. It will keep you warm. I to am not ready to wake up dead yet! But we all will some day, I just prefer it is not of my own doing! I have a hard time sleeping in a tent with a camp fire still burning outside.
My back pack tents I use a GOOD SLEEPING BAG only. Spruce bows under the tarp and the tent on the tarp.
Good firepit outside the tent...
For my horse or vehicle tent I use a tipi tent and an open fire mostly.
www.tipitent.com (http://www.tipitent.com)
awesome tents.
Jer Bear
I have a good sleeping bag and a mat.But no one wants to be confined to a sleeping bag for 12 hours.Like I said before,camping in the winter is going to have it's hardships.I just don't want to be a prisoner to the sleeping bag to be one of them.
Well then you need a bigger tent or shelter.
My tipi tent will house 6 with full geat or twelve sleeping on thermareasts.
I am not a big fan of winter camping in a small tent EVER...i don't try to climb everest etc either.
I live in a cold climate already and I know how to be comfortable...without too much gear. Sometimes you just need a great tent and great sleeping bag...BUT I WANTED FIRE...so I got something I could have an open fire in.
I can use a wood stove and I take it when i have a way to get it there easily....but I leave it when I can't.
Jer Bear
These are my favorite winter sleeping places if I'm out away from the house. It's more fun than a Marriott...lol
God bless,Mudd
https://www.strinztipi.com/estore/index.php/categories/pyramids
In the old days in the fall (no snow) we would build a lean too...dig a pit....get a good fire going...then we would take the coals and put them in the pit cover it over with sand and sleep over that...never tried it winter camping though (hard to dig and hard to get sand).
we would leave the fire going outside the leanto. the heat woudl kep us going all night.
Guess I am just not a big fan of tents in the winter that I can't build a real fire in. You can run out of fuel...batteries etc...then what do you do especially if it turns nasty.
the first thing we do is pick a spot that has a good wood source and is sheltered. Then we set camp - then start LOGGING - CHAINSAW preferably or sweedsaw...when we have firewood and a fire going then boil some tea and start enjoying your stay.
Life is way more comfortable when you are warm.
Jer Bear
Don't laugh,But in the movie "pirates of the carribean" the maid put hot coals in Elizibeth Swans bed.I wonder if that would heat up a tent.You could confine them in a coffee can or something and it wouldn't use up much oxygen.I said don't laugh.
Here's one I'll confess to...stupidiest thing I have ever done !!! :scared: :smileystooges: :knothead:
Last year at the Rock shoot put on by Trad. Bowhunter's of WA [TBW] I had Brock Wardell [ owner of Bull Mountain Archery] sleeping in the front of my Motorhome and I was on a bunk in the back... About 3 AM I woke up missing my pillow...Immediately I realized what had happened... it had rolled off the bed and continued to roll until it came to rest against the front of my Mr. Heater. :eek:
Flames about a foot tall.. No more Mr Heater while sleeping at night...
We were "OH SO LUCKY"...hard to guess what 10 more minutes would have been like. I'm sure it would have ended very badly.... I'm also sure we were being watched over :pray:
Gene
If it uses fuel, it's dangerous. That's my rule. Get off the ground for one thing. Dress for the weather. Wool wool wool! Use a good bag!!! Also, I've purchased several nice thick sheep skins from Sam's Club of all places. (I think $30 each) It will take two of them to be long enough for your whole body. These things are not only warm, but very comfortable to lay on! Another thing you can do is to take a piece of plywood or something and before you go to bed, heat up some rocks in your iron skillet and set the skillet full of rocks on the plywood. It will keep most of the chill off during the night. I've heard where people have wrapped up a hot stone in a wool blanket to keep up against them too.
if it's real cold - wear wool socks, long underwear and a touque in bed too.
Touque will really help.
Speaking of rocks we used to put them on the wood stoves and then put them in our skates to warm them up before we played hockey on the outdoor rinks.. :)
jer Bear
Good bag beats bad heater. Spend the money, come home alive. H
Wojo,
That is a great idea - using the dryer exhaust pipe to aid in ventilation. I'm gonna try that next fall.
I use a Mr. Buddy heater - but usually only when I'm getting ready to turn-in or in the morning while getting dressed.
I'm just paranoid about running the thing while I'm sleeping.
I'd feel a bit safer knowing I had positive ventilation using your dryer dust idea.
Thanks for the tip
Chinook
Very interesting topic and a lot of great information....A top line sleeping bag is a must, as for heaters thats another matter. I used an old Coleman heater for years with no problem but always had 2 samll windows open for a cross draft.
Our tent is a nylon one with ventilated top & a rain fly. We get good ventilation so I use a two burner Coleman lantern. It warms the tent up in just a few minutes, but I don't sleep with it on. :)
Frank