Heating a small tent - no problem.

Wise Old Owl · Oct 26th 2015, 9:47pm

A good emergency heat source can be made with 3 tea candles in a 1 lb coffee can. It puts out so much heat that you can't hold your hand over the can. Those little candles are very cheap and will burn up to 4 hours. It will literally take the chill off of a small tent if the drafts are kept to a minimum! Keep in mind the tent needs to be vented and the base needs to be on a flat rock. I have often worried after a close call years ago about carbon monoxide in tents as it happened to me. I think this is reasonably safe and start off small maybe one or two candles. Never use jelly alcohol or your stove. You do not want to burn off the oxygen. This is just to warm up the tent - 4 hours is enough in most situations - let it go out. In the morning it would help getting changed. A back up idea is to put the tea light on your stove tripod in a can off to a side where you wont bump it. Be careful out there.

IMScotty · Oct 26th 2015, 11:18pm

WOO,

I have to confess, the thought of candles in a tent scares me. I have done it myself, but when I read stories like this one... I have to wonder if it is ever worth the risk.

thefreelibrary.com/TENT+FIRE+H…l+as+candle...-a060437805

All I can say is be careful out there

Astro · Oct 27th 2015, 12:13am

IMScotty wrote:

WOO,

I have to confess, the thought of candles in a tent scares me. I have done it myself, but when I read stories like this one... I have to wonder if it is ever worth the risk.

thefreelibrary.com/TENT+FIRE+H…l+as+candle...-a060437805

All I can say is be careful out there

That is the same initial thoughts I had.

LIhikers · Oct 27th 2015, 12:15am

While out hiking I don't drink enough coffee to empty a 1 pound can.

Astro · Oct 27th 2015, 12:20am

And if you did drink that much, it would probably cut into your hiking time.

Mountain-Mike · Oct 27th 2015, 12:41am

Tents today have to be traeted to prevent that. Not reccomended but I have often cooked in my tent. It was a well vented one. While cooking I would pack from inside out. One time on PCT we had a section hiker join our group in WA. He went to Michele & asked if it was normal for smoke/steam to be coming from my thent in the morning. Xhe looked over & repird pretty much, he's making coffee.

JimBlue · Oct 27th 2015, 9:15am

I keep all flames out of a tent, carbon monoxide and catching fire...

Dmax · Oct 27th 2015, 10:05am

I've used tea candles for years. Sometimes they are used for heat, but most of the time I use them for light. Last week I had two lit outside our tent so I could study the lake map before going to sleep. Sometimes I leave them burning. I don't think I will anymore. After I got done looking at the map I decided to put them out so my wife wouldn't wake up from the light. When I woke up in the morning a leaf was covering one completely and the other had a leaf sitting half way over the top.

Wise Old Owl · Oct 27th 2015, 10:41pm

I suspected when I posted that this was the current sentiment.. its OK....

I am playing with an Uco candle at the moment. (9 hour) appears to work well, may be a bit much as the chain is not long enough.

odd man out · Oct 27th 2015, 11:47pm

I've seen a few web pages such as this where they burn a candle under an inverted terra cotta flower pot. The pot gets hot and radiates heat for some time after the candle goes out. It also contains the flame. Not suitable for backpacking (unless you want to carry a big clay flower pot). But for car camping, it would be a nice hack.

LIhikers · Oct 28th 2015, 2:03am

Have you ever tried it? Does it really work? That flower pot trick, I mean.

OzJacko · Oct 28th 2015, 2:20am

No way I would put a flame in my tent. Even the car camping one.
If it's that cold wait another hour before getting up.

Foresight · Oct 28th 2015, 2:50am

Last year I went to Indiana hunting with two friends of mine. It was to be a tent hunt and Indiana is known to get cold. Now, there's two things that make me bitchy, being cold and waking up before the sun rises. I was preparing for the worst.

We get there and lo and behold the buddy along for the trip that was from this area had set it up so that we were actually tenting in someones metal building, lol. The building didn't have heat, but it did have power so we ran an extension cord into the tent and had a heater inside, lol, it was wonderful! We even had a Mr. Coffee with a timer on it so I woke up to the smell of coffee every morning.

I still had to wake up before the sun, but, all things considered, it was almost worth it and I was merely quiet about it instead of bitchy

Muddywaters · Oct 28th 2015, 5:01am

down is lighter

Sarcasmtheelf · Oct 28th 2015, 6:15pm

So here's a question I've had for a while:

I've read in several different places that sil-nylon is especially flamable and you shouldn't have a flame in silnylon tents even if youwere comfortable doing so in a regular nylon tent. Does anyone know if there's any truth to this?

OzJacko · Oct 28th 2015, 6:25pm

I don't know but all synthetics are not fire friendly.
It wouldn't need to be worse than a nylon tent.
One of the biggest hassles with a fire in the back country is keeping sparks off your gear including your clothes.

Wise Old Owl · Jan 25th 2016, 12:14am

Hmm perhaps I made a "generalization" mistake...appears all tents are not the same. I don't mind making a mistake. But I will own up to it...

Most of my tents are treated for fire protection in the past. Apparently Canvas and Sil-Nylon are not.

Socks · Jan 25th 2016, 10:09pm

went to knock a chunk of ice from my snowblowers dischage and touched my nylon jacket sleeve against the muffler...so pissed, I smoked it. and I mean, I fuquen smoked it!

Ugh :cursing:

Astro · Jan 26th 2016, 12:01am

socks wrote:

went to knock a chunk of ice from my snowblowers dischage and touched my nylon jacket sleeve against the muffler...so pissed, I smoked it. and I mean, I fuquen smoked it!

Ugh

That stinks, sorry to hear it.

Dan76 · Jan 26th 2016, 12:16am

Use duct tape as a repair.

Socks · Jan 26th 2016, 5:50am

Astro wrote:

socks wrote:

went to knock a chunk of ice from my snowblowers dischage and touched my nylon jacket sleeve against the muffler...so pissed, I smoked it. and I mean, I fuquen smoked it!

Ugh

That stinks, sorry to hear it.

That's how I realized I did it, thought the blower had shyte the bed at first. Stunk somethin' aweful.

Dan76 · Jan 26th 2016, 11:49pm

Astro wrote:

And if you did drink that much, it would probably cut into your hiking time.

But the caffeine would boost his daily mileage.

Wise Old Owl · Jan 27th 2016, 8:30pm

socks wrote:

went to knock a chunk of ice from my snowblowers dischage and touched my nylon jacket sleeve against the muffler...so pissed, I smoked it. and I mean, I fuquen smoked it!

Ugh

Nylon isn't sil - nylon. one is much smaller than the other. Apparently you didn't burst into flames. (glad that didn't happen)

I am curious - how does this add to the thread?

Drybones · Jan 27th 2016, 9:57pm

Wise Old Owl wrote:

socks wrote:

went to knock a chunk of ice from my snowblowers dischage and touched my nylon jacket sleeve against the muffler...so pissed, I smoked it. and I mean, I fuquen smoked it!

Ugh

Nylon isn't sil - nylon. one is much smaller than the other. Apparently you didn't burst into flames. (glad that didn't happen)
I am curious - how does this add to the thread?

Drift man, drift....that's what we do....didn't you get the memo?

Socks · Jan 27th 2016, 10:00pm

what are you yap'n about.

rafe · Jan 27th 2016, 10:54pm

And if you're wearing Frogg Toggs, don't sit too close to the fire. Just sayin'.

Heating a small tent - no problem.

Heating a small tent - no problem.

IMScotty wrote:

socks wrote:

Astro wrote:

socks wrote:

Astro wrote:

socks wrote:

Wise Old Owl wrote:

socks wrote:

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