The Best Tent Heating Methods That Work
When planning a camping trip, heating the tent safely can make a big difference between a cool sleeping environment and a comfortable space. The best tent heaters help you relax on a winter night without getting overwhelming and overbearing.
If you’re like most people, you probably hate this time when cold nights and an icy tent can ruin your perfect camping experience.
However, as with most outdoor activities, proper planning and preparation are essential. You are in the elements and may be very far from civilization. It’s very important to know you’ve covered all the bases, especially if this is one of your first camping experiences.
What are tent heaters?
A tent heater is a device that gives off heat to a tent or room.
Tent heaters not only provide ambient heat to rooms but also provide several additional benefits. Using a tent heater will reduce the need to pack heavy layers of clothing and a larger cold-weather sleeping bag, which will reduce your camping load in cold weather. Best of all, these portable heaters allow campers to extend their camping season instead of hanging them up when the snow starts.
The different types of tent heaters
Although all tent heaters perform the same basic function, it is very important to know the types of tent heaters. Indeed, you can identify the correct type that meets your needs. The two main types are gas heaters and electric heaters. Gas heaters operate on affordable and easily accessible fuels such as butane, kerosene, and the most popular propane.
This means you can easily can additional fuel, it is as simple as taking an extra container or cylinder.
Whether you want to warm a bivy bag on long backpacking trips or a dome tent for the whole family, one or more of the items on this list of our best tent heating methods will keep you comfortable and content, regardless of the needle drop.
Top safest methods to heat a tent
There are proven ways to safely heat your tents without emitting harmful gases. Nevertheless, how do you warm up a tent without jeopardizing safety? How do you reconcile comfort and safety?
Here are the top heating options available for you, so let’s stop the cold by discovering our top safest ways to heat a tent.
- Isolate/Insulate your tent
The idea of insulating a tent is to keep the warm air in and reflect it. If it is not that cold outside, the good insulation ensures that the tent stays nice and warm with your body heat.
- Use tent heaters
Using a tent heater is the safest, cleanest, and most convenient option of all. If you are in a campground with access to electricity, a portable electric heater will significantly meet your heating needs. Electric tent heaters don’t need combustion like most of the other tent heating ideas mentioned in this article. And they are stress-free. Plugin the electric heater and you are good to go.
- Use hot water bottles to heat your tent
Farmers are using this idea extensively. Huge greenhouses are heated with barrels and water.
For this to work, you will need hard plastic or metal bottles. You need to heat the water to near boiling point to keep the supermarket plastic bottles from working. You also need a pan or something similar to heat the water.
And the fire, yes, you need the fire. Once the water has reached a high temperature, safely place it in the plastic/metal bottles and distribute these bottles to your store. When done correctly, they should give off heat for several hours and slowly increase the temperature in your tent.
- Light with candles and heat
Candles aren’t just for romantic candlelight dinners, you know? You can place your candles in a lantern to keep your tent warm. Buy a lantern with three candles instead of a single candle and get three times the heat.
Light the candles and place them in the candle lantern for an hour or more before going to bed, then close your tent. This ensures that some heat builds up in the tent and that it is warm enough to go to bed.
- Use hot stones
The same principle as water bottles, but with a different approach. This method can even heat your tent faster than bottled water, but there is a problem. The stones do not store the heat for long.
Do not throw them in the fire or you will have a hard time getting them out.
Wrap the stones in a piece of cloth or cloth half an hour before going to bed. Spread the hot stones in your tent. Begin to circulate them as much as feasible. Aim for the corners and places you touch the least. If you wrap them properly, they should be very hot, but at the same time, the fabric should protect them from melting the canvas.
Depending on the outside temperature, you can have comfortable temperatures and stay warm until the next morning.
- Coal is a good source of heat
The leftover embers from your campfire go a long way in heating your tent. Dig a ditch in the center of your tent. Put the coals in this ditch when you fall asleep. Cover the coals with sand.
The heat from the embers will keep your tent warm for the rest of the night. Be careful when placing the embers around your skin or those around you not to burn.
- Put your tent on the remains of a campfire
This method works best if you have a large tent. When you put out your campfire, the leftovers from the campfire will stay hot. You can keep leftovers warm for a long time. Avoid staining your belongings and personal belongings with burnt residue.
The downside is that you have to pitch your tent later than usual. Not everyone will enjoy pitching a tent late at night with limited lighting.
Things to consider before buying a tent heater
Most campers take the hobby very seriously. They spend hours researching before choosing a hiking pack or a new tent.
Don’t expect to buy the same tent heater that your friends have and use it as the right one for you, depending on the performance of your British Thermal Unit (BTU) or the fuel source you are using.
We’ve put together a list of the most important factors to consider when buying the best tent heater.
Auto shut-off: Sometimes you can fall asleep without turning off the heating. This can lead to unfortunate events. The automatic shut-off mechanism has been specially developed to shut down your heating system after a few hours of continuous use. By doing this, you will reduce the risk of fire accidents.
Camp location – The camping location plays an important role in determining the optimal tent heater for you. Electric heaters are ultimately the safest, but they are not always feasible when camping out in the countryside instead of a campground with electric capacity on site. For campers in the field, a portable gas heater may be the best option. Gas can be purchased in small, lightweight, easy-to-pack, disposable, or refillable cans.
Tilt Switch – This feature prevents the possibility of fire in your device. This advanced feature can help prevent a fire if your stove accidentally falls over. This is an important function that these devices must-have, as accidents cannot be predicted. Better to stay safe than to apologize.
Weight and Size – Camping requires a lot of equipment, so it can be impractical to have a tent heater that is too big or heavy. Fortunately, there are smaller, lighter options that should meet your capacity and space requirements. In general, the size of the water heater corresponds to the amount of heat generated by the appliance. A larger tent will likely need a larger, more powerful heater, while a small tent with a more compact heater should heat well.
BTU assessment – Another important point to consider is to exercise caution when evaluating your BTU heater. If it has a good BTU value, your device can heat a large space. The best devices have adjustable ratings for easy customization.
Final thoughts
Being outside and escaping the anxieties of everyday life is certainly calming, but there are plenty of other reasons why a person, couple or family,y might want to go camping, get some fresh air, and exercise to maintain the sensory relationship with the environment and each other. Whatever your reasons, getting a few extra winter camping supplies is a top priority, and tent heating should be high on your list.