If you want to go camping in the cold period of the year, you will need to know how to heat a camping tent.
Of course, there will be cold in a tent during winter, nevertheless, you can experience warm and comfortable travel. You just need to follow certain rules.
In order not to freeze in a tent in the winter time, you need to choose your outfit correctly. If you want a comfortable winter overnight stay, do not expect a miracle, and use high-quality gear with a sleeping bag.
Of course, an important role for comfortable sleep plays the right choice of a sleeping bag and mattress. But even if the whole body is warm, you should take care of the nose and ears that are most exposed to cold.
Children usually toss and turn during sleeping, so it is best to heat the whole tent to be calm and not to worry that children may catch a cold.
In this article, we will not talk about individual heaters, such as a heating pad, hot water bottle in a sleeping bag or other chemical heaters.
Contents
How to Heat a Tent without Electricity?
What are the best methods to heat a camping tent which don’t need electricity? One of the most common methods is to heat your tent with the help of a well-heated fire cobblestone.
This method has one important trick. If the stone is simply heated in the fire and then placed in the tent, then after an hour the stone will gradually cool down, and the tent will be cold again. But you can place the stone in a pot with a lid; this will increase the time up to 3 hours, but it is still not enough for a full sleep.
It is necessary to increase the thermal inertia of the stone so it will be warm for 8-10 hours, and gradually cooling down. For this purpose you can use a non-combustible, lightweight and compact thermal insulator – simple aluminum foil.
Wrapped in several layers of foil, the stone will be cooling down more slowly. It will not cause stuffiness in the tent in the first few hours. When the stone starts to cool, it is best to remove the foil layer by layer, and the tent will be warmer. The heat is retained due to the air between layers of foil.
In order not to burn the bottom of the tent with hot rock, it should be placed in the pan (it would be better if the stone has the size of a human head, and is firmly placed in the pan). You can put an inverted pan or a wooden board under the pan.
Important note
You need to heat the stone gradually to prevent its destruction because of the extreme temperatures on its surface and inside of it.
If possible, you can heat a 4-5 gallon canister with water and place it in a tent. Such canister will grant the effect of the battery for 3-4 hours.
Use Burned-out Campfire Place
Burned-out campfire place is another way on how to heat a tent without electricity. It is a valuable tip for all campers. Another no less widespread variant is to install a tent on the spot where the campfire was burning.
Ideally, the campfire should have the size of the tent and it should be placed in a small deepening. The campfire should burn for several hours.
When the large coals are burned, the fireplace is poured with a layer of earth. Spruce branches or dry grass is put on the top of the earth where the tent will stand.
But many people do not perform digging; they just remove the embers from the fireplace and put spruce branches on the hot ground. With this method, the tent will be warm until morning.
The more advanced method of heating a tent with a help of a campfire is to use of a duralumin collapsible tube.
For such a heater you need a 20-foot long dural tube with a small diameter of 2 inches (the weight of this tool is not really big) and a small sheet of asbestos.
A fire should be placed 15 feet from the tent. Click here to see an example of this interesting and functional heating system.
The place where the pipe is contacted to the fire is being wrapped in asbestos. One end of the tube is directed to the tent, and the second one to the outside fire, so that the smoke could not get inside. The incoming fresh air near the tube is heated and then passed through the tube into the tent.
The distance between the lower pipe end and the upper pipe end should not be less than 6 feet. The steeper slope – the better air circulation. Entering air temperature depends on the level of pipe heat. If it is too hot, you can close the deducing end in the tent or decrease the fire.
There are a few more methods that can help you to warm the tent, but some of them are quite complicated. It is often advised to clear the snow and make a campfire to warm the earth under the tent.
If you have a kerosene stove, candles or dry alcohol, then it is possible to heat the tent with them. At the same time, you need to be very careful; because the tent can be burned in seconds.
Warming Your Tent with Heater
All these methods are time-consuming and not very convenient when you go camping with children or move from one place to another.
Sometimes you don’t have enough time to make a large fireplace. Special tourist heaters can help you here. They can be of gasoline, kerosene or gas type.
The heaters are very popular in recent years among tourists, as everyone can choose what he or she wants from a wide range of specimens on the market. It is especially convenient for beginner campers.
Such a stove can combine not only a heater but also a tile for cooking, and sometimes it can even illuminate the tent.
Such burners are usually compact, reliable and quiet. When using such heaters in the tent, you need to take care of the fresh air inside. It is best to have an oxygen sensor in the heater. And of course, your heater must be certified for residential use.
What Heating Method will You Choose?
Now you know how to heat a tent without electricity. It is your choice which method you will try.
If you are more adventurous then you can go for natural choices and have fun during preparation. You can also bring a heater with you and just enjoy your stay. Try it and find out which method suits you well.