Heaters for tent? Help needed!

[serenitygr]

We have never camped in a tent- we know nothing about it! LOL That being said, our 2 older sons are planning to "rough it" in a tent this coming December while we stay in the motorhome at the Fort. The tent is fairly big- 16x9 feet. The boys are going to be 11. So old enough to be kind of careful, but yet still young boys.

My question is what can experienced tent campers recommend for a heater for the tent- something safe is my main concern. I've noticed they are starting to go on sale at Walmart so I thought this might be a good time to get one. thanks for any advice at all!

 

[4kids4karen]

December weather can be unpredictable. We camped at Fort DeSoto (FL park) on one of the coldest nights in January a few years ago. We did not have a heater, but we had pads between the air mattress and us to keep the air matress from sucking away our body heat. We also had good sleeping bags, mink blankets on top of sleeping bags, and the hand/foot warmers tucked at the foot of the sleeping bag. We all slept with our knit camps on our heads as well to keep in body heat. For more than just one or two nights, I would consider a heater. Visit your local camping stores to ask some of the experts what they recommend for your tent.

We got our Eureka Copper Canyon tent from Bill Jackson's so we will be going back there in a few weeks to inquire about an A/C unit for our tent to camp this summer. Not for us, but for our relatives camping with us from Michigan. We live in FL so are use to the heat.
http://www.billjacksons.com/

You might have and Outdoor World store or Gander Mountain nearby that sells camping equipment and heaters?

 

[2goofycampers]

I've always heard ceramic electric heaters are the way to go for a tent.

 

[serenitygr]

I've always heard ceramic electric heaters are the way to go for a tent.

Thanks 2goofycampers- do you know much about them? Does the surface get hot? I don't worry about them touching it- more about something getting up against it that could start a fire.....

 

[serenitygr]

December weather can be unpredictable. We camped at Fort DeSoto (FL park) on one of the coldest nights in January a few years ago. We did not have a heater, but we had pads between the air mattress and us to keep the air matress from sucking away our body heat. We also had good sleeping bags, mink blankets on top of sleeping bags, and the hand/foot warmers tucked at the foot of the sleeping bag. We all slept with our knit camps on our heads as well to keep in body heat. For more than just one or two nights, I would consider a heater. Visit your local camping stores to ask some of the experts what they recommend for your tent.

Brrrrr! Sounds cold! That's how we dress here now in the winter! LOL No camping stores nearby- we are in northern MN in the boondogs! Couple hours from any major city- but walmart is close! (aren't they always?)

 

[cooldadtexas]

If you go with a propane or kerosene based heater you must have ventilation or you have the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning (death). This applies to any enclosed room or tent. It is never recommended to leave any space heater plugged in while sleeping due to risk of fire. A quality sleeping bag (rated for expected temperatures) is the way to go with supplemental blankets.

 

[Eliza32]

Don't know if you can get the same in the US, but here in the UK, an electric heater for camping is generally a fan heater with 2 heat settings and a thermostat so that it will cycle on and off when the tent reaches the required temperature. Most have a trip-switch on the underside so that will cut-out if it is accidentally knocked over. Ours also oscillates, so that it moves the warm air about. We keep it on a small table in the corner of the tent.
We saw some today in our local ASDA (UK arm of WalMart) for £7.99 (about $12.00) but they didn't have the oscillate function.

You can see what I mean here..........http://www.amazon.co.uk/Biogreen-GB...YVTS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1360510948&sr=8-3 although it's a lot more expensive!!

 

[cooldadtexas]

If you go with a propane or kerosene based heater you must have ventilation or you have the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning (death). This applies to any enclosed room or tent. It is never recommended to leave any space heater plugged in while sleeping due to risk of fire. A quality sleeping bag (rated for expected temperatures) is the way to go with supplemental blankets.

 

[rock_doctor]

I've always heard ceramic electric heaters are the way to go for a tent.

This is the way i would go. They do not get red hot and are typically a square box so they are hard to knock over. I have a propane heater for my tent, it works but i would not recommend it when children are the only ones in the tent. You may also consider heating blankets. The most important thing is how they make their beds. Cots are the best. You lose a lot of body heat to the ground.

 

[2goofycampers]

Thanks 2goofycampers- do you know much about them? Does the surface get hot? I don't worry about them touching it- more about something getting up against it that could start a fire.....

Warm not hot. I'd put it on a table where nothing could get next to it. I'd also bring a fan for circulation, just in case.

 

[JanL]

Use electric. Take an extra outlet strip and extension cord to supply power to the tent. Mine has a feature that automatically turns it off if it gets tipped over. I set it on a metal tray ontop of silicone hot pads (from kitchen ware dept.).

Hot air rises, so the heater should be on the floor.

 

[Running_Bell]

When we are camping in areas without electricity we use our lil' buddy propane heater.... it works wonderfully in fact we camped in 25 degrees with snow and sleet one weekend and stayed warm. When we have electricity we use small electric heaters. Our tent is quite large as well.... 16x10 and we have found that we need two electric heaters for each side.... but that is just personal preference. One thing people do not consider when tent camping is how cold air mattresses are when it is cold outside. There are not enough heaters in the world to warm up an air mattress once it takes on the temp. of the outside and your body is not enough to warm it... it gets very cold. We do quite a bit of winter tent camping and use to stack blanket after blanket on the air mattress with little relief. What we finally did was buy cold weather sleeping bags and just lay them on top. Also.. flooring in cold weather is very helpful. We use the interlocking foam flooring... but we have friends that use a thin tent floor blanket. We were at FW in November and a few nights were comfortable... but we had several nights where we needed sleeping bags and heaters.

 

[lodge]

Walmart sells "electric throws"... similar to an electric blanket but is the perfect size for a sleeping bag. They're on clearance now.

Then I'd get a small electric (ceramic) heater to be used for that initial time in the tent, to cut the chill. With sleeping bags and the throws, leaving the heater on all night isn't necessary.

I doubt they'll be spending much more time in there than to sleep, especially being you'll be at WDW.

If you (they) were going out into the wild, I'd have a whole different set of suggestions!

 

[JanL]

I like the idea of the electricly warmed throws....you could also use them lounging outside or at the picnic table.