Heating a small bell tent with chafing burner

[belzeebob23]

Hi Guys

Being a confirmed ground dweller and wanting a bigger tent
I splashed out on a 3 meter bell tent last month,
Now when it came to keeping the chill off in my smaller Hillie a couple of candle lanterns done the job not so now.,
Having picked up a couple of 2hr chafing burners for 60p each I thought I'd give them a go
I found that they worked a treat expect that when
I put it out the temp drop considerable very quickly
Now I'm thinking if I put 1 inside a ammo box then put a couple of heating storage bricks or similar on top this would keep the temp up at a more comfortable level for longer .
Dose anyone have any experience using these for heating or have any other suggestions.

Cheers Bob

[spandit]

I'd be very cautious of using a burning unventilated heat source in a tent, especially inside a box like you say

[belzeebob23]

thanks Spandit

Caution being my middle name .
The tent is well ventilated and I will have a co2 alarm for piece of mind.
What I am trying to achieve something similar to the hot rock system without having a open fire,
which would be in the ideal world the best solution (nice open fires good) but not always achievable .
The plan was to have a ammo box with lid off and the bricks on top to heat up, so that they would radiate
heat after the burner was out.


Bob

[rik_uk3]

I've got all of the following:

A vapalux lantern throws out about 1Kw of heat plus the light, small gas lantern should match the chaffing gel I would think.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BUTANE-GAS...item4d0336e8eb work for 2 hours per can of gas, in B&M the heaters are £8.99 and the gas four cans for £4.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Original-G...item51a09d6949 will keep you toasty, burn for hours on a couple of pints of paraffin.

http://www.force4.co.uk/660/Origo-51...ampaign=pid660 heats and cooks, burns for about 8 hours on a litre of meths or methanol

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Origo-Gloy...item51a06d1d09 I really like this, more 'retro' feel than the modern heatpal, same performance.

One of these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gelert-Fol...item3a77528abb
with one of these on top
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-RA...item3f1af5843e

I leave the meths heaters unattended but none of the others.

This is the main source of heat these days
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Swedish-Ar...item3a77b338b2

USE COMMON SENSE, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, MAKE SURE THE TENT IS VENTILATED, TURN OFF BEFORE SLEEP.

[belzeebob23]

Hi Richard

Thanks for the links
I have had a look at the heatpal in Nordic a few weeks ago the new version nice little heater but I have no experience of using meths as a fuel source (will have to look into that in more detail) and was told their could be an condensation issue?
I do have a paraffin Tiley lamp sitting in the cupboard (need to service it before using) which like your Vapalux will put out a lot of heat and light when in use.
I do have a black cat heater as well, but found it to be an expensive way of heating and don't really like it.
I had a looked at the wildo which is similar in size to the frontier stove that I fitted to my friends Tentipi which I think is just too big for the tent and my needs.
More thinking is needed cause the romance or the pyromaniac in me wants something with a flame.LOL.
Time to hit you-tube and have a look at ammobox stoves me think.
But any thoughts or alternatives you guys can come with would be appreciated.


Thanks Bob

[rik_uk3]

When you burn liquid fuel and gas a by product is water so you will always get condensation although that should not be an issue in a canvas tent. Meths is pricey, I use methanol in mine, less than a quid a litre. I've pretty much stopped burning wood now and take 20kg of coal for the weekend...very very toasty even mid winter.

[fishfish]

mate of mine uses an old parafin greenhouse heater,picked it up off freecycle for nowt.

[belzeebob23]

Cheers guys

its just getting more confusing as time gose on.
Rik are you saying you use methanol in your heatpal? and thanks for clearing up the condensation thing too.
Hi fish don't think we have freecycle as up here in Glasgow but will look into it.
is there not a smell associated with paraffin heaters especial if used in a closed space?

[bilmo-p5]

Here's a bell tent lit & heated by paraffin. Used for cooking too.

[rik_uk3]

The good old days Ian, now you've changed, gone ultralight, your having a mid life crisis Who's tent was that, Shags?

Yes, use methanol in the heatpal.

[bilmo-p5]

Nick's tent.

...your having a mid life crisis

Nice to know I'm only at the mid point of my life; I thought I was well into the second half. I expect the next 50-odd years will be quite interesting.

[belzeebob23]

mine just a dinky 3 meter bell tent

https://picasaweb.google.com/1105984...83592201869234


bob

[rik_uk3]

Nick's tent.



Nice to know I'm only at the mid point of my life; I thought I was well into the second half. I expect the next 50-odd years will be quite interesting.

After my near death experience I treat 50 as mid life and hope for the best

Totally off topic as usual, but I'm solo babysitting tonight as the girls are having a night out in Cardiff so grandson and I watched



I really enjoyed it....second childhood for me perhaps. Lad is now asleep and I'm sipping a rather nice Chablis.

Back on topic, a three metre would be fine with a Tilley/gas lamp or little butane heater unless you fancy splashing out on the heatpal.

[ged]

Have you considered hot water bottles? I always think it's a lot cheaper and easier to heat me than it is to heat a tent enough to heat me.

A couple of 2 litre hot water bottles, well insulated, will keep you toasty warm all night and most of the next morning in any decent sleeping bag.

[rik_uk3]

Ged you don't want to sit in your tent with a hot water bottle stuffed up your jumper lol, a heated tent means sitting down without your jacket on, relaxing, chatting, playing cards, playing backgammon, cooking, whatever although a hot water bottle at night is 'bloody lovely' as we say in Wales.

[belzeebob23]

Yeah a hot water bottle is part of my camping kit keeps the old sleeping bag toastie all night.
Looking for ways of heating the tent for those occasional wet and windy days we get up in Scotland Ged
LOL.which would help dry the kit out and myself

The use of a chafing burner as mentioned in the title of thread was because I had picked up a couple for pennies at the cash and carry so I thought give them a try thinking they should work like a big candle nothing ventured nothing gained and all that.
with having no experience of using meths or similar I'm groping in the dark when it comes to systems that use them as a fuel , but they seem the safer option to use inside a tent.
when away i tend to use open fire or coalman fuel type stoves or gas for cooking
Had a look at the can last night Rik to discover they are a Methanol gel
So since a Heatpal is basically a ventilated steel box with a controllable burner would a ventilated ammo box ( lots of holes drilled in it and a controllable burner do the same job? and hopefully with the added bonus of being able to make a wee cheeky coffee in the morning . if my thinking is wrong please let me know

Bob

[rik_uk3]

Here you go
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Single...item5ae8b208ea
Folds flat, not the fastest cooker but does work.

Fuel, £1.29 a go
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sterno-200...item484692b41c

Have fun.

[belzeebob23]

Cheers for That Ric

That stove sent me off on an other direction.
A quick call to a mate, has sourced me a small bit of perforated steel plate which he will bend into a simple U shape to make a free standing plate to go over burner and with a couple of bits of threaded rod and some nuts to stop it splaying out and a stove is born.
probably been done before but hey all new to me.
I will source a couple of storage heater bricks or similar to put on top, to store and radiate heat after burner is out
Thanks for the links mate
I can get the burners up here for 60p each, for the 2.5 hr.
I'll stick a couple of pics up when I get it finished,
Cheers for all the advice and help.

Bob.

[mereside]

if its any help a plant pot is a good way of heating things up turn it upside down onto your heat source its amazing how much heat it holds and puts out, we use this method in winter in scotland ,atb wayne
the other is use a really small calor gas bottle and make a small log burner , needs venting properly but a valve fitted at the top slows the burn down and heats the bottle up, atb wayne

[belzeebob23]

Hi Wayne
I had heard about using plant pots with a candle to heat greenhouses in the winter to keep the frost away.
I had a look around and found this.http://www.heatstick.com/_KanHeet01.htm .
I had got as far as getting all the nuts, washers and the bolt to make one but couldn't get 3 sizes of unglazed plant pots at the time
So I have put it to one side at the moment because I'm going to try and source a couple of storage bricks to first which I hope will do the same job.
.
The tent is much larger than I am used to and where a couple of micro candle lanterns would heat my smaller and more technical tents they just didn't cut it in the big tent
I also wanted it to double as a small stove for making a coffee in the morning and heating the tent before I got up.
cheers
Bob

[mereside]

hi bob i hadnt seen that before but i can tell you even the single pot is amazing so im sure that set up would be even better, atb wayne

[fishfish]

Cheers guys


Hi fish don't think we have freecycle as up here in Glasgow but will look into it.
is there not a smell associated with paraffin heaters especial if used in a closed space?

not too bad we heat our bathroom and landing with them in the winter.

[Laurentius]

You could always boil up a Kelly kettle and use it as a radiator.

[dwardo]

I have just ordered the belltent double tier chandelier which has 21 candles so should kick out a bit of heat.
Its going into one of their 5 meter belltents this weekend so i will post a review if its any good.

Providing it gets here by the weekend that is.

[rik_uk3]

Ventilate a lot, candles produce more fumes than pretty much any other source of open flame lighting.

[dwardo]

Ventilate a lot, candles produce more fumes than pretty much any other source of open flame lighting.

Would some or all of the lower vents be enough?
Going to make sure I buy some decent quality tea lights, also investing in a battery operated carbon monox alarm just incase..

This is our first outing in the 5 meter tent and with a sewn in sheet. Going to be an experiment....

I had a good look through the links you provided above but i think i will just bite the bullet and go for the Frontier stove.

[bilmo-p5]

Ventilate a lot, candles produce more fumes than pretty much any other source of open flame lighting.

Sooty too.

[belzeebob23]

Hi Dwardo
If my tent was a 5 meter i would be using a Frontier stove, I put 1 into my mates tentipi and its brill.
My tent is just too small for one and since I'm only looking to realistically keep the chill out (get it up too jumper wearing temp) been looking at alternatives.
i would love to hear how you get on with the chandelier but think this will not be an option for me as my tent stands just over 6' at its peak.
after some suggestions and a links from Rik which sent me off in an other direction I picked up this today from my mate

Who made it twice as big as I wanted but hey it's makes a more stable platform( hey I'm a glass half full type of guy) and the more I think about it a flower pot heater to go on top seems like a good idea.
I just had to have a wee play when i got home and it takes about 10 mins to make an espresso so won't be the fastest coffee in the morning but will get their eventually.
A alarm would be on my kit list for piece of mind Safety first.

Bob

[rik_uk3]

The Frontier stove is nice, but its small, has a quite narrow flue which is short too. The Wildo is a better option or
http://www.gisurplus.co.uk/shop/prod...-burning-stove

You need to spend £150 plus VAT on a mixed order but that should be no problem, they have some great deals. You would spend more than that on a Frontier by the time you buy extra flue sections.

[belzeebob23]

I can't disagree with what Rik says about the frontier it is small with a narrow/shorter flue ,got to clean it every couple of days to keep it working right .
looking at the wildo .it has a bigger cooking area, the flue is a bigger and has a bigger door with controllable air intake on the front.
My only concern would be how low it sits to the ground for a tent with sewn in ground sheet but I dare say that would be an easy fix some kind of protection on the floor.

Bob