Lantern to warm a winter tent

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I began using candle lanterns in the ’70s and “graduated to Candoil telescoping lamp oil lanterns in the mid ’80s. They burn longer than candle lanterns and give off a bit more heat and light.As far as I know the Candoil company no longer exists. Too bad, their products were high quality. Glad I still have mine. Great for power outages too.

For double wall tents and snow shelters lanterns are nice for the warmth and cheery light. Yes, you can read by them. I would not recommend leaving them on when you sleep for the fire danger in a tent but in a snow shelter they should be OK if not suspended over any gear. For a chilly morning they are very nice as well.

[David Thomas]

My experience is that candles do more to warm an ice cave up to 32F than they do to help inside a tent at any temperature.  And while the Inuit are reported to have created “shirt-sleeve” environments in their dwellings, those were small, low earth and sod houses.  If you get a snow cave above 32F, you’ll melt the snow.  And yet, 32F, no wind, and some reflected radiant energy is a whole lot better than being in a tent.

[Tipi Walter]

There’s always the Hot Tent idea promoted by Kifaru/Seek Outside/Titanium Goat—a small woodstove inside a lightweight shelter.

I use a single 3-hour candle in the winter to keep my hands functioning at 10F when sitting up in my tent to read or write.  And I agree with David that a little candle doesn’t do much to warm up a tent.  And let’s say they do work—on a long trip you’d have to carry alot of heavy candles if you want continuous in-tent warmth.

Some guys I know leave their cook stoves running in the tent vestibule for warmth—but this is problematic in several ways—dangerous perhaps and it uses up precious fuel—fuel needed for cooking and/or melting snow.  I’m very stingy with my fuel on long winter trips.

I used to live in a tipi in the mountains of NC and regarded my fine woodstove as a miracle beast.  It kept me happy and alive and warm at -14F and in tremendous winter storms.  Facing the same conditions w/o a stove inside a tent can be handled best by overkill goose down items—quality bag, parka and down pants.  My -15F rated WM Puma down bag in effect has become my woodstove.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Hot tenting is fine if you pull a pulk. But the weight of a stove, even a ti sheet stove, is more than I want to carry.

Usually hot tenting involves a canvas tent. Weight – again.

But for relatively flat terrain as in boreal forests of Canada and Minnesota a pulk is a nice piece of gear that permits “Calvin Rustrum” type winter camping.

So no, my Candoil lamp won’t heat a tent up a lot but with two people in my SCARP 2 and one lantern it’s warm enough not to need gloves on a 5 F. night.

I’ve used the Candoil lamp in a Quinzhee on a -22 F. night and my 10 year old daughter and I were, again, warm enough to read books without needing gloves. Any melting of the ceiling was absorbed up into it and re-frozen, making it stronger. I discovered this two days later when dismantling it. There was a nice 1/4″ thick layer of icy snow just 2″ above the inner ceiling.

 

 

 

[Author]

Posts