Heating a tent with LP Heater

SirRocco · Oct 11, 2009

Our hunting group last year started using an LP heater to heat our sleep tent which is vented with a stove pipe out the back of the heater and straight up and out the ceiling. So right now we are set up with only one 90 in the stove pipe. At times it got a little chilly in the tent at night. We were wondering if anyone has or thinks it would be a good idea to move the LP heater toward the middle of the tent, and reroute our stove/vent pipe out of the back of the heater 90 up 90 over 4-5 feet and then 90 up out of the ceiling of the tent. We are hoping that with more pipe inside the tent it would produce more heat. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

YukonDall · Oct 11, 2009

IF ITS A DUAL ELEMENT HEATER THATS EXACTLY WHAT I WOULD DO, I WOULD ALSO PUT A LEVELING BOARD UNDER THE TANK.....& I MIGHT PUT A STAKE INTO THE GROUND & STRAP THE TANK TIGHT IN CASE OF A BUDDY TRIPPING OR BUMPING UP AGAINST THE TANK. ALSO A VENT IS THE WAY TO GO.....BUT MOST TENTS ARE NOT AIR TIGHT....THEY VENT. WE DONT RUN LP AT NIGHT WHILE WE SLEEP AS A SAFE MEASURE..........YD.

Foreman4x4 · Oct 11, 2009

Yep, I'd take cold over blue...

cjboz · Oct 12, 2009

+1 You would be surprised by how quick oxygen is burned up in an enclosed space with LP gas!! Be careful, we dont want you as a statistic!!

shedcrazy · Oct 12, 2009

I agree, I'd rather be cold for a night than for an eternity. Don't mess around with it, man. err in the side of livin.

OpeningDay · Oct 12, 2009

LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-09 AT 04:53PM (MST)[p]I like to sleep, but I don't want to take the "Deep Sleep" just yet.. We use them to take the chill out just before bed and when you get up. Spend the little extra $$ and get a good sleeping bag.

Buckhunter1 · Oct 12, 2009

Go back to good old wood! It dries wet boots much better. BH1

kingfish · Oct 12, 2009

Don't listen to these guys!!! We used them for over 15 years and as long as your tent is well ventilated and you don't run them while your sleeping they are great. We had a two burner in the center and a single burner out at the perimeter. Turn them off at night by turning off the bottle not just the heater. Turn them on about a half an hour before you get up to take off the chill. They work great....Enjoy. Beats the sh$%$ out of cutting a cord of wood!!!

Triple_BB · Oct 12, 2009

Got to see some autopsy photos of this poor baztard who died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The guys lungs were a deep purple. Died in his sleep from a faulty furnace. That did it for me. I'll take cold any day over questionable heating practices...

mtdream · Oct 13, 2009

a co-workers hubby and hunting buddy both dies from using a big buddy heater in their tent...

Would NOT recommend this to anyone...even though they claim to have low oxygen sensors etc.

AWHOLELOTTABULL · Oct 13, 2009

"Don't listen to these guys!!! We
used them for over 15
years and as long as
your tent is well ventilated
and you don't run them
while your sleeping they are
great."

That's what he's trying to avoid kingfish. He's asking what will keep it warm during the night. Most tents aren't ventilated at the bottom of the tent. The vents are in the ceilings. LP settles in the bottom 2 feet of the tent. If you're not sleeping high and it leaks. . . you're dead! It's not that bad to cut wood. I kind of enjoy it myself. If you're getting cold at night, get a better bag. The only time you should get cold is if you're the one that drew the short straw to light the stove.

It's always an adventure!!!
www.awholelottabull.com

badlander · Oct 14, 2009

Forgive me if I am wrong as I am not an expert on the topic, but isn't the act of combustion, be it wood, pellets, corn, coal, kerosene or LP what consumes the oxygen? Not the act of burning LP itself. If you had an unvented wood fire in your sealed tent you would consume the oxygen and die as well.

The big deal with the wood/pellet stoves is that you have to vent them out of the tent due to the smoke. If you are using a vented LP heater where would the issue arise? From limited experience installing my own gas fireplace it appears that the vent itself provides outside air into the firebox so no air inside of the house/tent would be consumed?

There are probably millions of RV campers that are a lot tighter than any wall tent that heat safely with a vented propane heater, not to mention propane stoves, fridge, water heater or whatever else you can imagine?

I am waiting for someone to come up with an LP insert to put into my cylinder stove, I don't think that i'd be afraid to use it?

BIGJOHNT · Oct 14, 2009

You are correct rv heaters take the air from outside for combustion and of course exhaust the burnt gases to the outside.I guess you could modify an rv heater for a tent,but it needs a battery to run the exhaust fan . Then a thermostat wired into the system and hanging some place. Then vent pipe that should be keep 1 to 6 inches from any combustible. Depending on vent type.
But I think the killer of Doing this would be the battery it would not make it threw the night.
My trailer has insulated walls and two batteries and can just make it threw the night with the stat set at 58 degrees. Generally the generater is on until about 11 or 12 at night and then comes back on in the morning to charge the battery.
If someone where to build this for a tent the liability of having some red neck setting it up and living threw the night ? It isn't going to happen ! Wood stoves work great or get a warmer bag and live a little longer.
Or by a trailer . Our building codes say its aganist the law ( or code ) to put a heater or gas water heater in a sleeping area.I know this is in a house ,but I guess you get the point.
I have used a propane stove in a tent. But to warm it up when you go to sleep and then to started it up when you wake up in the morning. This usually happens the same way with my wood stove in my tent. We pack it full of wood when we go to sleep and relight it the morning.
As I get older I generaly sleep great in my 35 ft weekend warrior trialer.
Keep safe and enjoy the hunt !

tabbyhntr · Oct 14, 2009

When I was 17 and dumb we did usde an LP to heat our tent, yes wood and everything else takes oxygen to burn, the problem with lp is once all the oxygen is burned out of a room only the flame goes out, gas still comes out and floats to the ground where you sleep and kills you! We were lucky enough the lp ran out before we died! Woke up sick as hell and puking for 3 days! Please don't burn lp inside anything when your asleep!

accubond · Oct 14, 2009

The heater in question here is hooked up to a 100# tank that is more than enough for the week with the amount of use it recieves and it is also vented through the cieling of the tent. This heater is designed for fish houses and has been used in one quite a bit up here Minnesota.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never has and never will be." -Thomas Jefferson

GHOSTINTHEWOODS · Oct 14, 2009

Whats the differance, if there is one in a catalitic heater. I've had one installed in my trailer for years and never worried about it always keep a window and a vent cracked. Everyone I know has one in there trailer. the trailer sales place installs them. Should I be worried???

habitat · Oct 15, 2009

Also don't think that because you have the screens on your tents that you should use these as vents,they can seal over with dew or frost and then you are back to a sealed tent or camper.There are some unlucky people every year that don't wake up because of this

springer · Oct 15, 2009

I just bought one of those Big Buddy Heaters from Cabela's with the intention of usinging it to heat the tent on a late deer hunt this year. I also bought the 12' hose so the tank would be outside.

The manufacture claims it is safe to use in an enclosed area if there is ventalation. After reading this post I have some real concerns about sleeping with this thing running.

Can anyone with experience using the Big Buddy Heaters shed more light on this topic.

Thanks.

cheeseheadinOHIO · Oct 15, 2009

We just got back from hunting in CO and tent camping. We used a Mr Buddy inside the tent running on low all night. The 20# LP tank and 12' hose were inside the tent as well. This may get long but here's what I've learned.
Mr Buddy, made by Mr Heater states it has an oxygen sensor and won't work over 7000 feet. Wrong. It worked at 9000 feet.

Putting the LP tank outside and using the hose creates condensation and plugs the hose with water and will not work. You must then open the both ends of the hose and drain the moisture. If you use it indoors with the heater it will not develop moisture and plug.

Our tent was well ventilated but as previously mentioned, CO is collects closer to the ground. We bought and used a DC battery operated CO detector and placed it at cot level. It never went off. We arrived home alive. However, if what you do doesn't work, you'll never know anyways. I wouldn't have done it without the CO detector. Be safe.

YukonDall · Oct 15, 2009

YES BE SAFE........DO NOT RUN THE HEATER WHILE YOU SLEEP....REAL SIMPLE. TURN THE LPG BOTTLE OFF AT THE VALVE.....END OF PROBLEMS......RE LIGHT THE HEATER IN THE MORNING........YD.

AWHOLELOTTABULL · Oct 16, 2009

Unless you manufacture the equipment yourself and are 100% sure that it's not going to malfunction you are OUT OF YOUR MIND to sleep with gas running. Trailer heaters are a whole different ball game but I still sleep with a vent open and a CO detector in the trailer. There are "outdoorsman" every year that lose their lives to this type of stupidity. Don't be a statistic.

As for the "Mr. Buddy' heaters. They have an o2 sensor that shuts them off when the oxygen gets too low. That's why they won't work very well above 7000 feet and they won't work at all above 9000 feet. We tried them several years ago at elk camp and couldn't keep them running and our camp was at 8000 feet.

It's always an adventure!!!
www.awholelottabull.com

mtdream · Oct 16, 2009

>The heater in question here is
>hooked up to a 100#
>tank that is more than
>enough for the week with
>the amount of use it
>recieves and it is also
>vented through the cieling of
>the tent. This heater
>is designed for fish houses
>and has been used in
>one quite a bit up
>here Minnesota.
>
>"If a nation expects to be
>ignorant and free... it
>expects what never has and
>never will be." -Thomas
>Jefferson

Propane is heavier than Air...So, if your venting through the ceiling, it wont matter...all that will happen is propane will continue to fill the tent until it reaches the top where the vent is...by then it is probably too late...

Guys think about this a little more...

It is very easy for the Big Buddy or anyother to have the flame go out on the heater, and then all that is blowing out the heater is propane...the issue has NOTHING to do with bottle in the tent or out...

In fact having those 12' hoses can cause a problem too, by allowing propane to "pool" in the line...

guys, please...just buy a better sleeping bag or wood stove...no propane without appropriate sensors to wake you if there is an issue...and the O2 sensor ont eh Big Buddy is NOT sufficient!!!