Heaters for Car/Tent

[XterraRob]

You can purchase thick mylar/thermal blankets, which should really be enough to provide extra insulation and are cheap. Also not bad to keep in the car for emergencies.

[LifeIsGood]

Great topic! because this is more complicated than one would think.

Supposedly my MrHeater Portable BuddyHeater has a built-in carbon monoxide filter, but I’m skeptical

No mention of a carbon monoxide filter on the Mr Heater website, but they do mention an oxygen depletion sensor shutoff switch. Use up too much of the oxygen in an enclosed space and it will shut off, and at higher altitudes it will shut off very quickly. No guarantee there that the heater won't have pumped out some CO as the oxygen levels got lower, and that stuff stays in your body for a while. Here's some fun reading about carbon monoxide, stoves and tents: http://zenstoves.net/COHazard.htm . TLDR: you don't need a car fire to die, a stove in closed up tent will do the job very well.

NO CO2 filter? now I don’t understand how it’s rated as indoor safe,

Anyone?

[markf]

Carbon monoxide is NOT CO2, it is CO. CO2 is carbon dioxide, a gas that humans and other animals produce when they use oxygen. Plants use CO2 and return oxygen (O2) to the atmosphere. CO2 is also produced when just about anything is burned. CO2 is not poisonous, but too much CO@ in the earth's atmosphere causes the earth to retain too much of the sun's heat, leading to the catastrophic climate changes that we've been seeing more of lately. CO (carbon monoxide) is a deadly, nasty poison that works by bonding with your body's red blood cells, stopping them from bonding with oxygen that your body needs. CO is produced by incompletely burning just about anything, when there is not enough oxygen present for complete combustion. If you zip up your tent nice and tight, or close up your camper nice and tight and light a propane heater, the heater will use up the oxygen in the tent or camper. At some point the oxygen level in the tent or camper will drop to the point where the propane does not burn completely and the heater will produce some CO (carbon monoxide) and some CO2 (carbon dioxide), depending on how much oxygen is available. The Mr Heater has a sensor that turns the heater off when the oxygen level gets low enough for this to be a problem. A house with a gas furnace has a CO alarm to wake the occupants up if the gas furnace starts to produce CO instead of CO2, for the same reason. As far as I know, there are no filters for CO. Sorry for the monster lecture, but I really think anyone who uses gas appliances would be better off knowing this stuff.

[greenonion]

Carbon monoxide is NOT CO2, it is CO. CO2 is carbon dioxide, a gas that humans and other animals produce when they use oxygen. Plants use CO2 and return oxygen (O2) to the atmosphere. CO2 is also produced when just about anything is burned. CO2 is not poisonous, but too much CO@ in the earth's atmosphere causes the earth to retain too much of the sun's heat, leading to the catastrophic climate changes that we've been seeing more of lately. CO (carbon monoxide) is a deadly, nasty poison that works by bonding with your body's red blood cells, stopping them from bonding with oxygen that your body needs. CO is produced by incompletely burning just about anything, when there is not enough oxygen present for complete combustion. If you zip up your tent nice and tight, or close up your camper nice and tight and light a propane heater, the heater will use up the oxygen in the tent or camper. At some point the oxygen level in the tent or camper will drop to the point where the propane does not burn completely and the heater will produce some CO (carbon monoxide) and some CO2 (carbon dioxide), depending on how much oxygen is available. The Mr Heater has a sensor that turns the heater off when the oxygen level gets low enough for this to be a problem. A house with a gas furnace has a CO alarm to wake the occupants up if the gas furnace starts to produce CO instead of CO2, for the same reason. As far as I know, there are no filters for CO. Sorry for the monster lecture, but I really think anyone who uses gas appliances would be better off knowing this stuff.

Old Trad, you are indeed correct-a-mundo… +1

[globreal]

Wondering what folks can tell me about safe heaters to use inside a vehicle or tent. I met a guy in March who swore by his and assured me it was safe cuz it was designed for indoor/tent/car use, but I forgot the name of it. I've seen the Mr. Heater at REI but it's only operational, supposedly, to 7k. Does anyone use a heater that is safe inside a car/tent in winter?

So,
- Safety aspect
- what kind (name brand)
- anything else, such as how many hours it will heat, elevation considerations...

Thanks in advance!

greenonion,
I would like to ask the reason for your post? Are you looking to have a toasty condo or staying warm enough to sleep?

If sleeping is the issue, then all you need is a closed cell foam pad underneath a Air mattress, with a down sleeping bag rated for the temperature you will be in.

Now use a JetBoil type stove to boil water to put in a Nalgene bottle. Put the hot boiled water bottle in your sleeping bag and that will generate the heat to keep you warm overnight so you can sleep.

[greenonion]

Wondering what folks can tell me about safe heaters to use inside a vehicle or tent. I met a guy in March who swore by his and assured me it was safe cuz it was designed for indoor/tent/car use, but I forgot the name of it. I've seen the Mr. Heater at REI but it's only operational, supposedly, to 7k. Does anyone use a heater that is safe inside a car/tent in winter?

So,
- Safety aspect
- what kind (name brand)
- anything else, such as how many hours it will heat, elevation considerations...

Thanks in advance!

greenonion,
I would like to ask the reason for your post? Are you looking to have a toasty condo or staying warm enough to sleep?

If sleeping is the issue, then all you need is a closed cell foam pad underneath a Air mattress, with a down sleeping bag rated for the temperature you will be in.

Now use a JetBoil type stove to boil water to put in a Nalgene bottle. Put the hot boiled water bottle in your sleeping bag and that will generate the heat to keep you warm overnight so you can sleep.

Thanks for asking, Britt, and for the tips. I'm wanting to stay relatively warmer while sleeping in the back of my 4Runner in winter. I have a 0 degree sleeping bag, but 2 years ago I froze in the Runner on a 10 degree night and didn't get a bit of sleep. Would like to do more winter outings in CO and elsewhere. As I get older the cold affects me easier. I manage ok in the mid 20s, but that may change as the clock keeps ticking. (Sorry to anyone else who may be exposed here to my silly little frosty conundrum.)

Thanks again,
Stu

[markf]

Insulation between you and the steel floor of the 4Runner is going to be key here. Air mattresses won't do it, your body heat will set up convection currents in the mattress that carry your body heat away. An insulated pad or pads with a high R-value will block the flow of heat from your body to the truck floor/frame. Exped makes some really nice car camping pads with ridiculously high R-values, and so does ThermaRest. Closed cell foam pads help, but they lose their resiliency over time. Nalgene hot water bottles are good, so is vigorous exercise before bedtime, but if you're sleeping in a vehicle you've got to insulate your body from the steel frame of the vehicle.

[mtree]

Winter camping presents alot of issues. It takes more than a proper setup - which depends on the needs of the sleeper - but trial and error and a decent amount of acclimation to the cold and sleeping in the cold. And a willingness to do it and actually enjoy it.

Its kinda like my story of ice fishing. I've always wanted to get into ice fishing. So I went with an expert. He had every gadget imaginable. It wasn't an all-day outing so no shanty and heater. I wanted to experience the outdoors. Enjoy the wilderness. In the end I was cold, miserable, and all for a few lousy frozen fish. It sucked.

The moral of the story... don't do it. Winter camping sucks. Period. Find another hobby. Like snorkeling.

[two lunches]

Insulation between you and the steel floor of the 4Runner is going to be key here. Air mattresses won't do it, your body heat will set up convection currents in the mattress that carry your body heat away. An insulated pad or pads with a high R-value will block the flow of heat from your body to the truck floor/frame. Exped makes some really nice car camping pads with ridiculously high R-values

i might not have said all of this exactly in my comment earlier but this is spot on. i adore my exped deepsleep 7.5- it still allows plenty of headroom for sitting up in the 4runner and the medium size fits perfectly in the 70/30 split for the back seat. i put part of a foam mattress topper in the cargo area to help level out the height discrepancy between it and the folded rear seat.
also really like mtree's suggestion for a battery-operated heated blanket for a little extra oomph

one more obvious suggestion for car sleeping- use the level on your phone when you're picking a parking spot to help dial in an area with no more than 4 degrees of incline- set it on your center console while you're circling the area. it's a lot quicker than trial and error.