Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Propane heaters and wall tents

Getting ready to go deer hunting, my daughter and I, so I decided to pull the old wall tent out for shelter, a 14x16. Usually I've stayed in campers, I bought this a few years ago when my brother and a few of his buddies came out to try their hand at elk hunting so it's been tucked away since then. Anyone who has been out to CO. this year to hunt knows that the weather has been extremely mild, but to take the nip off of the cool nights and mornings I went out and purchased a dual head propane heater that attaches directly to a 20lb. bottle. My question is, how safe is it to use it in the tent? All the warnings on the box say not to use it in an enclosed area, but many reviewers openly claim to use them in a shut up garage. Wall tents breath, shouldn't there be an adequate supply of oxygen? I bought a Mr. Buddie heater for that season my brother was out here but took it back, turns out it didn't work over 9000 ft. I'm not in a position to go buy a wood burning stove for it either, so if this heater has limited use, then so be it, just want to be safe with it. Any advise?

I'd maybe use is for a couple minutes to knock the chill off, but not as a full time heat source. The warnings would not be there, if someone had not set a bad example.

Combustion units in an enclosed space should always be vented to the outside.

If it's a catalytic heater, yes it's fine. I have 2 that are but they are only3000 btu.
It sounds like yours is not though so don't risk it!
Shoot me a PM and I'll loan you one!

Thanks for the offer but we leave this Wednesday, I think I maybe a little further west also than north of Denver, like by 3 hours.

You might want run a vented heater.

http://www.nuwaystove.com/

These are like a wood stove but run on propane. I have one for my TI Goat.

Thanks for that link, it will be to late for this year but something to look into once I get back for later usage. 20,000 btu, that should take care of a 14x16 tent. Very nice!

the buddy heater can be used in a closed space but I leave a window cracked, it has an Oxygen sensor.

The round direct connect units throw out a lot of heat very quickly. They are also hot enough to burn anything that touches the front grill. Ours requires lots of ventilation,& uses a can of propane every 3 days, if left on while sleeping with a medium setting.

The Buddy heater throws less heat, is better protected if tipped, requires less ventilation, & a can of fuel will last a week on low setting.

On our upcoming back country elk hunt, we will use the round unit in our kitchen-dining tent, & the Buddy in our sleeping quarters.
Jim

I use the middle sized Buddy heater in my tent which is a 12' diam. hexagonal milsurp. I run it from a bulk tank outside. The hose goes under the tent sod flap and it put a stick along with it to leave a bigger gap for air flow. As the heat rises, it pulls fresh air under the flap all the time. I've never had a bit of trouble with it.

The trouble with Heater Buddies...is that they don't give off any heat.

Get a wood stove and don't look back.

Stop at the pet store on the way out of town and pick up a Canary.

I appreciate that good advice. LOL!

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/3_hunters_recovering_from_carbon_monoxide_poisoning/20451/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+flatheadbeacon+Flathead+Beacon+Headlines

BUTTE � Three Montana hunters who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping in a wall tent with a propane heater are recovering at a Salt Lake City hospital thanks to some young family members.

Sheri Cook of Missoula said five teenage boys who were hunting with their fathers and grandfather in the Lima area pulled the men out of the tent Monday morning and called for help.

"They saved their lives � they're heroes," Cooke told The Montana Standard in an interview from LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City on Tuesday. "They really knew what they were doing."

Randy Cook, 44, of Missoula; Bret Butler, 50, of Frenchtown; and Carl Saunders, 65, of Frenchtown were upgraded from critical to serious condition Tuesday, LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez said.

The hunting party arrived at the camp site at the East Fork of Little Sheep Creek trailhead in southwestern Montana on Sunday evening, put up their tents and went to sleep, Beaverhead County Sheriff Jay Hansen said.

The men were in a wall tent with a propane heater, and the boys, ranging in age from 13 to 16, were in another tent with a wood stove for heat. When the boys woke up, they found the men unconscious, Hansen said.

Sheri Cook said one of the boys drove to where he could get a cell phone signal and call for help while the other four stayed and pulled the men out of the tents. Two of the men were vomiting and the boys wiped out their mouths to clear their airways, she said.

Sheri Cook said her twin 14-year-old sons said they were scared at first but then fell back on skills they learned in Boy Scouts.

"Each had their little instances of panic, but they all knew what needed to be done," she said.

I wish the writer would tell us what kind of heaters they had. That would be very useful information.

Does it matter? All gas burners are capable of killing you.....

The difference is whether it was catalytic. They're supposed to be much safer, so was this one or not?

Propane heat in a wall tent leads to a soggy tent and the contents contained there in.

I think only in humid areas.I ran a 30,000 BTU Blue Flame propane heater in my tent for 10 days this past elk season, with no such effects.About 2 hours at night and an hour in the AM.

I run the sam eheater in my stock trailer when I am staying in it also.Ditto

I've used a 3 head propane heater in my 12x14 wall tent for several years. It's dangerous to run it through the night, I just use it for occasionally warming up the tent. If only used for taking off the chill, you'll be fine. Any more than that and you're looking for trouble... And they tend to build up condensation on the inner walls of the tent if you run them for very long. A wood stove for the bulk of your heating with the propane heater to take the bite out of the air is hard to beat.

I've used a Buddy heater in a tent for hours on end without the moisture buildup. However, even in very wet weather, our humidity seldom gets much above 70% and usually is considerably lower than that. A camper is another matter entirely since the moisture can't escape.