Wall Tents Tips and Tricks

[Rainier10]

Lux pro lights worked pretty well in the tent last week.

The Q stove did not perform so well.

Curious how the Q stove did not work out so well?

I think that it could if I worked with it more.

My tent has a side wall stove jack. To make the Q work I got a 45 degree bend for it but the stove is tall and I had to keep it really close to the wall to get it out the wall.

A roof jack would have been better for getting it out into the room better. I think it would have heated better and drafted better.

I have since used it on my back patio with the vertical pipe and it works much better.

I bought a house, 110volt, pellet stove for late archery. It takes just as long to heat up the tent but keeps it at a constant temperature. It has a thermostat. It also has an exhaust blower fan so there is no draft-smoke issue. You do need a generator going but my buddy runs one for his trailer 24/7 so no issue there.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Interesting.  It looks real good in the tent! The 110v stove is a good idea. Set up our tent a few weeks ago at the place here to do some R&D. Got some Idaho Energy logs from Coastal.  Put three in the stove and got a strong 7-8hr burn keeping tent cozy at about 30-35 degs out.

[Rainier10]

Thanks.

When I originally got the tent I was told side jack was the way to go to prevent water leaks. I agree but it does present draft issues. Maybe I would have draft issues with a roof jack when the stove is dampened down at night.

I have a cylinder stove and getting a consistent burn temp through the night has always been an issue. I have my wife and daughters tag along with me and they expect a constant temperature and don’t like the smoke that I get with some nights.

I tried to solve the problem with a pellet attachment to the cylinder stove. It was good but couldn’t keep the tent warm enough when outside temps were below ten degrees, 15x15 tent.

When I saw the Q stove I was told that it would do the 15x15 tent no problem and I think it might if I wasn’t battling the side jack draft issue and the need for it to be so close to the wall to exit the side jack.

The 110v pellet did an amazing job with the thermostat, controlled burn and exhaust blower fan. It kept the tent 71 degrees at the stove and comfortable in all corners constantly.  It burned one bag of north Idaho pellets every 10-12 hours at night, 15 degrees outside, and 1/2-3/4 of a bag during the 12 hour day when it was 28-34 degrees outside.

I still brought the cylinder stove with me and will continue to do so. If something goes wrong with the pellet stove you can’t cram wood in it.

Also the 110v pellet stove does weigh about 200 pounds. I have it strapped to a hand truck.

Pellets are clean burning and you find them at most locations. At some point we always end up in town halfway through the hunt for one thing or another so I don’t need to take 10 days worth of pellets initially to camp.

It didn’t take any time to heat up the tent from 36 degrees to 71 degrees so you could easily just use it at night and only go through ten bags. With the thermostat option I can program it to come on at 5 pm and run until 5am when we leave in the mornings.

Stove cost $1,100 and exhaust pipes were about $200 more. Pellets are cheap, clean and take up less space than the firewood needed for the same burn time.

[ipkus]

A couple woodstove/wall tent tips for cold weather camping;

1.) Depending on how cold it is or is expected to be, you can set up a wall tent on top of packed/cold snow if you use astroturf for a floor.  If it is below freezing and won't come above, the rubber backing on the astroturf and the turf itself insulates enough we have set up on top of 15" of packed snow and never got wet inside the tent for 6 days.

2.)  You can buy 1 or 2 of the silver sun reflectors for the front window of your car and use them along the wall of the tent behind the stove.  It is amazing how much heat they reflect back into the tent that you normally lose out the sidewall behind the stove.  They take up little space and weigh nothing but are increasingly helpful as the temperature gets colder and colder.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Interesting run with pellet stove  Rainier10.  We haven't stayed in our tent for any long periods of teens or lower. Gonna keep our tent up through winter here in the gorge. Due some R&D when we get low temps? With global warming might not get it.LOL. I like the pellet stove idea but weight and pellets definitely a turn off for me. There seems to be trend for small compact pellet stoves for small home applications these days. I'm sure there will be one that will fulfill the wall tent class soon enough. Another thought would be a high efficiency propane type heater. Maybe to supplement the woodstove?  Big Buddies come to mind.

[Rainier10]

I thought about propane but have heard they create a bunch of moisture. All of the rest  of our camp is in trailers using propane furnaces. They go through $120-$150 in propane over the course of the 9 days. My 10 bags of pellets at $4 a bag had them thinking of how to retrofit a pellet stove into their trailers. 

Side note when I was away at deer camp the furnace at my office went out. Got back in town and setup the stove in my office while I was waiting on a new furnace install. My office staff was hoping I would keep the stove. Not sure what the fire department would have thought about that.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Loos like a solid install! I like it!  That is a very good point on PROPANE  cost versus pellets.

[Rob]

Interesting idea to use reflectors!

I can attest to propane burning moist...  i tried it on a 10 day trip and my normally dry big horn became a moisture dome.  Literally raining inside at times!  When the outside humidity is low propane works well, but it it is raining outside, it will be raining inside too!

[Thenewguy]

You can buy a lot of propane for 1,300 in stove plus pellets. At 80 a trip difference, it takes more then a decade to break even.

I used a little buddy and kept my tent HOT with less than 1 tank burned in 3 nights. Costs about 15 dollars to fill but I don’t run it all day. If I’m not there, I don’t need the heat.

Not that any of us do this to make money!

[Rainier10]

That’s true. I looked at their $24,000 trailers and asked why are you concerned About a $120 propane bill?they paid twice that in fuel to tow it there, three times that to insure it for the year, tabs for it were expensive and storage costs. Propane really isn’t that big of a deal for them in my mind.

[Alchase]

You can buy a lot of propane for 1,300 in stove plus pellets. At 80 a trip difference, it takes more then a decade to break even.

I used a little buddy and kept my tent HOT with less than 1 tank burned in 3 nights. Costs about 15 dollars to fill but I don’t run it all day. If I’m not there, I don’t need the heat.

Not that any of us do this to make money!

I also use a Little Buddy, they work great and don’t break the bank on propane. They do tend to cause some serious condensation though. On my tent the condensation is on the rainfly so I don’t worry about brushing up against it and getting all wet.
This year I stayed in a campground that had power and water. I used a Tornado electric heater for the three nights it got into the low 20s and had no condensation at all. The Big Agness side sleeping bag was almost too warm.

Also used the Lux Pro LED lights, I only used at night and one set of batteries lasted the full eight nights. Fantastic light for a tent!

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

A little new years update with our R&D with home manufactured barrel stove. As stated previously the ID energy logs did real good. Have a bag of mesquite lump cool in the shop. With the talk about burning coal my light bulb came on. Grabbed up some of the biggest pieces and gave it a test. Worked real well. One real issue is when first put in and while it gets going it sparks and pops alot and they have the tendency  to end up out the door onto the ground. Not a big big deal breaker but need to be aware. It burned long and hot and easy controlled with air vent.

[ghosthunter]

Where do you get that stuff?

[Boss .300 winmag]

Where do you get that stuff?

I’ve gotten it at Walmart, they sell if for barbecues, not all the pieces in the bag are that big though.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Where do you get that stuff?

Cash N Carry. I use it when smoking meats in my UDS.  Ugly Drum Smoker. Once you get it going in the woodstove it's great to spear a chuck of venison and slow role it over the coals or just a hot dog. Great flavor! The bags average 30-40% bigger pieces. The piece I'm holding is definitely about the biggest you'll see then they scale down from there to dust. Think it was 15$ a bag?