catalytic heater in tent; WILL I DIE???

[kellymoe]

I bought a catalytic heater a few years back for camping in the White Mountains in California in the Fall. It worked great at home and we looked forward to heating the tent up before bed as temps drop in to the 20, that time of year. Well, we got up there and tried to fire it up and it wouldn't light. Never got it started. When I got home it lit right up no problem. The issue was altitude, we were at just over 10, 500 feet. Not enough O2. Be warned, I don't know what altitude problems with ignition occur but it is probably around 9k. I ended up retuning it because most of our family camping is done above 10k feet.

 

[skephart]

I have used the Coleman cat heater for several years. It is the larger one with the fan. I only used it when am awake - in the morning or just before bed to warm the tent up. Last year I was in Arizonia and it got cold enough to freeze several our water jugs. To keep my wife happy, I woke up twice in the middle of the night and ran it to warm the tent. Well worth the money.

 

[98dango]

as a PNW camper i have been i a tent with heat myh whole life and never had ill affects the way i see it is a tent isent that air tight

 

[HDM]

If the heater doesn't work properly with the bottle upside down (and, I suspect that will be the case) you should be able to plumb a hose from the heater, run it across the support and down the side of the tent to your 1lb bottle...

 

[TheMike]

Dude....I use the exact heater in my tent. I hang it from the center support bar, horizontally from the handle of the heater. I connect it to a propane bottle outside the tent. I have a 3" scar on my forearm from a split second contact to the outer edge of the heater the first night (before I suspended it) so be careful...it gets EXTREMELY hot!

With below freezing temps at times, I have used it all night, on low. One morning it was 26 outside and 59 inside. Quite cozy!

The first time I used it all night though encouraged me to somehow circulate the air within the tent. I decided on a Coleman tent fan w/LED lights (4 D powered) so it doubles as a tent/night light. I hang this from one of the entrance support bars, pointing at the heater, on low fan setting. Very little noise, not enough air to be drafty, but enough air to circulate the warm air from the heater. No hot tent surface, and pretty consistent air temp throughout the tent.

Sorry no pics but it shouldn't be hard to visualize. I have absolutely no reservations with using this whenever it's needed.