Official Test Results: Five Ways to Heat a Tent

[MattJ]

I do have a few years experience burning coal at home in a coal burning stove -- I wouldn't expect you will be able to get a long burn like you want in a stove thats not designed to burn coal

Thanks for the input! I am becoming convinced that you are correct. Here's what I've learned so far.

1) Anthracite coal is a beautiful thing. Smokeless, burns hot, burns long. And looks really cool, like red-orange glowing glass.
2) Anthracite coal is very difficult to get lit. I was able to do it, using a thick bed of red-hot coals from a hardwood fire. And I was able to gradually build the burning coal bed up to 2 - 3 layers of anthracite.
3) But you are correct - anthracite needs a healthy airflow from underneath. My wood stove does have a design to route airflow under the fire and upward to the chimney, and I used a system of bricks and a cast iron grate to make sure that air circulated under the coal. But it wasn't enough, even with a 12-foot chimney providing a good draw.
4) I never got to the point where I needed to shake/poke ashes off, since I'd eventually lose the burn after building to the third layer.
5) I considered modifying my wood stove with a small blower system and an opening that would allow me to shake the grate, but decided I'd end up wrecking a beautiful wood stove in the process.
6) I did find some smaller coal stoves that are advertised as "portable", but they are cast iron and weigh 160 pounds or more. Not my definition of portable.

Anyway, it was a fun project to tinker with . . .

PS - one question for the coal experts: what does anthracite look like when it is fully exhausted? I ended up with chalky chunks that were still in their original shape. When burned correctly, does it reduce all the way to powder ash? Or does it stay in chunk or nugget form? Just curious.

 

[Heavyopp]

Burning coal is great, once a good fire was built I would only need to open the stove 3 times a day -- and it would hold 400*

As for the ash -- It depends on the quality of the coal -- I'm in NJ, I used to take a dump truck right to coal country in PA -- I'd figure out who had the best coal for that year and go right to their breaker and fill up -- Coal quality depends on what vein they are mining at the time

Generally a complete burn would reduce good quality coal to a powder ash -- light and very "fly away" in the wind -- color would vary between red and white, once again depending on vein
Poor coal would produce a lot of clinker -- the impurities in the coal which fuse together from the heat
Just gray coal shaped ash is incomplete burn, as you expected

 

[MattJ]

I'm in NJ, I used to take a dump truck right to coal country in PA -- I'd figure out who had the best coal for that year and go right to their breaker and fill up

Yep - I forgot to mention how cheap anthracite is. I live near Boston and could get a huge 50 pound bag for just $10 at a supply depot. Cheaper than firewood!

 

[Heavyopp]

Yep - I forgot to mention how cheap anthracite is. I live near Boston and could get a huge 50 pound bag for just $10 at a supply depot. Cheaper than firewood!

Actually what stopped me from burning coal was the price -- when diesel fuel was upwards of $4 per gallon -- It just skyrocketed the cost of a load of coal -- made it not worth it and I transferred over to wood -- one of my stoves is Multi fuel -- burns wood just as well -- the 2nd stove is not so good in the wood department so I just stopped burning that one

 

[MattJ]

Hey everybody - I just had an idea for a modification to my Eldfell stove and wanted to get some opinions on whether I should try it.

As posted above, my experiments with anthracite coal were a failure. I suspect it is because the stove doesn't draw enough airflow to keep the coal burning for a long time. I have a small fan system that I use with my charcoal BBQ smoker, and I was thinking that I could use it to force air into the stove. I could drill a 1-inch port on the front face of the stove, right above the bottom, and insert an 18-inch steel pipe that would have a few dozen holes drilled into the top. The BBQ fan would plug right into that pipe, forcing air through the vent holes. The fan uses a temperature probe to determine when to speed up, slow down, or shut off.

I think this would be a really effective way to get air flowing upward through the coal bed and keep it burning bright. However, it doesn't solve the problem of ash build-up, which it typically resolved by shaking the grate somehow.

Why bother? Well, bothering with this kind of stuff is pretty much how I spend my spare time. Can't help it. But besides that, I am thinking it would be a really great innovation to figure out how to get 12 or 18 hours of hassle-free steady heat from my woodstove.

Any suggestions, design ideas and technical comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Heavyopp]

I would think that forcing air thru coal in a lightweight camping wood stove will turn your stove into melted pile of goo

Just be sure your 1st burn is over something very fireproof

And take video!

 

[john61ct]

yes, need a burn chamber engineered for those much higher temps

 

[MattJ]

Even with the base of the stove coated with an inch of sand, a cast iron grate from a coal stove, and a lining of fire bricks? So far, I've only achieved the glowing-red stove by burning wood with the air grate full open. Without a fan, I can't get the stove anywhere close to the same temperature with anthracite. I'm assuming the fan would give me the ability to calibrate the heat much better with coal than with wood.

 

[MattJ]

Having finished my work on the Propex system and abandoning the project of burning anthracite coal in the wood stove, I'm trying to figure out my next winter camping project. My latest idea is to do a backpacking trek with my tree tent to see whether I can figure out how to stay warm while sleeping six feet above the ground. I wanted to ask for ideas from the experts here on the ExPo portal. Any suggestions? My early thoughts are to use reflective emergency blankets above and below a 0F sleeping bag, plus an extra fleece blanket inside the sleeping bag, along with a 24oz Nalgene bottle filled with very hot water. The benefit of the tree tent is that I won't need to carry any sleeping pads (foam, aircell, etc). But the drawback is that I won't benefit from the insulating property of sleeping right on top of the planet earth. Interested to hear any ideas or suggestions. Thanks!

 

[MANUCHAO]

A quality, good rating sleeping bag (Feather Friends, TNF, Marmot, Western Mountaineering) you get the idea.....
A sleeping bag liner also ups your sleeping bag rating....

 

[chet6.7]

The hammock folks all talk about using an under quilt,I have also read don't hang any higher than you are willing to fall.There is a guy called SHUG on youtube,he seems knowledgeable,I also watch a guy called Wilderness Innovations,he uses a poncho he makes as a hammock.

 

[jacobconroy]

Having finished my work on the Propex system and abandoning the project of burning anthracite coal in the wood stove, I'm trying to figure out my next winter camping project. My latest idea is to do a backpacking trek with my tree tent to see whether I can figure out how to stay warm while sleeping six feet above the ground. I wanted to ask for ideas from the experts here on the ExPo portal. Any suggestions? My early thoughts are to use reflective emergency blankets above and below a 0F sleeping bag, plus an extra fleece blanket inside the sleeping bag, along with a 24oz Nalgene bottle filled with very hot water. The benefit of the tree tent is that I won't need to carry any sleeping pads (foam, aircell, etc). But the drawback is that I won't benefit from the insulating property of sleeping right on top of the planet earth. Interested to hear any ideas or suggestions. Thanks!

I have spend several summers playing with hammocks and have investigated winter use (lots and lots of reading). As chet6.7 mentioned, check out "shug" on youtube. He does a lot of winter hammock camping (in Minnesota I believe). Seems like the best way to do it is to have a winter-rated mummy bag in the hammock and a large rectangular bag pulled over the outside of the whole setup Combined with sleeping in your full winter clothing.

I've had two very cold nights in a hammock. Once was Easter weekend at 6500 feet. (Hennessy Hammock and a three-season Warbonnet Black Mamba quilt with an Exped three-season pad underneath in full clothing. I guess it dropped to 25º F. Very, very cold. Got up at 4 AM and begged for asylum in a fellow campers' RV.

The other time was an early spring camping trip at 5000 feet (Warbonnet Ridge Runner, Warbonnet Superfly tarp, Warbonnet three-season under-quilt,Exped three-season pad, Jack R Better winter top quilt, and full clothing) and that one was more tolerable. Except, I was more than a little tipsy at bedtime. When I got up at about 3AM to tinkle I found that it had snowed three inches...and I didn't figure that out until I had walked out into the snow in my wool socks. The wet feet made my down bag wet and I wound up packing up at 5AM and driving 57 miles home in a topless Jeep just to find a hot shower. If I had been away from my rig that trip could have been dangerous. Not too smart on my part.

No matter what, It is going to be COLD! Like...my impression was that winter hammock camping could be akin to playing with your life (if you are away from a house or vehicle. Just my opinion. Sounds like it would be very cool to figure it out though. If I try it again, I would have two layered top quilts and two layered under-quilts combined with a full-coverage tarp and full winter clothing in bed. Luckily I have the this stuff leftover from my backpacking days. Maybe I'll drag it out and give it a try.

I think that you will wind up carrying more weight in clothes, tarps and sleeping bags than you would for a pad (for sleeping on the ground)...but I'm not really sure how much a winter sleeping pad would weigh (like a down Exped pad). Might be a good idea to start doing this in your back yard this winter until you figure out the minimums for your comfort levels.

Does that hammock stretch between two trees or three?

 

[MattJ]

The hammock (actually a tree tent) stretches between three trees. It's a lot of fun, but I've learned is is very important to make sure it is as level as possible. Otherwise, you end up sliding into one corner all night. Since it has the capacity to hold several hundred pounds and zips shut, I've had it as high as 10 feet off the ground, just for fun.

I really appreciate the input here - I should have mentioned in my post that this project is meant to be fun, not dangerous. I'm planning to try it on a Scout campout where most of the group will be in a heated cabin nearby, with some others in ground tents outside. Worst case, if I start turning into a frozen pinata I can just admit defeat and head into the cabin and grab a bunk. The idea of a hammock in cold weather is rather ridiculous, I admit. I'll be exposing myself to MORE of the cold and wind that I am trying to protect myself from.

I'm really curious to see if the combination of the reflective survival blankets and a hot Nalgene bottle would keep the sleeping bag warm in a tree tent. The blankets really made a difference in my roof-top tent when I used them.

 

[john61ct]

Hammockforums.net

 

[SameGuy]

Now we need someone to do the same research for heating a teardrop!


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If you want to heat a teardrop use a Propex, generally the ducting runs are so short in that type of application there is little to no reason to worry about insulating the hot air or return. They put out WAY more heat than needed to warm up the small, sealed space in a teardrop camper. Mine can roast you out in -20F in just a couple of minutes.