Do you use electric? If so, any 2KW fan heater will do the job. Avoid gas for the sake of poisening your family whilst asleep with Carbon Monoxide, or burning the tent down if it gets knocked over.
Only if it's not too cold! Butane won't work if the temperature is around or below freezing. Never actually used a tent heater, relying on insulation, but it may be worth looking at Coleman Black Cat or similar propane heaters which should be effective at well below zero and which are said to be safer in use.
My personal preference is the parabolic type heater on a Camping Gaz bottle. They run slightly hotter than the catalytics, but I think they're more stable - they're a lot cheaper to run too! Camping Gaz is only good down to about 5 degrees, but honestly if it's colder than that for camping you'll probably want something more powerful anyway*! FOr taht it would be a Calor type propane bottle and a commercial type heater.
If using a heater in the tent though you do need to be careful. Make sure kids (and pets) are kept away and don't run around near the heater. Make sure you've got a good mix of high and low level ventilation. If in doubt get a carbon monoxide detector as well.
Glen
*For family camping that is - I've been known to camp at -10 before now without any heating other than the camp fire.
We have a small electric panel heater that I got from the Co-Op last year for about £13. It has three heat settings but to be honest we only have it on 1250w and it heats up our vermont xl just fine.
Our cheap one from Argos has a heat detector type thing (very technical!) It means it will switch on and off when needed. You can set it to the temp you want.
------------- If you see a family struggling to put up the tent then it must be us!
Any gas burning appliance works by converting the gas burnt into Carbon Dioxide & water. This is ok if a bit damp in a well ventilated area. A tent isn't well ventilated enough for all of the fuel gas to burn efficiently, under these circumstances Carbon Monoxide can be given off. This gas is deadly & can put you to sleep without you noticing for good. Even the cat type heaters can suffer the same problems as those with a traditional flame. This combined with the risk of setting fire to the tent with radiated heat or worse still, contact with the tent really rule gas out inside a tent. All of the little cartridge heaters as well as those running off butane/propane say in the instructions for outdoor use only. There is no gas heater on the market that is safe inside a tent.
Go for a cheap Argos own brand fan heater, I think the make is Chanllenge. As stated above they will easily heat a large family tent (like ours). It has several heat settings, a cool fan setting and a safety switch underneath to kill the power should it get knocked over. Ours works a treat and was a real bargain.
Quote: Originally posted by uptheiron69 on 12/12/2009
Go for a cheap Argos own brand fan heater, I think the make is Chanllenge. As stated above they will easily heat a large family tent (like ours). It has several heat settings, a cool fan setting and a safety switch underneath to kill the power should it get knocked over. Ours works a treat and was a real bargain. <IMG alt=24 src="https://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/forum_images/smiley20.gif" width=31 align=absMiddle>
I'll second that!
I suppose I'm lucky 'cos we can leave a fan heater on all night on a thermostat and the noise never bothers us. I am an heavy sleeper anyway and Mrs DD wears ear plugs at cos of my snoring so she never hears a thing!
Quote: Originally posted by uptheiron69 on 12/12/2009
Go for a cheap Argos own brand fan heater, I think the make is Chanllenge. As stated above they will easily heat a large family tent (like ours).
I think this depends on the material of your tent - we had an Idaho XL and I could never get any heat to stay inside the tent, I'm afraid. We had one of those cheap fan heaters and it was fine if on top of it but hardly noticeable anywhere else.
We never tried any other type of heater but I don't think any would work in a polyester (?) type tent as they have bugger-all insulation properties. I imagine the polycotton and full canvas jobs would be much better...
------------- 'In later life, you will be more disappointed with the things you didn't do than with the things you did.' - Mark Twain
i use one of these if it's a really cold night, Runs of callor propane and just leave the tank outside the tent (No point wasting valuable space inside)
That's an industrial space heater. Potentially deadly as the heat generated on full blast could easily melt a man made tent skin. Not suiotable for camping.