Awning/RTT heating for winter camping

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GeoCampers #4771

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Werm, Belgium
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Toon
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Dams
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A little bit of extra warmth can make winter camping a whole lot more fun.
So therefore I'm looking at some possibilities.
To sum it up I have 3 possible solutions:
1) a diesel heater
2) a kerosine (Petroleum) heater
3) a wood burning stove

Those 3 are (as far as I know) the only possibilities that do not ad moisture (and therefore condensation) to the tent.

All come with their own pro's and con's.

For the Diesel heater, the main pro is ease of use, set it and forget it.
The main con is the noice (exhaust and diesel pump). I hate noice at night, for myself but also I do not want to attract attention.

For the kerosine heater pro is cost of purchase and it gives a bit more ambiance, and the con, need some more attention and is less safe as the Diesel heater.

The wood stove, pros are: a lot of heat, a lot of ambiance. Cons are price, the wood you need to carry and the maintenance to keep the fire burning at night

So who has experience with what and can help me decide. For the moment I tend to the kerosine.
 

Polaris Overland

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Hey Toon,

From our experience Diesel heater fed into the RTT works good but we only use it to warm up at bed time and warm up in the morning. Its fitted permanently in the Landy, its easy, runs off the aux battery and out of our main diesel tank so for us no additional storage needs to be found.

Our Frontier Wood Stove is great for heating up an awning but you need an enclosed space and to pipe the exhaust outside. There is not much radiated heat from a wood stove when its in the open, a fire with flames is better. You need wood, and kindling size works best or even just a supermarket firelog is good for taking the chill off an awning in the morning. They need maintaining to stop getting clogged up and are dirty and take up space. We rarely use the Frontier Stove now preferring a Bushpig BBQ / Fire Pit.

I've never tried kerosine so not sure on this one but would imagine you need to be confident no fumes are entering our tent.
 
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El-Dracho

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