Algonquin Adventures / Hot tenting

**Posted by Splakin** 1/30/2017 11:09 am

Hey AAer's! Question for all of the hot tenter's out there. Is there a way to cut down on the water accumulating around the stove? I had the most this past week-end. I had to shovel out the water 3-4 times. I see heat shields on the market. Is this what they are for? How would you rig it up? I don't personally know any other hot tent campers so any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

**Posted by RCSpartan** 1/30/2017 12:10 pm

Was expecting to see pics of a wading pool inside a hot tent. Ha!

**Posted by Marko_Mrko** 1/30/2017 5:51 pm

Hi there!

The heat shields should reflect the heat back into the tent, it may make melting even worse. It will help if you put your stove on a platform (green logs +/- a fireproof pad). I generally dig a 3x4 pit for the stove (a foot is nice; have Kni-co with a 5-man Atuk tent), and sit the stove on a couple of green logs. The edges of the pit are lined with logs, so that you don't get erosion from the snow melt caused by the stove. Haven't had a water pooling issue.

The Winter Trekking forum is great for advice:

http://www.wintertrekking.com/community/

Cheers
Marko

Last edited by Marko_Mrko (1/30/2017 5:52 pm)

**Posted by Steve E** 1/30/2017 6:01 pm

I do a fair bit of hot tenting and my stove comes with a roll up reflector that sits underneath it (attaches to the legs). I also put the stove on top of a large tin cookie sheet. I've never had any major issues with melting so maybe you could try something like that? A lighter weight option that you could try is the lids from the disposable cooking trays...you can get them at the Dollar Store for a buck or so. I use them inside the tent as well as they are light, cheap, flexible and seem to do the trick!

Last edited by Steve E (1/30/2017 6:02 pm)

**Posted by APPaul** 1/31/2017 7:22 am

Click bait..... "pool in tent".....I thought you had a pool in a tent! Ahahah.

I don't hot tent, but could you try digging out under the stove before you setup?

**Posted by Splakin** 1/31/2017 10:27 am

Thanks for the info guys! Marko, makes sense stacking the logs beside your stove. The only 2 spots where I had any snow/ice left was from underneath my 2 piles of wood. Might have to try that out. Steve, now that you mention the cookie sheets I think I remember you posting pics in Dec 2015. If I remember correctly you had like 10 days off or something. Gonna give that a try too. Something has to work because man oh man I had a lot of water. Give both a shot in 2 weeks when I'm back in the park.

**Posted by jakr** 1/31/2017 11:01 am

I highly recommend raising your stove. I incorporated legs into my DIY stove so I could raise it roughly 1.5ft off the ground (I did the same with another sheet metal stove that I built). I place a heat-shield on the ground and stack a few logs below the stove. This set-up is great for the following reasons:
- Significantly reduces melting the ground. You won't stop it 100% but def no issues of pooling. I usually need to repack new snow in the tent every other day depending how hard we work the stove.
- Lots of space below the stove to dry wood or keep things warm.
- Loading the stove is much more comfortable at this height.
- Best benefit of all, the radiant heat disperses at a much more useful/practical level.

As for around the stove, def consider using foil trays all around the stove (ie walls).

**Posted by Splakin** 1/31/2017 12:52 pm

Awesome! Thanks for sharing info and pic Jakr. I'll keep that in mind,

**Posted by Steve E** 1/31/2017 1:05 pm

Another thing you can do is make skids for the stove to "float" on. Helps keep it level and gets it a bit more up off the snow

**Posted by swedish pimple** 2/03/2017 10:57 am

i just picked up a five person bell tent and i am thinking of using propane heat.
because it is more of a even, constant heat and i could direct it any where in the tent by pointing the element(s) , thus reducing the ponding of wood stove use. now, i just have to figure out b.t.u. to square footage for the tent . and one or two burner elements. may not be as portable as i like but i will get by.
does any one else have this heating set up? thanks

**Posted by tenderfoot** 2/03/2017 4:03 pm

My understanding is that a propane heating still requires venting to be safe. And it is not dry heat like a wood stove. Condensation issues ...

**Posted by Moonman** 2/23/2017 7:57 am

Hey Swede, you dont do much ice fishing I bet! At least not in a pop up hut or anything....because the propane has A LOT of moisture in it. So you will get much more moisture in your tent. Many times in an ice fishing pop up it is literally raining in the hut with all the moisture....granted most hot tents are much more breatheable than ice fishing pop ups, but you get what I mean.

Cheers,

Moonman.

Hot tenting - pool in tent