Using a candle lantern for heat.

[Jack Tarlin]

The ammount of heat generated by a candle lantern is probably insufficient to justify the risk, and there absolutely is a fire risk. Lanterns fall over, they spill, they break. It's very easy for a candle lantern to become an open flame.

There are wiser ways to generate extra heat than a candle lantern: More or better clothes; sleeping in a hat and gloves; a liner for your your sleeping bag; a better sleeping bag altogether; a thicker mattress all come to mind. And a tent will always be warmer than a tarp or hammock.

[JAK]

There isn't as much of a fire risk if most of your gear is a lot of wool and no ground sheet and your are not so dependant on you nylon shelters and stuff. Also the point of the tealight candle lantern/stove would be to allow you to keep your tea warm while reading, or to maybe thaw out and dry out a pair of socks or mittens rather than having to fire up the stove. There would be less risk than firing up the stove all the time. Tealights are very cozy, and are very manageable, but if all your stuff is flamable then you have bigger issues.

[JAK]

A tent is not always warmer. If you are in cold wet conditions where the temperature is dropping and squeezing all the moisture out of the air and into your clothes and sleeping bag a tent is no better than bivy and ponchotarp, and you can crash a blue foam pad and bivy and ponchotarp into smaller places out of the wind. A tent is better when you are forced to shelter in exposed places though. I think a tealight lantern/stove is still manageable though, as long as all your stuff isn't flamable. Yet another case for more wool and less down and shell layers.

[Dakota Dan]

If you hang the candle lantern you'll have no problem, If you have doubts then just try to catch something on fire. Candle lanterns should not be left to stand on there on. The best type to use are the ones thats spring loaded, you can save bucks by buying a long candle, cut into pieces. May have to trim to fit. Nothing to it.

[JAK]

I use a leather shoe lace to hang mine. I still would like a rig for keeping tea warm though, even just a 4oz minican/pot. One serious caution about wax and oil though is if the wax does completely melt it can get just as hot as oil, which is like surface of the freakin sun hot. Watch for that.

[Dakota Dan]

...and when I say "lantern" I mean one with a glass globe with a ventilating metal top. An open flame candle would be dangerous, especially to sleep around. Remember, you need to hang the lantern without touching anything, for max safety.

When I speak of safety with candles and lanterns, I'm speaking of a small tent or hammock. The bigger the shelter the more useless a candle is for any heating anyway. It's also harder to "stealth" camp with a light burning in the night

[JAK]

There is actually a pretty good assortment of globes out there, with some not too big so as to be too heavy, but big enough for say three tealights and a small pot of tea on top, with something for ventilation holes. I usually tarp tent with a small ponchotarp and bivy but still find it possible to hunker down enough to get some heat out of a small candle, or at least keep my tea warm, while still being stealthy. I think it also helps keep critters away, though I am probably wrong on that. On configuration I have done in a snowstorm, backyard, was large 72"x28" blue foam pad and CF gortex bivy on that, with my poncho tarp pitched like a small pup tent up at the head end, under a small pine tree. Cozy. Its paricularly nice when the tree has a branch to hand the lantern from, and nook and crannys for stuff like glasses and watch. I don't yet have a lantern I can heat up tea while hanging it though. Working on that. Haven't burned a tree down yet while sleeping under it, though I'm sure its been done. I heard in the old days birch tree were sometimes used as emergency flares. Forests must have been a wee bit more damp back then.

[Tinker]

Just a hunch, but I'll bet that 6 oz. of down will go farther towards keeping you warm than a 6 oz. candle. I don't trust them (or myself) I have mishandled candle lanterns, burned myself, and broke them on shelter floors, and I wouldn't mess around with anything that produced CO in an enclosed space. When I was a kid, I used to get headaches while camping in cold weather in the family's tent trailer with a propane heater in the floor. Now I know why.

[saimyoji]

The ammount of heat generated by a candle lantern is probably insufficient to justify the risk, and there absolutely is a fire risk. Lanterns fall over, they spill, they break. It's very easy for a candle lantern to become an open flame.

There are wiser ways to generate extra heat than a candle lantern: More or better clothes; sleeping in a hat and gloves; a liner for your your sleeping bag; a better sleeping bag altogether; a thicker mattress all come to mind. And a tent will always be warmer than a tarp or hammock.

Sure you know this, but none of the things you mention actually generate heat.

Just a hunch, but I'll bet that 6 oz. of down will go farther towards keeping you warm than a 6 oz. candle.

Oh, yes. Make mine 800 fill please.

[JAK]

A small candle can provide nice ambiance though, and as I said it can be safer than alternatives for heating up a small amount of tea while reading a book. I wouldn't sleep with one on, but I would want it to be safe enough to do so. I think more important than worrying about a small tealight lantern is having gear and clothing that is not so vulnerable to fire, unless you don't use any stoves whatsoever in winter. Can't see that. The best way to get heat from fuel when hiking is by drinking hot liquids. After dark if you just want a small tea I think a small efficient candle stove can be a fun way to do that. Three candles will produce much less CO than a larger stove, though I would try and keep the smoke down from the other volatiles that can come from incomplete combustion, mostly when extinguishing the flame. Anyhow, I think there is more reason to have reasonably flame proof gear in winter, meaning mostly wool, then worrying too much about candles. You need to be careful of course, but I would be more worried around my Kelly Kettle or Hobbo Stove, or warming and drying fires when I need those. Wool makes more and more sense to me, with just enough nylon for a wind layer and rain gear / ponchotarp, and of course the sleeping bag.

[gold bond]

When I was in the Corp and was stationed in Norway we were issued candles to heat our tents. When we ran out of those we burned the peanut butter out of our C-rats!
With that being said I would never advise anyone to use a open flame in a tent. I agree with Tinker on this one.

[doggiebag]

In summarizing the result of the "heating up a tent with 2 candle lanterns" - I have the following conclusions: 1) There was a significant difference in the temperature inside a 4 season tent with a dog and 2 candle lanterns. 2) I did not burn the tent down. 3) I did not die of C02 poisoning. Unfortunately by the time I had everything setup ... I was too tired to get actual readings from the interior using a thermometer (no excuse ... I plain forgot). The outside temps was 8 degrees as per Sasquatch2014. It was still freakin cold - specially outside the tent. Next time I try this ... I'll be a little more scientific in the observations.

PS. - I did hang both lanterns from a loop on the tent's ceiling with no damage to the material.

[sasquatch2014]

I still think you should have used the road flare. Where is your spirit of adventure?

[Hooch]

Doggiebag, if you want to add warmth to your hammock, try making a hammock sock. It cuts the wind very well and adds a fair amount of warmth. Well worth it, IMO.

[doggiebag]

I still think you should have used the road flare. Where is your spirit of adventure?

Believe me Chris ... I don't have to look for adventure anymore. Even sitting still trying to have a quiet unassuming life; fubar events will find me ! Time to start getting my civilian life back in track ... which does not mean I'm completely abandoning the "wild side". Maybe that Billville thing in February or March?

[JAK]

Just some quick comparisons:

Person sleeping soundly = 50kcal/hour.
Tealight Candle Lantern = 60 kcal/hour.
Person sleeping restless=100kcal/hour.
2 Litre Bottle 800BTUs ~ 100kcal/hour if reheated every 2 hours???
2 Litre Bottle 800BTUs ~ 200kcal/hour if reheated every hour???

Of course you might easily lose 100kcal going outside to boil more water with the Kelly Kettle, but it seems to me that the hot water bottle might be the way to go, or at least the best way to start the night. I would also use a tealight candle lantern and make tea while reading a book, at least until I could sleep soundly, perhaps changing my water bottles if needed. What are we talking though, 30F outside, 25F and freezing rain, or -30F and howling snow? It might be very difficult to make tea and hot water bottles when you need them the most. Best not to depend too much on them, but good to have the capability.

[Panzer1]

I think that a disposable hand warmer placed in your sleeping bag would be the best way to add extra heat on a cold winter night. I have used these with great success on cold nights. I think this would add much more "usable heat" than a candle. Although I do use candle lanterns too.

Panzer

[Panzer1]

Also as far as using candles is concerned I think that the size and shape of the tent matters as far as safety is concerned. A candle is less likely to get into trouble in a large tent as opposed to a small one man pup tent. That is to say that the more open space the tent has the better as far as safety is concerned.

Panzer

[budforester]

In summarizing the result of the "heating up a tent with 2 candle lanterns" - I have the following conclusions: 1) There was a significant difference in the temperature inside a 4 season tent with a dog and 2 candle lanterns. 2) I did not burn the tent down. 3) I did not die of C02 poisoning. Unfortunately by the time I had everything setup ... I was too tired to get actual readings from the interior using a thermometer (no excuse ... I plain forgot). The outside temps was 8 degrees as per Sasquatch2014. It was still freakin cold - specially outside the tent. Next time I try this ... I'll be a little more scientific in the observations.

PS. - I did hang both lanterns from a loop on the tent's ceiling with no damage to the material.

I suggest that 8 degrees would be at least a 3- dog night.

[4eyedbuzzard]

No wonder Mama Told Me Not To Come