Heat loss in a SL-5

[larryschwartz]

I used my Kifaru Medium/High wall oval stove in my Shangri-la 5 for the first time in October. It burns well but didn't seem to kick out the blazing heat that I hear about from these stoves. It might have been the types of wood I was burning in it, but I was wondering how much heat escapes through the ventilation windows at the top of the SL-5. Does anyone who runs an SL-5 with stove have any insight on this? Do you loose much heat through the top and should I come up with some sort of cover for the vents?

The vents are the gray triangles at the top of the tent, one on the front and one on the back.

 

[fillthefreezer]

ive run an lpg heater in mine and seen mirage from escaping heat

 

[larryschwartz]

ive run an lpg heater in mine and seen mirage from escaping heat

FTF, escaping through the gray vents at the top?

 

[fillthefreezer]

yes'sir

 

[larryschwartz]

Well, I guess I'll need to rig something up to close off those vents. Maybe some cloth attached via velcro strips like the cover on my stove jack. Something to do this coming weekend if I can't get out after some whitetails with a buddy of mine.

 

[larryschwartz]

Thanks FTF!

 

[Becca]

Granted we don't run a stove in our SL5, but the Nemo pentalite, 12 man tipi and sawtooth (Stid's) that I have spent time in all lose heat quickly because they are uninsulated. The nemo has vents, but the K shelters are all unvented, and I can't tell much difference overall in how fast you lose the heat. If you get the stove cranking enough, it will get pretty hot, but the heat still disapates quickly once it burns down, so I doubt that sealing off the vents will make a tremendous difference. I suppose if you are getting drafts or breeze through the vents then sealing them off could help a little, but honestly uninsulated tents are not going to retain much heat. Different types of wood are going to put off varying amounts of heat, but once the stove goes out, any uninsulated shelter is going to get cold pretty quick.

 

[larryschwartz]

Thanks Becca, I was hoping one of you would chime in here since you run stoves in your tipis. I guess I just wasn't burning the right kinds of wood or putting enough of it into the stove.

 

[todd kelly]

From my experience running a stove in single walled tents, you want to have some ventilation to get rid of moisture. I have tried sealing off the vents in my tent and all I ended up with was a humid mess.

 

[Shrek]

Type of wood does make a big difference in my limited experience. When I burned the "white" wood the stove didn't get near as hot or burn as long as when I burned the "red" wood . I think it was ash and fir but not really sure. I know I wished I had some black locust to burn !