How do you beat condensation?

[Mtwood24]

Just returned from an awesome first hunt in arizona, tagged out on javelina and a nice little mule deer buck. The weather was a little harsh on us, and my buddy brought an argali 4p tent and a buddy heater. I’ve never experienced condensation to this degree in my life. It felt like a light rainstorm inside the tent. Are there ways to get around this? Would a wood stove be better? I feel like this is a serious issue that I don’t know enough about.

 

[*zap*]

Buddy heater in tent is a moisture problem. Venting is #1.

 

[Bubblehide]

Propane heaters in a non-canvas tent (canvas breathes) creates condensation. A wood burning stove for heat helps eliminate condensation, as long as it's burning. The problem was in your tent and heat source combination.

However, in the right conditions, just your breath can create condensation.

 

[packer58]

Buddy heater in tent is a moisture problem. Venting is #1.

Absolutely, propane combustion emits a ton of moisture. Combine that with two guys breathing and generally giving off moisture and it'll rain indoors ......

 

[Voyageur]

What @*zap* said.....venting
I've found in cold weather I actually sleep warmer when I vent my shelter to the extreme rather than only venting minimally. I've come to the conclusion that minimal venting fills the shelter with damp cold air which makes for a long cold night.

 

[Brad@Argali]

Just returned from an awesome first hunt in arizona, tagged out on javelina and a nice little mule deer buck. The weather was a little harsh on us, and my buddy brought an argali 4p tent and a buddy heater. I’ve never experienced condensation to this degree in my life. It felt like a light rainstorm inside the tent. Are there ways to get around this? Would a wood stove be better? I feel like this is a serious issue that I don’t know enough about.

I see someone else already mentioned this but propane will make condensation a lot worse with all the moisture it emits. With our tents, the other thing you can do is to elevate the pitch more to help with airflow form the bottom using the lineloc adjusters. Having a stove and heating up the interior would definitely dry out the tent, but if there is a lot of moisture in the ground it will also evaporate the ground moisture. So you'll want to run your stove until the moisture under your tent is largely gone, or you'll still have condensation issues at night in particular. Condensation is one of the annoying trade offs for a single wall shelter, but at least with a polyester fabric you don't the sag effect you get with nylon when you get condensation.

 

[Mtwood24]

Thanks everyone for the answers! I never would have thought that small amount of propane would cause that much condensation. Wood stove fires only from now on

 

[rayporter]

a liner does help catch the condensation before it gets to you.

 

[Maverick1]

Venting is key.

 

[carsonkeys]

As long as it’s not raining or blowing like mad, unzip the top of the tent 4-6” and you’ll be golden. Done this across multiple single wall shelters and I’ve never had a problem with condensation.

 

[dtrkyman]

Diesel heater maybe, I am looking into them.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I hunt AZ every year. How cold it can get at night during the late hunts surprises a lot of folks. Ditch the buddy heater! Get a properly rated sleeping pad and sleeping bag that will keep you warm. Get a tent that has a mesh top open to the sky. Ensure proper ventilation when using the rain fly.

If you are doing base camp and trucking/atv/hiking daily to hunting spots, just pitch your tent under an ez up for bad weather days. I promise, get a bag and pad that will keep you warm and you will be cozy all night. There is zero replacement for a good sleeping bag and pad that are comfort rated for the temps. Look to western mountaineering, 20+ years using their bags, game changer.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

Double wall tent and good bag.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I'll just reiterate what's already been said here, in high probability of condensation areas, ventilation is paramount. If you're using a single wall shelter coupled with a heat source, propane should be your last choice. The only exception to this would be using a direct vent propane stove, where all the moisture is funneled through a pipe and out of the shelter. If you're going to be using a flue/stove jack to direct vent, a dry heat like wood or diesel would probably be the best choice, as long as you don't mind dealing with the mess that is associated with these two types of fuel.

 

[rayporter]

i put an espar diesel heater in my trailer and it works well for that. vents outside and heats with no condensation. it is not a cheap self contained unit. there are some really cheap self contained Chinese units that should work well for tents.

but the battery to run it would be a problem for a tipi. you could vent it outside or you could set it outside and blow the heat inside. mine seems to use more current than they predict but it does sip fuel.

 

[*zap*]

whenever possible I use a battery powered fan in the floorless shelters...I used a mr heater basecamp fan in the lbo/vest with a stove and hung it above the stove blowing down....it got too hot so the fan motor burned up & some of the housing was warped......lesson learned. Now I hang the replacement off to one side away from the pipe. My M-18 is great for camping not far from the vehicle. Fan helps a lot but venting is king for limiting condensation...line loks on all stake loops for when you want to vent and just raise the pole 3-4 or 6 inches. That makes a huge difference and I have experimented with that when it is very, very humid....some evenings you could see the moisture in the air and it was around freezing or so and also with snow on the ground but we do not get much snow here anymore. A fan and stove will dry out the ground also....if you do not cover the ground up with ground sheets and pads right away...let the heat work on it as much as possible before putting that stuff out.

 

[EdP]

Absolutely, propane combustion emits a ton of moisture. Combine that with two guys breathing and generally giving off moisture and it'll rain indoors ......

In case you are wondering, kerosene is just as bad. You can google the combustion formulas and see why.

 

[z987k]

You had crazy condensation because you ran a water vapor machine inside your tent. You would have had less with one of those plug in humidifiers people use in their house.

Here's propane C3H8 + 5O2 -> 3CO2 + 4 H2O

Kerosene and diesel aren't any better. They all result in more water than co2. You have to vent the combustion products outside the tent. That's why the Mr. Buddy is a terrible tent heater.

If you vent them, just like you vent wood combustion products, then any fuel is fine.

 

[Marble]

At higher elevations, above 5,000 or so, and it gets worse the higher you go, your body expells more and more moisture. It's estimated to be around a quart per person each night. There are two things happening. One, your actual breaths pwr minutw are increased, and two, a lower barometric pressure basically assits your lungs into releasing more water vapor. So, extra moisture is expelled from the body. So venting is the solution.

If it is heated in the tent, I haven't noticed it helps. So proper ventilation is the solution. A small tent and several people in it at high altitude is going to be a moisture trap.

At night, unless there is a threat of weather, we try and have a small draft going through the tent , or tipi, to mitigate moisture.

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[snowymtnwolf]

Vent if using buddy

Tent liner if ya can

Otherwise yes, wood stove. And again, liner helps keep barrier between you and condensation


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