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A4 checklist with all illustrated steps. Tick the boxes on paper as you go.

FeatherSticks · Shelter

Hot Tent Camping: How to Use a Tent Stove Safely in Winter

A tent stove can warm a winter night. A normal tent with a stove can end it.

Quick facts

Time
Pitch and stove set-up about 1–2 h; practise at home first
Difficulty
Advanced; strict safety routine required
Best for
Winter base camps where wood stoves are allowed
You need
Stove-rated tent, tent stove, CO alarm, fire-safe base

What you need

  • Hot tent with a stove jack, designed by its maker for stove use
  • Tent stove with spark arrestor, air control and enough pipe sections
  • Battery CO alarm with spare batteries
  • Fire-resistant stove mat or solid, non-flammable base
  • Pipe guylines and clamp, heat-resistant gloves
  • Metal ash bucket with lid, small shovel, pipe brush
  • Saw, axe or knife for processing dry firewood
  • Fire blanket or water, first aid kit with burn dressings, head torch

Step by step

  1. Use a tent built for a stove

    1 Use a tent built for a stove

    Only a tent with a stove jack, made by its maker for stove use, may hold a stove. Never put a stove, grill or embers into a normal tent.

  2. Fit pipe, jack and spark arrestor

    2 Fit pipe, jack and spark arrestor

    Slide the pipe sections together, pass the pipe centred through the stove jack, fit the spark arrestor and guy the pipe against wind.

  3. Set the stove on a safe base

    3 Set the stove on a safe base

    Stand the stove level on a non-flammable base and keep fabric, sleeping bags and gear well away from stove and pipe.

  4. Open the vents, switch on a CO alarm

    4 Open the vents, switch on a CO alarm

    Keep high and low vents open the whole time the stove is in use and run a tested battery CO alarm near where you sleep.

  5. Feed small loads of dry wood

    5 Feed small loads of dry wood

    Burn short, dry, split wood two or three pieces at a time. Never let the stove or pipe glow red.

  6. Never sleep with it burning

    6 Never sleep with it burning

    Either someone stays awake as a fire watch, or you let the stove burn out with the vents open before anyone sleeps.

Common mistakes

  • Putting any stove, grill, charcoal or embers into a normal tent.
  • Closing all vents to keep the heat in.
  • Going to sleep with the stove burning and nobody awake, or choking it down to smoulder overnight.
  • Camping without a CO alarm, or with an untested one.
  • Stove standing directly on a tent floor, dry grass or soft snow.
  • Sleeping bags, clothes or gear inside the clearance zone, or clothes hung over the pipe.
  • Ignoring a fire ban because "it is only a small stove".